The ancient Egyptian name of the country is Kemet (km.t) ⟨𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖⟩, which means “black land“, referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile flood plains, distinct from the deshret (dšṛt), or “red land” of the desert.[15] The name is realized as kēme and kēmə in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian language, and appeared in early Greek as Χημία (Khēmía).[16] Another name was tꜣ-mry “land of the riverbank”.[17] The names of Upper and Lower Egypt were Ta-Sheme’aw (tꜣ-šmꜥw) “sedgeland” and Ta-Mehew (tꜣ mḥw) “northland”, respectively.