In the Semitic languages, the word mör or mur, from which myrrh is derived, means that which is bitter.

Bitter myrrh is to be distinguished from sweet myrrh, which was in reality the plant opoponax (Hercules’ allheal).

Myrrh is a gum-oil resin extracted from various varieties of the genus Commiphora, trees with grayish bark, growing mainly along the coasts of the Red Sea. Exuded through natural splits or artificial incisions, the liquid, initially milky and yellow-white, hardens into irregular reddish-brown drops when it is exposed to air. Myrrh, like frankincense, has always been consumed in large quantities, both in the preparation of domestic and religious incense and in perfumed oils and unguents. Symbolically, myrrh has often represented femininity, associated with the mystery of night, in contrast with frankincense, representing solar, the diurnal and the active.

The Egyptians imported it from the mythical land of Punt, probably in fact Somalia and Sudan. Queen Hatshepsut (1504-1483 BC) brought thirty or so frankincense and myrrh tress by boat in great baskets and tried, without great success, to make them grow in Egypt. Inscriptions in Saqqarah, the first references to this desire to master the growing of divine aromatic substances, date from the 10th dynasty, a thousand years before Hatshepsut, and refer to a similar expedition.

With a marvelous perfume reputed to be among the best in the world, myrrh is the substance which is referred to the most often in the texts. The Song of Songs constantly praises the sweetness of its perfume (1,13; 3,6; 4, 6-14; 5,1; 5,5; 5,13). Twelve centuries after the Exodus, myrrh was a gift given by one of the three Magi to baby Jesus.

In medical terms, myrrh has antiseptic and sedative properties.

The aroma of myrrh is warm, fragrant, aromatic and slightly pungent; it is bitter to the taste.