Coptic language

The Coptic language, otherwise referred to as Copt for short, is an Egyptian language that was spoken by many people in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Now, only a few people speak it.

Coptic
ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ~ ⲧⲙⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲕⲏⲙⲉ
Native to	Egypt
Ethnicity	Egyptians
Era	2nd – 17th century; survives as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, with sporadic attempts at revival
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Egyptian Coptic
Early forms:	Archaic Egyptian Old Egyptian Middle Egyptian Late Egyptian Demotic Coptic
Writing system	Coptic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-2	cop
ISO 639-3	cop

Fragment of Coptic book

Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century. The new writing system became the Coptic script, an adapted Greek alphabet with the addition of six or seven signs from the Demotic script to represent Egyptian sounds that the Greek language did not have. The two most common dialects are Sahidic and Bohairic.

Coptic and Demotic Egyptian are very similar to the earlier Egyptian language, written in the hieroglyphic script. Coptic flourished as a literary language from the 2nd to 13th centuries, and its Bohairic dialect continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. It was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic as a spoken language toward the early modern period. The Copts have tried to revive the language since the 19th century.

Coptic Language Media

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

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  Coptic liturgical inscription from Upper Egypt, dated to the fifth or sixth century.

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  Page from 19th-century Coptic-language grammar

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

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

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  Coptic and Arabic inscriptions in an Old Cairo church

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

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  Pottery shard inscribed with 5 lines in Coptic Sahidic. Byzantine period, 6th century AD. From Thebes, Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London