The language of the Pharaohs lives on! ~ linguae scriptaque

Coptic: The Last Stage of the Ancient Egyptian Language

Coptic is the descendant of Ancient Egyptian (Medu Neter, "divine words") and survived as a spoken language until the 17th century. However, it still exists today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt. It is estimated that there are about six and a half million Coptic Christians today.

**Ancient Egyptian Medu (Words) and Coptic Ⲙⲉⲧ (Met)**

The liturgical language is based on the Bohairic dialect, which was spoken in Lower Egypt, particularly in the Nile Delta. Over time, Coptic fell out of daily use and was fully replaced by Egyptian Arabic.

Coptic Dialects

Coptic was divided into six major dialects, with the most prominent being Bohairic and Sahidic. The differences between these dialects lie in phonology, morphology, and some aspects of grammar, but they are not significant enough to make them mutually unintelligible.

Coptic and Its Linguistic Family

Coptic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family, along with Arabic and Hebrew. It evolved from Demotic Egyptian during late antiquity.

The Name of Egypt in Coptic, Arabic, and Ancient Egyptian

Coptic:
- ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (Khēmi)
- ⲕⲏⲙⲉ (Kēme)
Arabic: قبط‎ (Qibt, referring to Copts)
Ancient Egyptian: Kmt (Kemet – "the Black Land")

Coptic and Greek Influence

There is a widespread misconception that the Greek alphabet was adopted for Coptic by Christians. However, this is not the case. Greek influence in Egypt began as early as the 7th century BCE, when Greeks founded the trade colony of Naucratis in the Nile Delta. Later, many Greek cities were established in Cyrenaica.

Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria, which became a major cultural and intellectual center. After his death, Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemaic Dynasty, during which Greek became the common language. This continued under the Roman and Byzantine Empires, both of which maintained Greek as the dominant language in administration and culture.

As a result, the Greek alphabet began to be used to write Ancient Egyptian, eventually evolving into Coptic, long before the Christian era. Some additional letters from Demotic Egyptian were incorporated to represent sounds not found in Greek.

Coptic did not only adopt the Greek alphabet—it also borrowed many Greek words and phrases. Furthermore, after the adoption of Christianity, many traditional Egyptian religious terms were replaced by Greek equivalents.

Common Coptic Phrases

ⲭⲉⲣⲉ (Khārā) – Hello (from Greek χαίρε)
ⲛⲟϥⲣⲓ (Nofri) – Hi, hello
ⲛⲁⲛⲉ ⲧⲟⲟⲩⲓ. (Nanā to-oui) – Good morning
ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ (Oujai) – Bye
ⲥⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ (Sephmot) – Thanks

Coptic Christian Phrase

Ⲡⲓⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥⲁϥⲧⲱⲛϥ! (Pikhristos Aftōnf!) – Christ is risen!

How to Ask "How Are You?" in Coptic

ⲁⲕⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ? (Aker ou?) – How are you? (to a man)
ⲁⲣⲉⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ? (Areer ou?) – How are you? (to a woman)
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲉⲛⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ? (Aretener ou?) – How are you? (to a group)

Coptic Language Terminology

Ⲙⲉⲧ (Met) – Words, language
ⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ (Met Remenkēmi) – Coptic language
ϯⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ (TiMetRemenkēmi) – The Coptic language

Grammar Note: Definite Article in Coptic

ϯ (Ti) – The (definite article)

Coptic Text Sample: John 1:1

Coptic Text:
ϩⲛ̅ ⲧⲉϩⲟⲩⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛ̅ϭⲓ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ. ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛ̅ⲛⲁϩⲣⲙ̅ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ. ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉⲩⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ.

Transliteration:
hn̅ tehoueite nefšoop n̅ci pšaje. auô pšaje nefšoop n̅nahrm̅ pnoute. auô neunoute pe pšaje.

English Translation:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in the presence of God, and the Word was God."

Key Vocabulary from John 1:1

ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ (Pshaje) – Word
ⲁⲩⲱ (Auo) – And
ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ (Pnoute) – The God
ⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ (Noute) – God (from Ancient Egyptian Neter, "divine")

Coptic is the descendant of Ancient Egyptian (Medu neter, divine words) which survived up to the 17nth century as a spoken language.

Nevertheless it still survives as a liturgical language of the Christian Coptic Church in Egypt.It is estimated that there are about six and a half million Coptic Christians today.

Compare Ancient Egyptian medu (words) with Coptic Ⲙⲉⲧ (met).

The liturgical language is based on the Bohairic dialect which was spoken in Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta.

It eventually fell out of use and was fully replaced by Egyptian Arabic in eveyday life.

Coptic cross

Coptic dialects

Coptic was divided in six major dialects the most prominent Bohairic and Sahidic. The differences are in phonology, morphology and some grammar but they are not significant enough to set them far apart.

Coptic dialects

Coptic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic macro family along with Arabic and Hebrew.It evolved from Demotic Egyptian during late antiquity.

Egypt in Coptic

Coptic

ⲭⲏⲙⲓ Khēmi

ⲕⲏⲙⲉ Kēme

Arabic

قبط‎

Qibt

Ancient Egyptian

Kmt

Kemet

Kemet- the black land- Egypt

Coptic and Greek

There is widespread misconception that the Greek alphabet was adopted for Coptic by Christians. But this is not the case.

Greek presence in Egypt started in the 7nth century BCE when Greeks founded the trade colony of Naucratis in the Nile Delta. Then numerous cities were established in Cyrenaica. Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria after conquering Egypt naming it after him.

After the death of Alexander ,during the Ptolemaic rule of Egypt, Greek became the common language. Next came the Roman Empire which didn't change the linguistic status quo in the East and then followed by the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire.

As a consequence, the Greek alphabet started being used to write Ancient Egyptian then Coptic early before Christian times. Some additional letters were used from Demotic Egyptian to represent sounds not found in Greek.

The alphabet wasn't the only thing Coptic adopted from Greek- a lot of Greek words and phrases were introduced,too. All previous Egyptian religious terms were replaced by Greek after the adoption of Christianity.

Some phrases in Coptic

ⲭⲉⲣⲉ

khārā

Hello (from Greek χαίρε)

ⲛⲟϥⲣⲓ

Nofri

Hi,hello.

ⲛⲁⲛⲉ ⲧⲟⲟⲩⲓ.

nanā to-oui

Good morning

ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ

oujai

Bye

ⲥⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ

sephmot

Thanx

Ⲡⲓⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥⲁϥⲧⲱⲛϥ !

Pikhristos Aftōnf

Christ is risen!

ⲁⲕⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?

aker ou?(m.)

How are you?

ⲁⲣⲉⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?

areer ou? (f.)

How are you?

ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲉⲛⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?

aretener ou? (pl.)

How are you?

Ⲙⲉⲧ

Met

Words, language

ⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ

Met Remenkēmi

Coptic language

ϯⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ

TiMetRemenkēmi

the Coptic language.

the

definite article