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.
The liturgical language is based on the Bohairic dialect which was spoken in Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta.
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.
ⲛⲁⲛⲉ ⲧⲟⲟⲩⲓ.
Ⲡⲓⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥⲁϥⲧⲱⲛϥ !
ⲁⲕⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?
ⲁⲣⲉⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲉⲛⲉⲣ ⲟⲩ?
John 1:1 in Coptic
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.
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| 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.
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| 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 Khēmiⲕⲏⲙⲉ Kēme
Arabic
قبط
Qibt
Ancient Egyptian
Kmt
Kemet
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| 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.
Some phrases in Coptic
ⲭⲉⲣⲉ
khārā
Hello (from Greek χαίρε)
ⲛⲟϥⲣⲓ
Nofri
Hi,hello.
nanā to-oui
Good morning
ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ
oujai
Bye
ⲥⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ
sephmot
Thanx
Pikhristos Aftōnf
Christ is risen!
aker ou?(m.)
How are you?
areer ou? (f.)
How are you?
aretener ou? (pl.)
How are you?
Ⲙⲉⲧ
Met
Words, language
ⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ
Met Remenkēmi
Coptic language
ϯⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ
TiMetRemenkēmi
the Coptic language.
ϯ
Ti
the
definite article
Read also
Sample text
ϩⲛ̅ ⲧⲉϩⲟⲩⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛ̅ϭⲓ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ. ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛ̅ⲛⲁϩⲣⲙ̅ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ. ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉⲩⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ.
hn̅ tehoueite nefšoop n̅ci pšaje. auô pšaje nefšoop n̅nahrm̅ pnoute. auô neunoute pe pšaje.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was in the presence of the god, and the word was a god.
ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ
Pshaje
Word
ⲁⲩⲱ
Auo
And
ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ
Pnoute
The god
ⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ
Noute
God
Ancient Egyptian neter (divine).
Read also
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