The word "paper" comes from papyrus, which is "the paper plant, or paper made from it." When the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans wanted to jot something down, they used papyrus.
Papyrus plants used to grow all over the Nile Delta in Egypt, which is why it was so popular with the King Tut set. They used it to make everything from mattresses to sandals, but papyrus is mostly famous as the thick paper ancient Egyptians wrote important documents on, like, say, a note from Cleopatra. It also refers to the paper itself, like the recently discovered papyrus of Cleopatra, on which she wrote "make it happen." Yes ma'am.
