我们所熟知的“埃及”一词源自对埃及语中“普塔神庙”这一术语的多次转写。实际上，古埃及人在称呼自己的国度时通常使用“黑土地”与“钟爱之地”这两个术语，但两者在文本中的运用不尽相同。当古埃及人在使用“钟爱之地”时，往往将它与宗教和王权紧密联系在一起，“黑土地”则偏向于描述国土的概念以及埃及土地的外观特征。目前，古埃及文献中的“钟爱之地”最早可追溯至中王国时期。然而，通过对前王朝和早王朝时期考古文物的分析，结合中王国时期奥西里斯崇拜和农业的发展，或可推断“钟爱之地”是中王国时期的王权以早王朝时期的“水边之地”为基础，用以重塑统治合法性和社会认同的一种政治宣传，反映了古埃及文明以农为本、王权神圣的基本特征。
The word “Egypt” we know is derived from the multiple transliterations of the Egyptian term “The Temple of Ptah”. The ancient Egyptians used the terms “the beloved land” and “the black land” when referring to their country，but these words are not used in the same way. “The beloved land” was used in relation to religion and kingship，while the word “black land” emphasized the territory and the appearance of the land. “The beloved land” in texts can be tracked back to the Middle kingdom，but through the analysis of the archaeological objects of pre-dynastic and early dynastic period，combined with the development of agriculture and the cult of Osiris，it can be inferred that “Beloved Land” is political propaganda used by the kingship in the time of Middle Kingdom to rebuild the legitimacy and social identity based on the “waterside land” of Early Dynasty which reflects the basic characteristics of the ancient Egyptian civilization with agriculture as the foundation and the sacred royal power.
