certainly _cleansing_, but the operation itself is generally supposed to
be _washing_. This agrees with the Coptic ⲣⲁϩⲧ _a fuller_, of which the
old Egyptian form is ⁂⁂. But ⲣⲁϩⲧ has also the sense of
_beating_, and the operation is in many countries thought to be one of
the most important duties of washerwomen. With this sense of the word I
would connect the names _Rechit_ given to Isis and Nephthys, as
signifying ‘mourners.’ Compare the Greek τύπτεσθαί τινα, κόπτεσθαί τινα,
_to mourn a person_, and the Latin _plangere_.