Coptic language
Coptic (Bohairic Coptic: ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Timetremǹkhēmi) is a group of closely related Egyptian dialects,[2] representing the most recent developments of the Egyptian language,[2][4] and historically spoken by the Copts, starting from the third century AD in Roman Egypt.[1] It was commonly spoken until at least the 16th century when it was completely replaced by the Arabic language under the Mamluk empire.[5] Coptic has no native speakers today,[6] although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church.[4] Innovations in grammar and phonology and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language. It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with several additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script.[4]
Coptic
- Literary: c. 3rd – c. 14th century AD (Roman Egypt)[1]
- Spoken: c. 3rd – c. 17th or 19th century AD[2] [note 1]
- Liturgical: c. 3rd century AD – present[2]
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Egyptian
- Coptic
- Bohairic
- Sahidic
- Akhmimic
- Lycopolitan
- Fayyumic
- Oxyrhynchite
The major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmimic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan, and Oxyrhynchite. Sahidic Coptic was spoken between the cities of Asyut and Oxyrhynchus[7] and flourished as a literary language across Egypt in the period c. 325 – c. 800 AD.[4] Bohairic, the language of the Nile Delta, gained prominence in the 9th century and is the dialect used by the Coptic Church.[2] Despite being closely related, Coptic dialects differ from one another in terms of their phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary.
Name[edit]
In Coptic the language is called ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (timetremǹkhēmi) "Egyptian" or ϯⲁⲥⲡⲓ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (tiaspi ǹremǹkhēmi) "the Egyptian language". Coptic also possessed the term ⲅⲩⲡⲧⲓⲟⲥ (gyptios) "Egyptian", derived from Greek Αἰγύπτιος (Aigúptios). This was borrowed into Arabic as قبْط (qibṭ/qubṭ), and from there into the languages of Europe, giving rise to words like French copte and English Copt.
The verbs in these sentences are in the absolute state grade,[35] which requires that its direct object be introduced with the preposition /ən, əm/. This preposition functions like accusative case.
There is also an alternative nominal state grade of the verb in which the direct object of the verb follows with no preposition: