Coptic language

Template:Short description Template:Template other Template:Contains special characters Template:Copts Coptic (Template:Langx) is a dormant Afroasiatic language. It is a group of closely related Egyptian dialects,Template:Sfn representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third century AD in Roman Egypt.Template:Sfn Coptic was supplanted by Arabic as the primary spoken language of Egypt following the Arab conquest of Egypt and was slowly replaced over the centuries.

Coptic has no modern-day native speakers, and no fluent speakers apart from a number of priests, although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church.Template:Sfn It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with seven additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script.Template:Sfn

The major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmimic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan (Asyutic), and Oxyrhynchite. Sahidic Coptic was spoken between the cities of Asyut and Oxyrhynchus and flourished as a literary language across Egypt in the period c. Template:Trim – c. 800 AD.Template:Sfn The Gnostic texts in the Nag Hammadi library are primarily written in the Sahidic dialect. However, some texts also contain elements of the Subakhmimic (Lycopolitan) dialect, which was also used in Upper Egypt.Template:Sfn Bohairic, the dialect of Lower Egypt, gained prominence in the 9th century and is the dialect used by the Coptic Church liturgically.Template:Sfn

Name

In Coptic the language is called ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ () "Egyptian" or ϯⲁⲥⲡⲓ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ () "the Egyptian language". Coptic also possessed the term Template:Wikt-lang () "Egyptian", derived from Greek Template:Wikt-lang (). This was borrowed into Arabic as Template:Wikt-lang (), and from there into the languages of Europe, giving rise to words like French , whence the English Copt.

Geographic distribution

Coptic is spoken liturgically in the Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Catholic Church (along with Modern Standard Arabic). The language is spoken only in Egypt and historically has had little influence outside of the territory, except for monasteries located in Nubia (which straddles modern Egypt and Sudan). Coptic's most noticeable linguistic influence has been on the various dialects of Egyptian Arabic, which is characterised by a Coptic substratum in lexical, morphological, syntactical, and phonological features.

Influence on other languages

In addition to influencing the grammar, vocabulary and syntax of Egyptian Arabic, Coptic has lent to both Arabic and Modern Hebrew such words as:

• (Template:Langx; Template:Langx), "crocodile"; (ⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ); this subsequently entered Turkish as . Coptic ⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ is grammatically masculine and hence would have taken the form (Sahidic: ⲡⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ; Bohairic: ⲡⲓⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ) with the definite articular prefix. Hence it is unclear why the word should have entered Arabic with an initial t, which would have required the word to be grammatically feminine (i.e. Sahidic: *ⲧⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ; Bohairic: *ϯⲉⲙⲥⲁϩ).
• , Template:Langx, "brick"; Sahidic: ⲧⲱⲱⲃⲉ, ; Bohairic ⲧⲱⲃⲓ, ; this subsequently entered Catalan and Spanish (via Andalusian Arabic) as and respectively, the latter of which was borrowed by American English.
• , Template:Langx, "oasis"; Sahidic: ⲟⲩⲁϩⲉ, ; Bohairic: ⲟⲩⲉϩⲓ, ; this subsequently entered Turkish as

A few words of Coptic origin are found in the Greek language; some of the words were later lent to various European languages — such as barge, from Coptic (ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ, "small boat").

However, most words of Egyptian origin that entered into Greek and subsequently into other European languages came directly from Ancient Egyptian, often Demotic. An example is the Greek (), which comes directly from Egyptian Template:Wikt-lang or Demotic Template:Wikt-lang. However, Coptic reborrowed some words of Ancient Egyptian origin into its lexicon, via Greek.

Many place names in modern Egypt are Arabic adaptations of their former Coptic names:

Coptic name	Modern name
ⲥⲓⲱⲟⲩⲧ ()	()	Asyut
ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ()	()	Faiyum
ϯⲙⲉⲛϩⲱⲣ ()	()	Damanhur
ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ()	()	Aswan
ⲙⲉⲛϥ ()	()	Memphis

The Coptic name ⲡⲁⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ, (from Egyptian ), means "belonging to God" or "he of God". It was adapted into Arabic as , which remains a common name among Egyptian Copts to this day. It was also borrowed into Greek as the name (). That, in turn, is the source of the Russian name (), perhaps best known in the name of the mathematician Pafnuty Chebyshev.

History

File:Abydos graffito 74.png

A Demotic graffito in Greek letters from year 5 Horwennefer (200/201 BC).

The Egyptian language may have the longest documented history of any language, from Old Egyptian, which appeared just before 3200 BC,Template:Sfn to its final phases as Coptic in the Middle Ages. Coptic belongs to the Later Egyptian phase, which started to be written in the New Kingdom of Egypt. Later Egyptian represented colloquial speech of the later periods. It had analytic features like definite and indefinite articles and periphrastic verb conjugation. Coptic, therefore, is a reference to both the most recent stage of Egyptian after Demotic and the new writing system that was adapted from the Greek alphabet.

Pre-Islamic period

File:Coptic liturgic inscription.JPG

Coptic liturgical inscription from Upper 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 the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Scholars frequently refer to this phase as Pre-Coptic. However, it is clear that by the Late Period of ancient Egypt, demotic scribes regularly employed a more phonetic orthography, a testament to the increasing cultural contact between Egyptians and Greeks even before Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt.

After Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt and the subsequent Greek administration of the Ptolemaic Kingdom led to the widespread hellenization and Greek-Coptic bilingualism more so in Northern Egypt and especially in the Nile Delta. This led to the entrance of many Greek loanwords into Coptic, particularly in words relating to technical, legal, commercial, and technological topics.Template:Sfn

Coptic itself, or Old 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 of ancient 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 as glosses to original hieratic and demotic equivalents. The glosses may have been aimed at non-Egyptian speakers.

Under late Roman rule, Diocletian persecuted many Egyptian converts to the new Christian 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 the Coptic Church, such as Anthony the Great, Pachomius the Great, Macarius of Egypt and Athanasius 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.

The Coptic language evolved in Egypt around 300 C.E. and was Egypt's lingua franca when Egypt was primarily Christian. It is a common assumption that the Coptic language was developed cheifly to proselytize Christianity, but Leo Depuydt disagrees. Depuydt supports Belgian Coptologist Louis Théophile Lefort’s theory that the Coptic language was created by the Jews.

It was not until Shenoute that Coptic became a fully standardised literary language based on the Sahidic dialect. Shenoute'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.

Islamic period

File:Page from 19th century Coptic Language Grammar.png

Page from 19th-century Coptic-language grammar

The Muslim conquest of Egypt by Arabs came with the spread of Islam in the seventh century. At the turn of the eighth century, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan decreed that Arabic replace Koine Greek as the sole administrative language. Literary Coptic gradually declined, and within a few hundred years, Egyptian bishop Severus ibn al-Muqaffa found it necessary to write his History of the Patriarchs in Arabic. However, ecclesiastically the language retained an important position, and many hagiographic 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 Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, as part of his campaigns of religious persecution. Emile Maher Ishaq, a noted Coptologist, writes in the Coptic Encyclopedia that Al-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.

As a written language, Coptic is thought to have completely given way to Arabic around the 12th century, though it seems to have survived as a spoken language until the 17th centuryTemplate:Sfn and in some localities even longer. The language may have survived in isolated pockets in Upper Egypt as late as the 19th century. In the village of Pi-Solsel (Az-Zayniyyah, El Zenya or Al Zeniya north of Luxor), passive speakers over 50 years old were recorded as late as the 1930s, and traces of traditional vernacular Coptic were reported to exist in other places such as Abydos and Dendera.

From the medieval period, there is one known example of tarsh-printed Coptic. The fragmentary amulet A.Ch. 12.145, now in the Austrian National Library, contains a frame of Coptic text around an Arabic main text.Template:Sfnp

Modern revitalisation attempts

In the early 20th century, some Copts tried to revive the Coptic language, but they were unsuccessful.

In the second half of the 20th century, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria started a national Church-sponsored movement to revive Coptic. Several works of grammar were published, including a more comprehensive dictionary than had been formerly available. The scholarly findings of the field of Egyptology and the inauguration of the Institute of Coptic Studies further contributed to the renaissance. Efforts at language revitalisation continue to be undertaken, and have attracted the interest of Copts and linguists in and outside of Egypt.

Writing system

File:Papyrus Bodmer VI fol. 16.jpg

Papyrus Bodmer VI ("Dialect P") possesses the richest of all Coptic alphabets, with 35 unique graphemes.

Coptic uses a writing system almost wholly derived from the Greek alphabet, with the addition of a number of letters that have their origins in Demotic Egyptian. This is comparable to the Latin-based Icelandic alphabet, which includes the runic letter thorn. 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 a diaeresis over the letters ⲓ and ⲩ at the beginning of a word or to mark a diphthong. Bohairic uses a superposed point or small stroke known as ϫⲓⲛⲕⲓⲙ (, "movement"). When jinkim is placed over a vowel it is pronounced independently, and when it is placed over a consonant a short ⲉ precedes it.

Literature

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 as Anthony the Great, Pachomius the Great, and Shenoute. Shenoute helped fully standardise the Coptic language through his many sermons, treatises and homilies, which formed the basis of early Coptic literature.

Vocabulary

The core lexicon of Coptic is Egyptian, most closely related to the preceding Demotic phase of the language. Up to 40% of the vocabulary of literary Coptic is drawn from Greek, but borrowings are not always fully adapted to the Coptic phonological system and may have semantic 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'

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.Template:Sfn

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 and epithets; for example, the word ⲧⲃⲁⲓⲧⲱⲩ '(Who is) in (His) Mountain', is an epithet of Anubis.Template:Sfn There are also traces of some archaic grammatical features, such as residues of the Demotic relative 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.

Phonology

Coptic provides the clearest indication of Later Egyptian phonology 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, including cuneiform letters containing transcriptions of Egyptian words and phrases, and Egyptian renderings of Northwest 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.

Vowels

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 letters ⲉ/ⲏ and ⲟ/ⲱ. In the Attic dialect of Ancient Greek in the 5th century BC, the first member of each pair is a short closed vowel , and the second member is a long open vowel . In some interpretations of Coptic phonology,Template:Sfn it is assumed that the length difference is primary, with ⲉ/ⲏ and ⲟ/ⲱ is . Other scholarsTemplate:Sfn argue for a different analysis in which ⲉ/ⲏ and ⲟ/ⲱ are interpreted as and .

These two charts show the two theories of Coptic vowel phonology:

Monophthong phonemes
(length theory)

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Close-mid	Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link
Mid		Template:IPA link
Open			Template:IPA link

Monophthong phonemes
(vowel quality theory)

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Close-mid	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Open			Template:IPA link

Dialects vary in their realisation. The difference between Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink seems to be allophonic. Evidence is not sufficient to demonstrate that these are distinct vowels, and if they are, the difference has a very low functional load. For dialects that use orthographic Template:Angbr for a single vowel, there appears to be no phonetic difference from Template:Angbr.

Double orthographic vowels are presumed here to be long, but there is considerable debate as to whether these double vowels represent long vowels or glottal stops.

Bohairic vowels

	Front	Back
Close	ⲉⲓ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲩ Template:IPAslink
Close-mid	ⲏ Template:IPAslink	ⲱ Template:IPAslink
Open-mid	ⲉ Template:IPAslink	ⲟ Template:IPAslink
Open	ⲁ Template:IPAslink

Sahidic vowels

	Front	Back
Close	ⲉⲓ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲩ Template:IPAslink
Close-mid	ⲏ Template:IPAslink   ⲏⲏ Template:IPAslink	ⲱ Template:IPAslink   ⲱⲱ Template:IPAslink
Open-mid	ⲉ Template:IPAslink   ⲉⲉ Template:IPAslink	ⲟ Template:IPAslink   ⲟⲟ Template:IPAslink
Open	ⲁ Template:IPAslink   ⲁⲁ Template:IPAslink

Lycopolitan vowels

	Front	Back
Close	ⲉⲓ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲩ Template:IPAslink
Close-mid	ⲏ Template:IPAslink   ⲏⲏ Template:IPAslink	ⲱ Template:IPAslink   ⲱⲱ Template:IPAslink
Open-mid	ⲉ Template:IPAslink   ⲉⲉ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲟ Template:IPAslink
Open	ⲁ Template:IPAslink   ⲁⲁ Template:IPAslink

Akhmimic vowels

	Front	Back
Close	ⲉⲓ Template:IPAslink   ⲓⲉⲓ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲩ Template:IPAslink   ⲟⲩⲟⲩ Template:IPAslink
Close-mid	ⲏ Template:IPAslink	ⲱ Template:IPAslink
Open-mid	ⲉ Template:IPAslink   ⲉⲉ Template:IPAslink	ⲟⲟ Template:IPAslinkTemplate:Efn
Open	ⲁ Template:IPAslink   ⲁⲁ Template:IPAslink

There is no length distinction in final stressed position, but only those vowels that occur long appear there: Template:Angbr.

In Sahidic, the letter ⲉ was used for short Template:IPAslink before back fricatives, and also for unstressed schwa Template:IPAslink. It's possible there was also a distinction between short Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, but if so the functional load was extremely low.

Bohairic did not have long vowels. Template:IPAslink was only written Template:Angbr. As above, it's possible that Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink were distinct vowels rather than just allophones.

In Late Coptic (that is, Late Bohairic), the vowels were reduced to those found in Egyptian Arabic, . Template:Angbr became Template:IPAslink, Template:Angbr became Template:IPAslink, and Template:Angbr became either Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink. It is difficult to explain Template:Angbr. However, it generally became Template:IPAslink in stressed monosyllables, Template:IPAslink in unstressed monosyllables, and in polysyllables, Template:IPAslink when followed by Template:IPAslink, and Template:IPAslink 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 Template:Angbr.

Consonants

As with the vowels, there are differences of opinion over the correct interpretation of the Coptic consonant letters, particularly with regard to the letters ϫ and ϭ. ϫ is transcribed as Template:Angle bracket in many older Coptic sources and ϭ as Template:Angle bracketTemplate:Sfn or Template:Angle bracket. notes that the current conventional pronunciations are different from the probable ancient pronunciations: Sahidic ϫ was probably pronounced Template:IPAblink and ϭ was probably pronounced Template:IPAblink. suggests that ϫ was pronounced Template:IPAblink.

Beside being found in Greek loanwords, the letters Template:Angle bracket were used in native words for a sequence of plus Template:IPAslink, as in ⲑⲉ = ⲧ-ϩⲉ "the-way" (f.sg.) and ⲫⲟϥ = ⲡ-ϩⲟϥ "the-snake" (m.sg). The letters did not have this use in Bohairic, which used them for single sounds.

Coptic consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link ⟨ⲙ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲛ⟩
Obstruent	aspirateTemplate:Efn	Template:IPA linkTemplate:IPA link ⟨ⲫ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲑ⟩		Template:IPA link ⟨ϭ⟩Template:Efn	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲭ⟩
	tenuis	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲡ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲧ⟩		Template:IPA link ⟨ϫ⟩	Template:IPA linkTemplate:IPA link ⟨ϭ⟩Template:Efn	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲕ⟩
	fricative	Template:IPA link ⟨ϥ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲥ⟩		Template:IPA link ⟨ϣ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⳋ ⳃ⟩Template:Efn	Template:IPA link ⟨ϧ ⳉ⟩Template:Efn	Template:IPA link ⟨ϩ⟩
Approximant		Template:IPA link ⟨ⲃ⟩Template:Efn	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲣ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲗ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲉⲓ⟩	Template:IPA link ⟨ⲟⲩ⟩

It is possible that Coptic has a glottal stop, Template:IPAblink, though there is no definitive evidence. Supporters of this theory have posited that the glottal stop was represented with ⲁ word-initially, with ⲓ word-finally in monosyllabic words in northern dialects, and ⲉ in monosyllabic words in Akhmimic and Assiutic. In Sahidic, it has been postulated that it represented the second of a doubled vowel.

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.

Late Coptic consonants

Original pronunciation	Late pronunciation
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link (final Template:IPAblink)
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA linkTemplate:NoteTag
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link

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 as ⲡⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ, ⲃⲉⲛⲓⲡⲉ and ⲃⲓⲛⲓⲃⲉ. That probably reflects dialect variation. Both letters were interchanged with ⲫ and ϥ to indicate Template:IPAslink, and ⲃ was also used in many texts to indicate the bilabial approximant Template:IPAslink. Coptologists believe that Coptic ⲃ was articulated as a voiced bilabial fricative Template:IPAblink. In the present-day Coptic Church services, this letter is realised as Template:IPAslink, but it is almost certainly a result of the pronunciation reforms instituted in the 19th century.

Whereas Old Egyptian contrasts Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, the two sounds appear to be in free variation in Coptic, as they were since the Middle Egyptian period. However, they are contrasted only in Greek loans; for example, native Coptic ⲁⲛⲍⲏⲃ (anzēb) and ⲁⲛⲥⲏⲃⲉ (ansēbə) 'school' are homophonous. Other consonants that sometimes appear to be either in free variation or to have different distributions across dialects are Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink (especially in the Fayyumic dialect, a feature of earlier Egyptian) and Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, with the voiceless stop consonants being more common in Coptic words and the voiced ones in Greek borrowings. Apart from the liquid consonants, this pattern may indicate a sound 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 of consonant voicing in proximity to Template:IPAslink.

A few early manuscripts have a letter ⳋ or ⳃ ç where Sahidic and Bohairic have ϣ š. and Akhmimic has ⳉ x. This sound seems to have been lost early on.

Grammar

Coptic is primarily a fusional (inflectional) language, though some scholars, such as Template:Harvp, have suggested it has agglutinative or even polysynthetic tendencies. Its morphology relies heavily on prefixation and clitics, but these forms frequently encode multiple grammatical functions.Template:Sfn Its standard word order is subject–verb–object, though it can shift to verb–subject–object with the appropriate preposition before the subject. Number, gender, tense, and mood are marked by prefixes and clitics, which evolved from Late 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, the Middle Egyptian form *satāpafa ('he chooses', written stp.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.Template:Sfn

Nouns

All Coptic nouns carry grammatical gender, either masculine or feminine, usually marked through a definite article as in the Romance languages, though Coptic articles are prefixes rather than separate words. Masculine nouns are marked with the article and feminine nouns with the article Template:Sfn in the Sahidic dialect and and in the Bohairic dialect.

Bohairic: ⲡⲓⲣⲱⲙⲓ – 'the man' / ϯϫⲓϫ – 'the hand'

Sahidic: ⲡⲉⲣⲱⲙⲉ – 'the man' / ⲧⲉϫⲓϫ – 'the hand'

The definite and indefinite articles also indicate number; however, only definite articles mark gender. Coptic has a number of broken plurals, a vestige of Older Egyptian, but in the majority of cases, the article marks number. Generally, nouns inflected for plurality end in , but there are some irregularities. The dual was another feature of earlier Egyptian that survives in Coptic in only few words, such as ⲥⲛⲁⲩ (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 of possessive articles which are prefixed to the noun. These articles agree with the person, number, and gender of the possessor and the number and gender of the possessed noun. The forms of the possessive article vary according to dialect.

Coptic possessive articles

Person/Number/Gender		Dialect
Possessor	Possessed	Bohairic	Fayyumic	Oxyrhynchite	Sahidic	Lycopolitan	Akhmimic
Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲁ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲁ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲁ-
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉⲕ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉⲕ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉⲕ-
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉ-			ⲡⲟⲩ-	ⲡⲉ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉ-			ⲧⲟⲩ-	ⲧⲉ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉ-			ⲛⲟⲩ-	ⲛⲉ-
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉϥ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉϥ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉϥ-
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉⲥ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉⲥ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉⲥ-
Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉⲛ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉⲛ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉⲛ-
Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲛ-		ⲡⲉⲧⲛ̄-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲉⲧⲉⲛ-		ⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲛ-		ⲛⲉⲧⲛ̄-
Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl	ⲡⲟⲩ-	ⲡⲉⲩ-			ⲡⲟⲩ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲧⲟⲩ-	ⲧⲉⲩ-			ⲧⲟⲩ-
	Template:Gcl	ⲛⲟⲩ-	ⲛⲉⲩ-			ⲛⲟⲩ-

Examples

Translation	Dialect
	Bohairic	Fayyumic	Oxyrhynchite	Sahidic	Lycopolitan	Akhmimic
"my brother"	ⲡⲁ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲁ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲁ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲁ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"my sister"	ⲧⲁ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲁ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲁ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"my siblings"	ⲛⲁ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲁ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) brother"	ⲡⲉⲕ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲕ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲉⲕ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲕ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) sister"	ⲧⲉⲕ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉⲕ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉⲕ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) siblings"	ⲛⲉⲕ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉⲕ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) brother"	ⲡⲉ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲟⲩ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) sister"	ⲧⲉ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲟⲩ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"your (Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) siblings"	ⲛⲉ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ	ⲛⲟⲩ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ	ⲛⲉ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"his brother"	ⲡⲉϥ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉϥ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲉϥ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉϥ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"his sister"	ⲧⲉϥ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉϥ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉϥ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"his siblings"	ⲛⲉϥ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉϥ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"her brother"	ⲡⲉⲥ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲥ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲉⲥ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲥ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"her sister"	ⲧⲉⲥ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉⲥ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉⲥ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"her siblings"	ⲛⲉⲥ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉⲥ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"our brother"	ⲡⲉⲛ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲛ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲉⲛ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲛ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"our sister"	ⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"our siblings"	ⲛⲉⲛ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉⲛ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"your (Template:Gcl) brother"	ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲁⲛ	ⲡⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲁⲛ	ⲡⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲁⲛ
"your (Template:Gcl) sister"	ⲧⲉⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ		ⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"your (Template:Gcl) siblings"	ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲛ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ		ⲛⲉⲧⲛ̄-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ
"their brother"	ⲡⲟⲩ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲉⲩ-ⲥⲁⲛ		ⲡⲉⲩ-ⲥⲟⲛ	ⲡⲟⲩ-ⲥⲁⲛ
"their sister"	ⲧⲟⲩ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ	ⲧⲉⲩ-ⲥⲱⲛⲓ	ⲧⲉⲩ-ⲥⲟⲛⲉ	ⲧⲉⲩ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ	ⲧⲟⲩ-ⲥⲱⲛⲉ
"their siblings"	ⲛⲟⲩ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ	ⲛⲉⲩ-ⲥⲛⲏⲟⲩ	ⲛⲉⲩ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ		ⲛⲟⲩ-ⲥⲛⲏⲩ

Pronouns

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.

Pronouns of the Bohairic dialect

			Independent		Proclitic	As suffix
			Stressed	Unstressed
1st person	singular		ⲁⲛⲟⲕ	ⲁⲛ̀ⲕ-	ϯ-	⸗ⲓ
	plural		ⲁⲛⲟⲛ	ⲁⲛ-	ⲧⲉⲛ-	⸗ⲛ
2nd person	singular	masc.	ⲛ̀ⲑⲟⲕ	ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲕ-	ⲕ̀-	⸗ⲕ
		fem.	ⲛ̀ⲑⲟ	ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ-	ⲧⲉ- ⲧⲣ-	⸗ ⸗ⲉ ⸗ⲣ ⸗ⲣⲉ ⸗ⲧⲉ
	plural		ⲛ̀ⲑⲱⲧⲉⲛ	ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲛ-	ⲧⲉⲧⲉⲛ-	⸗ⲧⲉⲛ ⸗ⲧⲉⲧⲉⲛ
3rd person	singular	masc.	ⲛ̀ⲑⲟϥ		ϥ̀-	⸗ϥ
		fem.	ⲛ̀ⲑⲟⲥ		ⲥ̀-	⸗ⲥ
	plural		ⲛ̀ⲑⲱⲟⲩ		ⲥⲉ-	⸗ⲟⲩ

Adjectives

Most Coptic adjectives are actually nouns that have the attributive particle n to make them adjectival. In all stages of Egyptian, this morpheme is also used to express the genitive; for example, the Bohairic word for 'Egyptian', ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ , is a combination of the nominal prefix ⲣⲉⲙ- rem- (the reduced form of ⲣⲱⲙⲓ rōmi 'man'), followed by the genitive morpheme ⲛ̀ ən ('of') and finally the word for Egypt, ⲭⲏⲙⲓ kʰēmi.

Verbs

Verbal grade system

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' is kt. It has four derived forms:

1. ⲕⲟⲧ (the absolute state grade)
2. ⲕⲉⲧ- ket- (the nominal state grade)
3. ⲕⲟⲧ⸗ kot= (the pronominal state grade)
4. ⲕⲉⲧ (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 , 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:Template:Sfn

ABS:absolute state grade NOM:nominal state grade PRONOM: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 as Jernstedt's rule (or the Stern-Jernstedt rule) : 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		ⲡⲣ̀ϣ		ⲡⲱⲣϣ		ⲡⲟⲣϣ̀
Dig	ϣⲓⲕⲉ		ϣⲉⲕⲧ		ϣⲁⲕⲧ		ϣⲟⲕⲉ
Comfort	ⲥⲟⲗⲥⲗ̀		ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲗ̀		ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲱⲗ		ⲥⲗ̀ⲥⲱⲗ
Roll	ⲥⲕⲟⲣⲕⲣ̀		ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲣ̀		ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲱⲣ		ⲥⲕⲣ̀ⲕⲱⲣ
Build	ⲕⲱⲧ		ⲕⲉⲧ		ⲕⲟⲧ		ⲕⲏⲧ

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.

Tense/aspect/mood inflection

Coptic has a very large number of distinct tense-aspect-mood categories, expressed by particles which are either before the verb or before the subject. The future is a preverbal particle and follows the subject:Template:Sfn

In contrast, the perfective Template:IPAslink is a pre-subject particle:

There is some variation in the labels for the tense/aspect/mood categories. The chart below shows the labels from , , . (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'):

Tense name			Nominal subject		3rd M. Sg. Pronominal subject
Reintges	Lambdin	Plumley
First Present		Present I	_	NP	ϥ-	-
Second Present Circumstantial			ⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲉϥ-	-
Relative of First Present			ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲉⲧϥ̀-	-
Preterite Present	Imperfect	Imperfect	ⲛⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲛⲉϥ-	-
Preterite Past			ⲛⲉⲁ _	NP	ⲛⲉⲁϥ-	-
Future I			_ ⲛⲁ-	NP -	ϥⲛⲁ-	-
Future II			ⲉⲣⲉ _ ⲛⲁ-	NP -	ⲉϥⲛⲁ-	-
Future III			ⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲉϥⲉ-	-
	Negative Future III	Negative Future II	ⲛ̀ⲛⲉ _	NP	ⲛ̀ⲛⲉϥ-	-
	Imperfect of Future	Future Imperfect	ⲛⲉⲣⲉ _ ⲛⲁ-	NP -	ⲛⲉϥⲛⲁ-	-
Perfect I			ⲁ _	NP	ⲁϥ-	-
Negative Perfect I			ⲙ̀ⲡⲉ _	NP	ⲙ̀ⲡⲉϥ-	-
Perfect II			ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ _	NP	ⲛ̀ⲧⲉϥ-	-
Habitual			ϣⲁⲣⲉ _	NP	ϣⲁϥ-	-
Habitual I			ⲉϣⲁⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲉϣⲁϥ-	-
Negative Habitual			ⲙⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲙⲉϥ-	-
Jussive	Injunctive	Optative	ⲙⲁⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲙⲁⲣⲉϥ-	-
Conditional			ⲉⲣϣⲁⲛ _	NP	ⲉϥϣⲁⲛ-	-
Conjunctive			ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ _	NP	ⲛϥ̀-	-
Inferential	Future Conjunctive of Result	Future I	ⲧⲁⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲧⲁⲣⲉϥ-	-
Temporal			ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲣⲉ _	NP	ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲣⲉϥ-	-
Terminative	"Until"	"Unfulfilled action	ϣⲁⲛⲧⲉ _	NP	ϣⲁⲛⲧϥ̀-	-
	"Not yet"	"Unfulfilled action	ⲙ̀ⲡⲁⲧⲉ _	NP	ⲙ̀ⲡⲁⲧϥ̀-	-

An approximate range of use for most of the tense/aspect/mood categories is shown in the following table:

Tense name (Lambdin)	Approximate range of use
Present I	Present time in narrative (predicate focus)
Relative of Present I	Non-subject relative clause in present tense
Circumstantial	Background clauses; relative clauses with indefinite heads
Imperfect	Action in progress in the past
Future I	Simple future tense (predicate focus)
Future II	Simple future tense (adverbial focus)
Future III	Future tense conveyed as necessary, inevitable, or obligatory
Perfect I	Primary narrative tense (predicate focus)
Negative Perfect I	Negative of Perfect I
Perfect II	Primary narrative tense (adverbial focus); relative clause form of Perfect I
Habitual	Characteristic or habitual action
Negative Habitual	Negative of Habitual
Injunctive	Imperative for first and third persons ('let me', 'let him', etc.)
Conditional	Protasis (if-clause) of a conditional (if-then) statement
Conjunctive	Event shares the TAM of a preceding initial verb
Future Conjunctive of Result	Used in clauses that express a resultant action
Temporal	Past action in a subordinate temporal clause ("when NP V-ed, ...")

Second tenses

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.Template:Sfn

Prepositions

Coptic has prepositions, rather than postpositions:

Pronominal objects of prepositions are indicated with enclitic pronouns:

Many prepositions have different forms before the enclitic pronouns.Template:Sfn Compare:

Syntax

Sentential syntax

Coptic typically shows subject–verb–object (SVO) word order, as in the following examples:Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The verbs in these sentences are in the Template:Em,Template:Sfn which requires that its direct object be introduced with the preposition . This preposition functions like accusative case.

There is also an alternative Template:Em of the verb in which the direct object of the verb follows with no preposition:

Dialects

File:Historical Map of the Coptic Dialects.png

Historical Coptic dialects in Egypt

File:Sandstone stela, inscribed with Coptic text. The names Phoibammon and Abraham appear. From Egypt, find spot unknown, date known. The British Museum, London.jpg

Sandstone stela, inscribed with Coptic text. The names Phoibammon and Abraham appear. From Egypt, unknown finding place. The British Museum, London

File:Coptic and Arabic inscriptions in an Old Cairo church.jpg

Coptic 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 of Memphis, the capital of Egypt in the Old Kingdom. Later Egyptian is more representative of the dialects spoken in Upper Egypt, especially around the area of Thebes 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 into Nubia, 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.

Lower Egyptian dialects

Bohairic

File:Papyrus Bodmer III p. 142.png

Papyrus Bodmer III is an early Bohairic manuscript containing the Gospel of John and parts of Genesis

The Bohairic (also known as Memphitic) dialect originated in the western Nile 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 in lexicon and phonology 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 (see Coptic 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.

Upper Egyptian dialects

Sahidic

File:Shred of a pottery vessel inscribed with 5 lines, Coptic Sahidic language. Byzantine period, 6th century CE. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg

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 term Aṣ-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.Template:Sfn Around 300 it began to be written in literary form, including translations of major portions of the Bible (see Coptic 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

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.

Fayyumic

Fayyumic (also known as Crocodilopolic; in older works it is often called Bashmuric) was spoken primarily in the Faiyum west of the Nile Valley. It is attested from the 3rd to the 10th centuries. It is most notable for writing ⲗ (which corresponds to Template:IPAslink), where other dialects generally use ⲣ Template:IPAslink (probably corresponding to a flap Template:IPAblink). In earlier stages of Egyptian, the liquids were not distinguished in writing until the New Kingdom, when Late Egyptian became the administrative language. Late Egyptian orthography utilised a grapheme that combined the graphemes for Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink in order to express Template:IPAslink. Demotic for its part indicated Template:IPAslink using a diacritic variety of Template:IPAslink.

South Fayyumic

South Fayyumic (also called Dialect V) was spoken around modern towns of Beni Suef and Bush and is distinguished from central Fayyumic by not having lambdacism.

Ashmuninic

Ashmuninic (also known as Hermopolic or Dialect H) was spoken around the city of Shmun and shares South Fayyumic features like vowel gemination and absence of lambdacism.

Oxyrhynchite

Oxyrhynchite (also known as Mesokemic or, confusingly, Middle Egyptian) is the dialect of Oxyrhynchus and surrounding areas. It shows similarities with Fayyumic and is attested in manuscripts from the fourth and fifth centuries.

Lycopolitan

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 of Asyut. The main differences between the two dialects seem to be graphic in nature. The Lycopolitan variety was used extensively for translations of Gnostic and Manichaean works, including the texts of the Nag Hammadi library.

Akhmimic

Akhmimic (also called Chemmic or Panopolic) was the dialect of the area around the town of Akhmim (Template:Langx). 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 the phoneme Template:IPAslink, which is realised as Template:IPAslink in most other dialects.

Aswanic

Aswanic (also known as Syenic) was the dialect of the area around the town of Aswan. 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 standard Coptic it is said Afso, which means drank, but in the Aswanic dialect it is said Hafso. It also has a distinctive way of writing; so the letter "ⲃ" is written instead of the letter "ϥ".

Sample text

Coptic: ⲥⲟⲩⲙⲟⲥⲉ ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲩϣⲏϣ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲩⲉⲣⲏⲩ ϩⲛ ⲟⲩⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥⲩⲛⲏ. ⲟⲩⲛ ϭⲟⲙ ⲙⲙⲟⲩ ⲉⲧⲣⲉⲩⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲁⲩⲱ ϣϣⲉ ⲉⲧⲣⲉⲩⲣ-ⲙⲛⲧⲙⲁⲓⲥⲟⲛ.Template:Self-published source

Bohairic Coptic: Ⲉ̀ⲫ̀ⲟⲩⲁⲓ ⲥⲉⲙⲓⲥⲓ ⲣⲉⲙϩⲉⲩ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲉⲧϣⲱϣ ⲉ̀ ⲁⲝⲓⲁ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥⲩⲛⲏ. Ⲛ̀ⲑⲱⲟⲩ ⲥⲉⲉⲣϩ̀ⲙⲟⲧ ⲅⲛⲱⲙⲏ ⲛⲉⲙ ⲥⲩⲛⲏⲇⲏⲥⲓⲥ ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲙ̀ⲡⲉⲛⲑⲣⲉⲩⲁⲣϣⲏⲧ ⲙ̀ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲱⲙⲓ ϩⲓⲛⲁ ⲛ̀ⲑⲱⲟⲩ ⲙ̀ⲫ̀ⲣⲏϯ ⲛ̀ⲥ̀ⲛⲏⲟⲩ.

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.

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.

See also

• British Library Coptic Language Collection
• List of Coptic place names
• Rosetta Stone

Further reading

General studies

• Emmel, Stephen. 1992. "Languages (Coptic)". In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, edited by David Noel Freedman. Vol. 4 of 6 vols. New York: Doubleday. 180–188.
• Kasser, Radolphe. 1991. "Dialects". In The Coptic Encyclopedia, edited by Aziz Suryal Atiya. Vol. 8 of 8 vols. New York and Toronto: Macmillan Publishing Company and Collier Macmillan Canada. 87–96.
• Wolfgang Kosack. Lehrbuch des Koptischen.Teil I:Koptische Grammatik.Teil II:Koptische Lesestücke, Graz 1974.
• Polotsky, Hans Jakob. 1971. "Coptic". In Afroasiatic: A Survey, edited by Carleton Taylor Hodge. (Jana Linguarum: Series Practica; 163). 's Gravenhage and Paris: Mouton. 67–79.

Grammars and grammatical studies

• Chaîne, Marius. 1933. Éléments de grammaire dialectale copte: bohairique, sahidique, achmimique, fayoumique. Paris: Paul Geuthner.
• Eberle, Andrea, & Regine Schulz. 2004. Koptisch – Ein Leitfaden durch das Saïdische. LINCOM Languages of the World/Materials 07. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
• Layton, Bentley. 2000. A Coptic Grammar (Sahidic Dialect): With a Chrestomathy and Glossary. (Porta linguarum orientalium; N.S., 20). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Mallon, Alexis. 1956. Grammaire copte: bibliographie, chrestomathie et vocabulaire. 4th edition. Beyrouth.
• Mattar, Nabil. 1990. A Study in Bohairic Coptic. Pasadena: Hope Publishing House.
• Polotsky, Hans Jakob. 1987. Grundlagen des koptischen Satzbaus. American Studies in Papyrology 28. Decatur, Ga.: Scholars Press.
• Shisha-Halevy, Ariel. 1988. Coptic Grammatical Chrestomathy: a course for academic and private study. Orientalia lovaniensia analecta 30. Leuven: Peeters.
• Shisha-Halevy, Ariel. 1986. Coptic Grammatical Categories: Structural Studies in the Syntax of Shenoutean Sahidic. Analecta Orientalia 53. Roma: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum. Template:ISBN.
• Shisha-Halevy, Ariel. 2007. Topics in Coptic Syntax: Structural Studies in the Bohairic Dialect. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 160. Leuven – Paris – Dudley, MA: Peeters. Template:ISBN.
• Tattam, Henry, A compendious grammar of the Egyptian language as contained in the Coptic, Sahidic, and Bashmuric Dialects (London 1863)
• Till, Walter C. 1994. Koptische Dialektgrammatik. Berlin: Walter De Gruyter.
• Vergote, Jozef. 1973–1983. Grammaire copte. Leuven: Peeters.
• Younan, Sameh. 2005. So, you want to learn Coptic? A guide to Bohairic Grammar. Sydney: St.Mary, St.Bakhomious and St.Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church.

Dictionaries

• Černý, Jaroslav. 1976. Coptic Etymological Dictionary. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Crum, Walter Ewing. 1939. [1]A Coptic Dictionary]. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Reprinted by Sandpiper Books Ltd, London & Powells Books, Chicago, 2000.
• Wolfgang Kosack: Koptisches Handlexikon des Bohairischen. Koptisch – Deutsch – Arabisch. Verlag Christoph Brunner, Basel 2013, Template:ISBN.
• Vycichl, Werner. 1983. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue copte. Leuven: Éditions Peeters.
• Westendorf, Wolfhart. 1965/1977. Koptisches Handwörterbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.

Phonology

• Depuydt, Leo. 1993. "On Coptic Sounds", Orientalia 62 (new series): 338–75.
• Grossman, Eitan and Martin Haspelmath. 2015. "The Leipzig-Jerusalem Transliteration of Coptic", Egyptian-Coptic Linguistics in Typological Perspective, eds., Eitan Grossman, Martin Haspelmath & Tonio Sebastian Richter. Berlin/Munich/Boston: Walter de Gruyter. 145–56.
• Isḥāḳ, Emile Māher. 1975. "The phonetics and phonology of the Boḥairic dialect of Coptic and the Survival of Coptic Word in the Colloquial and Classical Arabic of Egypt and of Coptic Grammatical Constructions in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic". University of Oxford. 32-671.
• Loprieno, Antonio. 1997. "Egyptian and Coptic Phonology", Phonologies of Asia and Africa (Including the Caucasus), vol. 1, ed., Alan S. Kaye. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. 431–60.

Bibliographies

• Kammerer, Winifred (compiler), A Coptic Bibliography, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950. (Reprint New York: Kraus Reprint Co., 1969)
• 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, Template:ISBN.
• 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, Template:ISBN.
• 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. Template:ISBN.
• 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. Template:ISBN.

External links

• By Alin Suciu, a blog on Coptic literature and manuscripts
• France-copte.net By Mikhail David, French coptic site.
• Copticsounds – a resource for the study of Coptic phonology
• ⲡⲓⲥⲁϧⲟ Template:Webarchive: Coptic language internet links Template:Webarchive and bibliography Template:Webarchive
• Coptica.ch Online library of Coptic texts at University of Geneva (site text in French)
• New Athena Unicode font; includes the new Coptic range
• Online Coptic tutorial
• A comprehensive Coptic language resource (Remenkimi) (Internet Archive)
• Coptic block in the Unicode 4.1 standard
• Heike Behlmer, Selected Bibliography on the Coptic Language
• Coptic texts and manuscripts at Leiden University Library
• Ifao N Copte – A professional Coptic font for researchers.
• a set of Coptic fonts
• GNU FreeFont—FreeSerif face includes a Coptic range.