The major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmimic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan (Asyutic), and Oxyrhynchite. Sahidic Coptic was spoken between the cities ofAsyut andOxyrhynchus[7] and flourished as aliterary language across Egypt in the periodc. 325 – c. 800 AD.[5] TheGnostic texts in theNag Hammadi library are primarily written in the Sahidic dialect. However, some texts also contain elements of the Subakhmimic (Lycopolitan) dialect, which was also used inUpper Egypt.[8] Bohairic, the dialect ofLower Egypt, gained prominence in the 9th century and is the dialect used by the Coptic Church liturgically.[2]
In Coptic the language is calledϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (timetremǹkhēmi) "Egyptian" orϯⲁⲥⲡⲓⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (tiaspi ǹremǹkhēmi) "the Egyptian language". Coptic also possessed the termⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (gyptios) "Egyptian", derived fromGreekΑἰγύπτιος (Aigúptios). This was borrowed into Arabic as قبْط (qibṭ/qubṭ), and from there into the languages of Europe, giving rise to words likeFrenchcopte, whence the EnglishCopt.
In addition to influencing the grammar, vocabulary and syntax of Egyptian Arabic, Coptic has lent to bothArabic andModern Hebrew such words as:[citation needed]
timsāḥ (Arabic:تمساح;Hebrew:תמסח), "crocodile";emsah (ⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ);[citation needed] this subsequently entered Turkish astimsah. Copticⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ is grammatically masculine and hence would have taken the formpemsah (Sahidic:ⲡⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ; Bohairic:ⲡⲓⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ) with the definite articular prefix. Hence it is unclear why the word should have entered Arabic with an initialt, which would have required the word to be grammatically feminine (i.e. Sahidic:*ⲧⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ; Bohairic:*ϯⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ).[citation needed]
A few words of Coptic origin are found in theGreek language; some of the words were later lent to various European languages — such asbarge, from Copticbaare (ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ, "small boat").[citation needed]
However, most words of Egyptian origin that entered into Greek and subsequently into other European languages came directly from Ancient Egyptian, oftenDemotic. An example is the Greekoasis (ὄασις), which comes directly from Egyptianwḥꜣt or Demoticwḥj. However, Copticreborrowed some words of Ancient Egyptian origin into its lexicon, via Greek.[citation needed]
Many place names in modern Egypt are Arabic adaptations of theirformer Coptic names:
The Coptic nameⲡⲁⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ,papnoute (from Egyptianpꜣy-pꜣ-nṯr), means "belonging to God" or "he of God".[10][11][12] It was adapted into Arabic asBabnouda, which remains a common name among Egyptian Copts to this day. It was also borrowed into Greek as the nameΠαφνούτιος (Paphnutius). That, in turn, is the source of the Russian nameПафнутий (Pafnuty), perhaps best known in the name of the mathematicianPafnuty Chebyshev.
A Demotic graffito in Greek letters from year 5Horwennefer (200/201 BC).
TheEgyptian language may have the longest documented history of any language, fromOld Egyptian, which appeared just before 3200 BC,[13] to its final phases as Coptic in theMiddle Ages. Coptic belongs to the Later Egyptian phase, which started to be written in theNew Kingdom of Egypt. Later Egyptian represented colloquial speech of the later periods. It had analytic features like definite andindefinite articles andperiphrastic verb conjugation. Coptic, therefore, is a reference to both the most recent stage of Egyptian afterDemotic and the new writing system that was adapted from theGreek alphabet.
Coptic liturgical inscription fromUpper Egypt, dated to the fifth or sixth century.
The earliest attempts to write the Egyptian language using the Greek alphabet are Greek transcriptions of Egyptian proper names, most of which date to thePtolemaic Kingdom. Scholars frequently refer to this phase as Pre-Coptic. However, it is clear that by theLate Period of ancient Egypt, demotic scribes regularly employed a more phonetic orthography, a testament to the increasing cultural contact betweenEgyptians andGreeks even beforeAlexander the Great's conquest of Egypt.
After Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt and the subsequent Greek administration of thePtolemaic Kingdom led to the widespreadhellenization and Greek-Coptic bilingualism more so inNorthern Egypt and especially in theNile Delta. This led to the entrance of many Greek loanwords into Coptic, particularly in words relating to technical, legal, commercial, and technological topics.[14]
Coptic itself, orOld Coptic, takes root in the first century. The transition from the older Egyptian scripts to the newly adapted Coptic alphabet was in part due to the decline of the traditional role played by the priestly class ofancient Egyptian religion, who, unlike most ordinary Egyptians, were literate in the temple scriptoria. Old Coptic is represented mostly by non-Christian texts such as Egyptian pagan prayers and magical and astrological papyri. Many of them served asglosses to originalhieratic and demotic equivalents. The glosses may have been aimed at non-Egyptian speakers.
Under lateRoman rule,Diocletian persecuted many Egyptian converts to the newChristian religion, which forced new converts to flee to the Egyptian deserts. In time, the growth of these communities generated the need to write Christian Greek instructions in the Egyptian language. The early Fathers of theCoptic Church, such asAnthony the Great,Pachomius the Great,Macarius of Egypt andAthanasius of Alexandria, who otherwise usually wrote in Greek, addressed some of their works to the Egyptian monks in Egyptian. The Egyptian language, now written in the Coptic alphabet, flourished in the second and third centuries. However, it was not untilShenoute that Coptic became a fully standardised literary language based on the Sahidic dialect. Shenouda's native Egyptian tongue and knowledge of Greek and rhetoric gave him the necessary tools to elevate Coptic, in content and style, to a literary height nearly equal to the position of the Egyptian language in ancient Egypt.
TheMuslim conquest of Egypt byArabs came with thespread of Islam in the seventh century. At the turn of the eighth century,CaliphAbd al-Malik ibn Marwan decreed[15] that Arabic replaceKoine Greek as the soleadministrative language. Literary Coptic gradually declined, and within a few hundred years, Egyptian bishopSeverus ibn al-Muqaffa found it necessary to write hisHistory of the Patriarchs in Arabic. However, ecclesiastically the language retained an important position, and manyhagiographic texts were also composed during this period. Until the 10th century, Coptic remained the spoken language of the native population outside the capital.
The Coptic language massively declined under the hands of Fatimid CaliphAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, as part of his campaigns of religious persecution.[16][17][18] Emile Maher Ishaq, a notedCoptologist, writes in theCoptic Encyclopedia thatAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah issued strict orders completely prohibiting the use of Coptic anywhere whether in schools, public streets, and even within family homes. Those who did not comply were liable to have their tongues removed. Oral traditions of the Coptic Church tell of removed tongues left on the street or in a public square to intimidate and warn against speaking Coptic.[18][19]
As a written language, Coptic is thought to have completely given way toArabic around the 13th century,[20] though it seems to have survived as a spoken language until the 17th century[2] and in some localities even longer. The language may have survived in isolated pockets inUpper Egypt as late as the 19th century.[21] In the village of Pi-Solsel (Az-Zayniyyah, El Zenya or Al Zeniya north ofLuxor),passive speakers over 50 years old were recorded as late as the 1930s, and traces of traditional vernacular Coptic reported to exist in other places such asAbydos andDendera.[22]
From the medieval period, there is one known example oftarsh-printed Coptic. The fragmentaryamulet A.Ch. 12.145, now in theAustrian National Library, contains a frame of Coptic text around an Arabic main text.[23]
In the early 20th century, some Copts tried to revive the Coptic language, but they were unsuccessful.[24]
In the second half of the 20th century,Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria started a national Church-sponsored movement torevive Coptic. Several works of grammar were published, including a more comprehensive dictionary than had been formerly available. The scholarly findings of the field ofEgyptology and the inauguration of theInstitute of Coptic Studies further contributed to the renaissance. Efforts at language revitalisation continue to be undertaken, and have attracted the interest ofCopts and linguists in and outside of Egypt.[citation needed]
Coptic uses a writing system almost wholly derived from theGreek alphabet, with the addition of a number of letters that have their origins inDemotic Egyptian. This is comparable to the Latin-basedIcelandic alphabet, which includes the runic letterthorn.[26] There is some variation in the number and forms of these signs depending on the dialect. Some of the letters in the Coptic alphabet that are of Greek origin were normally reserved for Greek words. Old Coptic texts used several graphemes that were not retained in the literary Coptic orthography of later centuries.
In Sahidic,syllable boundaries may have been marked by a supralinear stroke ⟨◌̄⟩, or the stroke may have tied letters together in one word, since Coptic texts did not otherwise indicate word divisions. Some scribal traditions use adiaeresis over the lettersⲓ andⲩ at the beginning of a word or to mark a diphthong. Bohairic uses a superposed point or small stroke known asϫⲓⲛⲕⲓⲙ (jinkim, "movement"). Whenjinkim is placed over a vowel it is pronounced independently, and when it is placed over a consonant a shortⲉ precedes it.[27]
The oldest Coptic writings date to the pre-Christian era (Old Coptic), though Coptic literature consists mostly of texts written by prominent saints of the Coptic Church such asAnthony the Great,Pachomius the Great, andShenoute. Shenoute helped fully standardise the Coptic language through his many sermons, treatises and homilies, which formed the basis of early Coptic literature.
The corelexicon of Coptic isEgyptian, most closely related to the precedingDemotic phase of the language. Up to 40% of the vocabulary of literary Coptic is drawn fromGreek, but borrowings are not always fully adapted to the Coptic phonological system and may havesemantic differences as well. There are instances of Coptic texts having passages that are almost entirely composed from Greek lexical roots. However, that is likely because the majority of Coptic religious texts are direct translations of Greek works.
What invariably attracts the attention of the reader of a Coptic text, especially if it is written in the Sa'idic dialect, is the very liberal use which is made of Greek loan words, of which so few, indeed, are to be found in the Ancient Egyptian language. There Greek loan words occur everywhere in Coptic literature, be it Biblical, liturgical, theological, or non-literary, i.e. legal documents and personal letters. Though nouns and verbs predominate, the Greek loan words may come from any other part of speech except pronouns'[28]
The Greek loanwords in Coptic retain their original male or female gender, but Greek neuter nouns are treated as masculine in Coptic. The Greek nouns are usually inflected in the singular and in the nominative case though occasionally.[29]
Words or concepts for which no adequate Egyptian translation existed were taken directly from Greek to avoid altering the meaning of the religious message. In addition, other Egyptian words that would have adequately translated the Greek equivalents were not used as they were perceived as having overt pagan associations. Old Coptic texts use many such words, phrases andepithets; for example, the wordⲧⲃⲁⲓⲧⲱⲩ '(Who is) in (His) Mountain', is an epithet ofAnubis.[30] There are also traces of some archaic grammatical features, such as residues of the Demoticrelative clause, lack of an indefinite article and possessive use of suffixes.
Thus, the transition from the old traditions to the new Christian religion also contributed to the adoption of Greek words into the Coptic religious lexicon. It is safe to assume that the everyday speech of the native population retained, to a greater extent, its indigenous Egyptian character, which is sometimes reflected in Coptic nonecclesiastical documents such as letters and contracts.
Coptic provides the clearest indication of Later Egyptianphonology from its writing system, which fully indicates vowel sounds and occasionally stress patterns. The phonological system of Later Egyptian is also better known than that of the Classical phase of the language because of a greater number of sources indicating Egyptian sounds, includingcuneiform letters containing transcriptions of Egyptian words and phrases, and Egyptian renderings ofNorthwest Semitic names. Coptic sounds, in addition, are known from a variety of Coptic-Arabic papyri in which Arabic letters were used to transcribe Coptic and vice versa. They date to the medieval Islamic period, when Coptic was still spoken.[31]
There are some differences of opinion among Coptic language scholars on the correct phonetic interpretation of the writing system of Coptic. Differences centre on how to interpret the pairs of lettersⲉ/ⲏ andⲟ/ⲱ. In theAttic dialect ofAncient Greek in the 5th century BC, the first member of each pair is a short closed vowel/e,o/, and the second member is a long open vowel/ɛː,ɔː/. In some interpretations of Coptic phonology,[32] it is assumed that the length difference is primary, withⲉ/ⲏ/e,eː/ andⲟ/ⲱ is/o,oː/. Other scholars[33] argue for a different analysis in whichⲉ/ⲏ andⲟ/ⲱ are interpreted as/e,ɛ/ and/o,ɔ/.
These two charts show the two theories of Coptic vowel phonology:
Dialects vary in their realisation. The difference between[o] and[u] seems to be allophonic. Evidence is not sufficient to demonstrate that these are distinct vowels, and if they are, the difference has a very lowfunctional load. For dialects that use orthographic⟨ⲉⲓ⟩ for a single vowel, there appears to be no phonetic difference from⟨ⲓ⟩.
Double orthographic vowels are presumed here to be long, but there is considerable debate as to whether these double vowels represent long vowels orglottal stops.[34]
^Frequent spelling of this vowel asⲱⲱ indicates that it is infree variation with[[oː]].
There is no length distinction in final stressed position, but only those vowels that occur long appear there:⟨(ⲉ)ⲓ, ⲉ, ⲁ, ⲟ~ⲱ, ⲟⲩ⟩.
In Sahidic, the letterⲉ was used for short/e/ before back fricatives, and also for unstressed schwa/ə/. It's possible there was also a distinction between short/ɛ/ and/a/, but if so the functional load was extremely low.
Bohairic did not have long vowels./i/ was only written⟨ⲓ⟩. As above, it's possible that/u/ and/o/ were distinct vowels rather than just allophones.
In Late Coptic (that is, Late Bohairic), the vowels were reduced to those found in Egyptian Arabic,/a,i,u/.[dubious –discuss]⟨ⲱ, ⲟ⟩ became/u/,⟨ⲉ⟩ became/æ/, and⟨ⲏ⟩ became either/ɪ/ or/æ/. It is difficult to explain⟨ⲏ⟩. However, it generally became/æ/ in stressed monosyllables,/ɪ/ in unstressed monosyllables, and in polysyllables,/æ/ when followed by/i/, and/ɪ/ when not.
There were no doubled orthographic vowels in Mesokemic. Some representative correspondences with Sahidic are:
Sahidic stressed vowels
ⲁ
ⲁⲁ, ⲉⲉ
ⲏ
ⲟ
ⲱ
ⲱⲱ
Mesokemic equivalent
ⲉ
ⲏ
ⲏ
ⲁ
ⲟ
ⲱ
It is not clear if these correspondences reflect distinct pronunciations in Mesokemic, or if they are an imitation of the long Greek vowels⟨η, ω⟩.
As with the vowels, there are differences of opinion over the correct interpretation of the Coptic consonant letters, particularly with regard to the lettersϫ andϭ.ϫ is transcribed as⟨j⟩ in many older Coptic sources andϭ as⟨ɡ⟩[32] or⟨č⟩.Lambdin (1983) notes that the current conventional pronunciations are different from the probable ancient pronunciations: Sahidicϫ was probably pronounced[tʲ] andϭ was probably pronounced[kʲ].Reintges (2004, p. 22) suggests thatϫ was pronounced[tʃ].
Beside being found in Greek loanwords, the letters⟨φ, θ, χ⟩ were used in native words for a sequence of/p,t,k/ plus/h/, as inⲑⲉ =ⲧ-ϩⲉ "the-way" (f.sg.) andⲫⲟϥ =ⲡ-ϩⲟϥ "the-snake" (m.sg). The letters did not have this use in Bohairic, which used them for single sounds.
^abThe letterϭ has two values: In Bohairic it represents/t͡ʃʰ/, the aspirated counterpart toϫ/t͡ʃ/. In the other dialects it represents/kʲ/, thepalatalized counterpart toⲕ/k/.
^/xʲ/ is present only in the minor Coptic dialectsP andI,[further explanation needed] where it is written ⟨ⳋ⟩ and ⟨ⳃ⟩ respectively.[35]
^/x/ is written ⟨ϧ⟩ in Bohairic and DialectP, and ⟨ⳉ⟩ in Akhmimic and DialectI.
^Copticⲃ is alternatively interpreted as avoiced bilabial fricative[β].[36] Like the othervoiced consonants, it belongs to the class ofsonorants and may occupy the syllablenucleus (cf. Sahidic:ⲧⲃ̄ⲧ/tv̩t/ "fish").
It is possible that Coptic has aglottal stop,[ʔ], though there is no definitive evidence. Supporters of this theory have posited that the glottal stop was represented withⲁ word-initially, withⲓ word-finally in monosyllabic words in northern dialects, andⲉ in monosyllabic words in Akhmimic and Assiutic. In Sahidic, it has been postulated that it represented the second of a doubled vowel.[37]
In Late Coptic (ca. 14th century), Bohairic sounds that did not occur in Egyptian Arabic were lost. A possible shift from a tenuis-aspirate distinction to voiced-tenuis is only attested from the alveolars, the only place that Arabic has such a contrast.
Earlier phases of Egyptian may have contrasted voiceless and voiced bilabial plosives, but the distinction seems to have been lost. Late Egyptian, Demotic and Coptic all interchangeably use their respective graphemes to indicate either sound; for example, Coptic for 'iron' appears alternately asⲡⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ,ⲃⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ andⲃⲓⲛⲓⲃⲉ. That probably reflects dialect variation. Both letters were interchanged withⲫ andϥ to indicate/f/, andⲃ was also used in many texts to indicate the bilabial approximant/w/.Coptologists believe that Copticⲃ was articulated as avoiced bilabial fricative[β]. In the present-day Coptic Church services, this letter is realised as/v/, but it is almost certainly a result of thepronunciation reforms instituted in the 19th century.
Whereas Old Egyptian contrasts/s/ and/z/, the two sounds appear to be infree variation in Coptic, as they were since the Middle Egyptian period. However, they are contrasted only in Greek loans; for example, native Copticⲁⲛⲍⲏⲃ (anzēb) andⲁⲛⲥⲏⲃⲉ (ansēbə) 'school' are homophonous. Other consonants that sometimes appear to be either in free variation or to have different distributions across dialects are[t] and[d],[ɾ] and[l] (especially in the Fayyumic dialect, a feature of earlier Egyptian) and[k] and[ɡ], with the voicelessstop consonants being more common in Coptic words and the voiced ones in Greek borrowings. Apart from theliquid consonants, this pattern may indicate asound change in Later Egyptian, leading to a neutralisation of voiced alveolar and velar plosives. When the voiced plosives are realised, it is usually the result ofconsonant voicing in proximity to/n/.
A few early manuscripts have a letterⳋ orⳃç where Sahidic and Bohairic haveϣš. and Akhmimic hasⳉx. This sound seems to have been lost early on.
Coptic is primarily afusional (inflectional) language, though some scholars, such asLoprieno (1995), have suggested it hasagglutinative or even polysynthetic tendencies. Its morphology relies heavily on prefixation andclitics, but these forms frequently encode multiple grammatical functions.[38] Its standard word order issubject–verb–object, though it can shift toverb–subject–object with the appropriate preposition before the subject. Number, gender, tense, and mood are marked by prefixes and clitics, which evolved fromLate Egyptian. While earlier stages of Egyptian used suffixation for verb conjugation, Coptic largely replaced these with periphrastic constructions and prefix-based inflection, though vestiges of suffix inflection survive in certain verbs and possessive structures. For example, theMiddle Egyptian form*satāpafa ('he chooses', writtenstp.f in hieroglyphs) corresponds to the Coptic (Sahidic)f.sotp (ϥⲥⲱⲧⲡ̅, 'he chooses'), where the prefix "f-" encodes multiple grammatical functions simultaneously, characteristic of fusional morphology rather than agglutination.[38]
All Coptic nouns carrygrammatical gender, either masculine or feminine, usually marked through a definite article as in theRomance languages, the difference is that Coptic articles are prefixes. Masculine nouns are marked with the article/pə,peː/ and feminine nouns with the article/tə,teː/[39] in the Sahidic dialect and/pi,əp/ and/ti,ət/ in the Bohairic dialect.
Bohairic:ⲡⲓⲣⲱⲙⲓ/pəˈɾomə/ – 'the man' /ϯϫⲓϫ/təˈt͡ʃit͡ʃ/ – 'the hand'
Sahidic:ⲡⲉⲣⲱⲙⲉ/pəˈɾomə/ – 'the man' /ⲧⲉϫⲓϫ/təˈt͡ʃit͡ʃ/ – 'the hand'
The definite and indefinite articles also indicatenumber; however, only definite articles mark gender. Coptic has a number ofbroken plurals, a vestige of Older Egyptian, but in the majority of cases, the article marks number. Generally, nounsinflected for plurality end in/wə/, but there are some irregularities. The dual was another feature of earlier Egyptian that survives in Coptic in only few words, such asⲥⲛⲁⲩ (snau) 'two'.
Words of Greek origin keep their original grammatical gender, except for neuter nouns, which become masculine in Coptic.
Possession of definite nouns is expressed with a series ofpossessive articles which are prefixed to the noun. These articles agree with theperson,number, andgender of the possessor and the number and gender of the possessed noun. The forms of the possessive article vary according to dialect.
Coptic pronouns are of two kinds, dependent and independent. Independent pronouns are used when the pronoun is acting as the subject of a sentence, as the object of a verb, or with a preposition. Dependent pronouns are a series of prefixes and suffixes that can attach to verbs and other nouns. Coptic verbs can therefore be said to inflect for the person, number and gender of the subject and the object: a pronominal prefix marks the subject, and a pronominal suffix marks the object, e.g. "I I'have'it the ball." When (as in this case) the subject is a pronoun, it normally is not also expressed independently, unless for emphasis.
As in other Afroasiatic languages, gender of pronouns differ only in the second and third person singular.
Most Coptic adjectives are actually nouns that have the attributive particlen to make them adjectival. In all stages of Egyptian, this morpheme is also used to express thegenitive; for example, the Bohairic word for 'Egyptian',ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ/remənkʰeːmə/, is a combination of the nominal prefixⲣⲉⲙ-rem- (the reduced form ofⲣⲱⲙⲓrōmi 'man'), followed by the genitive morphemeⲛ̀ən ('of') and finally the word for Egypt,ⲭⲏⲙⲓkʰēmi.
Coptic, like Ancient Egyptian and Semitic languages, has root-and-pattern or templatic morphology, and the basic meaning of a verb is contained in a root and various derived forms of root are obtained by varying the vowel pattern. For example, the root for 'build' iskt. It has four derived forms:
ⲕⲟⲧkɔt (the absolute state grade)
ⲕⲉⲧ- ket- (the nominal state grade)
ⲕⲟⲧ⸗ kot= (the pronominal state grade)
ⲕⲉⲧkɛt (the stative grade)
(The nominal state grade is also called the construct state in some grammars of Coptic.)
The absolute, nominal, and pronominal state grades are used in different syntactic contexts. The absolute state grade of a transitive verb is used before a direct object with the accusative preposition/ən,əm/, and the nominal state grade is used before a direct object with no case-marking. The pronominal state grade is used before a pronominal direct object enclitic. In addition, many verbs also have a neutral state grade, used to express a state resulting from the action of the verb. Compare the following forms:[40]
ABS:absolute state gradeNOM:nominal state gradePRONOM:pronominal state grade
For most transitive verbs, both absolute and nominal state grade verbs are available for non-pronominal objects. However, there is one important restriction, known asJernstedt's rule (or theStern-Jernstedt rule) (Jernstedt 1927): present-tense sentences cannot be used in the nominal state grade. Thus sentences in the present tense always show a pattern like the first example above (absolute state), never the second pattern (nominal state).
In general, the four grades of Coptic verb are not predictable from the root, and are listed in the lexicon for each verb. The following chart shows some typical patterns of correspondence:
Gloss
Absolute state
Nominal state
Pronominal state
Neutral state
Spread
ⲡⲱⲣϣ̀
poːrəʃ
ⲡⲣ̀ϣ
pərʃ
ⲡⲱⲣϣ
poːrʃ
ⲡⲟⲣϣ̀
poʔrəʃ
Dig
ϣⲓⲕⲉ
ʃiːkə
ϣⲉⲕⲧ
ʃekt
ϣⲁⲕⲧ
ʃakt
ϣⲟⲕⲉ
ʃoʔkə
Comfort
ⲥⲟⲗⲥⲗ̀
solsəl
ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲗ̀
səlsəl
ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲱⲗ
səlsoːl
ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲱⲗ
səlsoːl
Roll
ⲥⲕⲟⲣⲕⲣ̀
skorkər
ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲣ̀
skərkər
ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲱⲣ
skərkoːr
ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲱⲣ
skərkoːr
Build
ⲕⲱⲧ
koːt
ⲕⲉⲧ
ket
ⲕⲟⲧ
kot
ⲕⲏⲧ
keːt
It is hazardous to make firm generalisations about the relationships between these grade forms, but the nominal state is usually shorter than the corresponding absolute and neutral forms. Absolute and neutral state forms are usually bisyllabic or contain a long vowel; the corresponding nominal state forms are monosyllabic or have short vowels.
Coptic has a very large number of distincttense-aspect-mood categories, expressed by particles which are either before the verb or before the subject. The future/na/ is a preverbal particle and follows the subject:[41]
There is some variation in the labels for the tense/aspect/mood categories. The chart below shows the labels fromReintges (2004),Lambdin (1983),Plumley (1948). (Where they agree, only one label is shown.) Each form lists the morphology found with a nonpronominal subject (Marked with an underscore in Coptic) and a third person singular masculine pronominal subject ('he'):
An unusual feature of Coptic is the extensive use of a set of "second tenses", which are required in certain syntactic contexts. "Second tenses" are also called "relative tenses" in some work.[42]
The verbs in these sentences are in theabsolute state grade,[45] which requires that its direct object be introduced with the preposition/ən,əm/. This preposition functions likeaccusative case.
There is also an alternativenominal state grade of the verb in which the direct object of the verb follows with no preposition:
Historical Coptic dialects in Egypt[46][47][48]Sandstonestela, inscribed with Coptic text. The names Phoibammon and Abraham appear. From Egypt, unknown finding place. The British Museum, LondonCoptic and Arabic inscriptions in an Old Cairo church
There is little written evidence of dialectal differences in the pre-Coptic phases of the Egyptian language due to the centralised nature of the political and cultural institutions of ancient Egyptian society. However, literary Old and Middle (Classical) Egyptian represent the spoken dialect of Lower Egypt around the city ofMemphis, the capital of Egypt in theOld Kingdom. Later Egyptian is more representative of the dialects spoken in Upper Egypt, especially around the area ofThebes as it became the cultural and religious center of the New Kingdom.
Coptic more obviously displays a number of regional dialects that were in use from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt, south intoNubia, and in the western oases. However, while many of these dialects reflect actual regional linguistic (namely phonological and some lexical) variation, they mostly reflect localized orthographic traditions with very little grammatical differences.
TheBohairic (also known as Memphitic)[citation needed] dialect originated in the westernNile Delta. The earliest Bohairic manuscripts date to the 4th century, but most texts come from the 9th century and later; this may be due to poor preservation conditions for texts in the humid regions of northern Egypt. It shows several conservative features inlexicon andphonology not found in other dialects. Bohairic is the dialect used as the liturgical language of the modern Coptic Orthodox Church, replacing Sahidic some time in the eleventh century. In contemporary liturgical use, there are two traditions of pronunciation, arising from successive reforms in the 19th and 20th centuries (seeCoptic pronunciation reform). Modern revitalisation efforts are based on this dialect.
Bashmuric (also known as Mansurian, Dialect G, and Bashmurian) was a sub-dialect of Bohairic most likely spoken in Eastern Delta. Its main characteristic is using solely Greek letters to represent Coptic phonemes.
Pottery shard inscribed with 5 lines in Coptic Sahidic. Byzantine period, 6th century AD. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London
Sahidic (also known as Thebaic or Theban) is the dialect in which most known Coptic texts are written, and was the leading dialect in the pre-Islamic period. Where it was spoken is a matter of debate; it name which comes from an Arabic termAṣ-ṣa'id meaning Upper [Southern] Egypt would imply it was spoken there, but Sahidic's features seem to suggest it was spoken in the north. It is also possible that Sahidic was the urban dialect spoken in the major urban centers of Thebes and Memphis differentiating it from the other rural dialects.[14] Around 300 it began to be written in literary form, including translations of major portions of theBible (seeCoptic versions of the Bible). By the 6th century, a standardised spelling had been attained throughout Egypt. Almost all native authors wrote in this dialect of Coptic. Sahidic was, beginning in the 9th century, challenged by Bohairic, but is attested as late as the 14th.
While texts in other Coptic dialects are primarily translations of Greek literary and religious texts, Sahidic is the only dialect with a considerable body of original literature and non-literary texts. Because Sahidic shares most of its features with other dialects of Coptic with few peculiarities specific to itself, and has an extensive corpus of known texts, it is generally the dialect studied by learners of Coptic, particularly by scholars outside of the Coptic Church.
Proto-Theban is a dialect of Coptic only attested in a single source, as such information on it is limited but; Proto-Theban closely resembles what reconstructed Proto-Sahidic dialect would have looked like. The variant of the Coptic script used in its singular attestation is also distinct as it contains 10 letters from the Demotic Script which is significantly higher than other dialects.[49]
Fayyumic (also known as Crocodilopolic; in older works it is often called Bashmuric) was spoken primarily in theFaiyum west of the Nile Valley. It is attested from the 3rd to the 10th centuries. It is most notable for writingⲗ (which corresponds to/l/), where other dialects generally useⲣ/r/ (probably corresponding to aflap[ɾ]). In earlier stages of Egyptian, theliquids were not distinguished in writing until the New Kingdom, when Late Egyptian became the administrative language. Late Egyptian orthography utilised agrapheme that combined the graphemes for/r/ and/n/ in order to express/l/. Demotic for its part indicated/l/ using a diacritic variety of/r/.
South Fayyumic (also called Dialect V) was spoken around modern towns ofBeni Suef andBush and is distinguished from central Fayyumic by not havinglambdacism.
Ashmuninic (also known as Hermopolic or Dialect H) was spoken around the city ofShmun and shares South Fayyumic features like vowel gemination and absence of lambdacism.[citation needed]
Oxyrhynchite (also known as Mesokemic or, confusingly, Middle Egyptian) is the dialect ofOxyrhynchus and surrounding areas. It shows similarities with Fayyumic and is attested in manuscripts from the fourth and fifth centuries.
Lycopolitan (also known as Subakhmimic and Assiutic) is a dialect closely related to Akhmimic in terms of when and where it was attested, but manuscripts written in Lycopolitan tend to be from the area ofAsyut. The main differences between the two dialects seem to be graphic in nature. The Lycopolitan variety was used extensively for translations ofGnostic andManichaean works, including the texts of theNag Hammadi library.
Akhmimic (also called Chemmic or Panopolic) was the dialect of the area around the town ofAkhmim (Ancient Greek:Πανὸς πόλις,romanized: Panopolis). It flourished during the fourth and fifth centuries, after which no writings are attested. Akhmimic is phonologically the most archaic of the Coptic dialects. One characteristic feature is the retention of thephoneme/x/, which is realised as/ʃ/ in most other dialects.
Aswanic (also known as Syenic) was the dialect of the area around the town ofAswan. It is very close to Akhmimic, and sometimes considered a sub-dialect, although, what makes it different is that "ϩ" is written before pronouns, for example in normal Coptic it is saidAfso, which means drank, but in the Aswanic dialect it is saidHafso. It also has a distinctive way of writing; so the letter "ⲃ" is written instead of the letter "ϥ".
Bohairic Coptic Transliteration: Ephouai semisi remheu nem etshōsh e axia nem dikaiosunē. Enthōou se’erehmot gnōmē nem sunēdēsis ouoh empenthreuarshēt em’metrōmi hina enthōou emephrēti enesnēou.[50]
English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[50]
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Wolfgang Kosack:Der koptische Heiligenkalender. Deutsch – Koptisch – Arabisch nach den besten Quellen neu bearbeitet und vollständig herausgegeben mit Index Sanctorum koptischer Heiliger, Index der Namen auf Koptisch, Koptische Patriarchenliste, Geografische Liste. Christoph Brunner, Berlin 2012,ISBN978-3-9524018-4-2.
Wolfgang Kosack:Schenute von Atripe De judicio finale. Papyruskodex 63000.IV im Museo Egizio di Torino. Einleitung, Textbearbeitung und Übersetzung herausgegeben von Wolfgang Kosack. Christoph Brunner, Berlin 2013,ISBN978-3-9524018-5-9.
Wolfgang Kosack:Basilios "De archangelo Michael": sahidice Pseudo – Euhodios "De resurrectione": sahidice Pseudo – Euhodios "De dormitione Mariae virginis": sahidice & bohairice : < Papyruskodex Turin, Mus. Egizio Cat. 63000 XI. > nebst Varianten und Fragmente. In Parallelzeilen ediert, kommentiert und übersetzt von Wolfgang Kosack. Christoph Brunner, Berlin 2014.ISBN978-3-906206-02-8.
Wolfgang Kosack:Novum Testamentum Coptice. Neues Testament, Bohairisch, ediert von Wolfgang Kosack. Novum Testamentum, Bohairice, curavit Wolfgang Kosack. / Wolfgang Kosack. neue Ausgabe, Christoph Brunner, Basel 2014.ISBN978-3-906206-04-2.
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