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{{alphabet}}
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The Coptic alphabet has a long history, going back to the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Hellenistic]] period, of using the Greek alphabet to [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribe]] Demotic texts, with the aim of recording the correct pronunciation of the Demotic. During the first two centuries of the [[Common Era]], an entire series of magical texts were written in what scholars term ''Old Coptic'', Egyptian language texts written in the Greek alphabet. A number of letters, however, were derived from Demotic, and many of these (though not all) are used in "true" Coptic writing. With the spread of [[Christianity]] in Egypt, by the late [[3rd century AD]] knowledge of [[Egyptian hieroglyph|hieroglyphic]] writing was lost, as well as Demotic slightly later, making way for a writing system more closely associated with the Christian church. By the 4th century the Coptic alphabet was "standardised", particularly for the Sahidic dialect. (It should be noted that there are a number of differences between the alphabets as used in the various dialects in Coptic.)
The Coptic alphabet has a long history, going back to the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Hellenistic]] period, of using the Greek alphabet to [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribe]] Demotic texts, with the aim of recording the correct pronunciation of the Demotic. During the first two centuries of the [[Christian Era]], an entire series of magical texts were written in what scholars term ''Old Coptic'', Egyptian language texts written in the Greek alphabet. A number of letters, however, were derived from Demotic, and many of these (though not all) are used in "true" Coptic writing. With the spread of [[Christianity]] in Egypt, by the late [[3rd century AD]] knowledge of [[Egyptian hieroglyph|hieroglyphic]] writing was lost, as well as Demotic slightly later, making way for a writing system more closely associated with the Christian church. By the 4th century the Coptic alphabet was "standardised", particularly for the Sahidic dialect. (It should be noted that there are a number of differences between the alphabets as used in the various dialects in Coptic.)
The alphabet is still used by the members of the [[Coptic Church]] to write their [[religion|religious]] texts. All the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] codices found in [[Nag Hammadi]] used the Coptic alphabet.
The alphabet is still used by the members of the [[Coptic Church]] to write their [[religion|religious]] texts. All the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] codices found in [[Nag Hammadi]] used the Coptic alphabet.


Revision as of 15:29, 30 September 2008

Coptic alphabet
Script type
Time period
c. 300 AD to 14th century AD (Still used today in coptic churches in Egypt and abroad)
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesCoptic language
Related scripts
Parent systems
Sister systems
Old Nubian
Latin
Cyrillic
Armenian
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Copt (204), ​Coptic
Unicode
Unicode alias
Coptic
U+2C80 to U+2CFF
U+03E2 to U+03EF
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
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The Coptic alphabet is the script used for writing the Coptic language. The repertoire of glyphs is based on the Greek alphabet augmented by letters borrowed from the Demotic. There are in fact several Coptic alphabets as the Coptic writing system may vary greatly among the various dialects and subdialects of the Coptic language.

History

Coptic letters in a florid Bohairic script
History of the alphabet

The Coptic alphabet has a long history, going back to the Hellenistic period, of using the Greek alphabet to transcribe Demotic texts, with the aim of recording the correct pronunciation of the Demotic. During the first two centuries of the Christian Era, an entire series of magical texts were written in what scholars term Old Coptic, Egyptian language texts written in the Greek alphabet. A number of letters, however, were derived from Demotic, and many of these (though not all) are used in "true" Coptic writing. With the spread of Christianity in Egypt, by the late 3rd century AD knowledge of hieroglyphic writing was lost, as well as Demotic slightly later, making way for a writing system more closely associated with the Christian church. By the 4th century the Coptic alphabet was "standardised", particularly for the Sahidic dialect. (It should be noted that there are a number of differences between the alphabets as used in the various dialects in Coptic.) The alphabet is still used by the members of the Coptic Church to write their religious texts. All the Gnostic codices found in Nag Hammadi used the Coptic alphabet.

The Old Nubian alphabet—used to write Old Nubian, a Nilo-Saharan language —is written mainly in an uncial Greek alphabet, which borrows Coptic and Meroitic letters of Demotic origin into its inventory.

Unicode

In Unicode, most Coptic letters formerly shared codepoints with similar Greek letters, but a disunification has been accepted for version 4.1, which appeared in 2005. The new Coptic block is U+2C80 to U+2CFF. The Greek block includes seven Coptic letters derived from Demotic, and need to be included in any complete implementation of Coptic.

Coptic[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+2C8x Ⲁ ⲁ Ⲃ ⲃ Ⲅ ⲅ Ⲇ ⲇ Ⲉ ⲉ Ⲋ ⲋ Ⲍ ⲍ Ⲏ ⲏ
U+2C9x Ⲑ ⲑ Ⲓ ⲓ Ⲕ ⲕ Ⲗ ⲗ Ⲙ ⲙ Ⲛ ⲛ Ⲝ ⲝ Ⲟ ⲟ
U+2CAx Ⲡ ⲡ Ⲣ ⲣ Ⲥ ⲥ Ⲧ ⲧ Ⲩ ⲩ Ⲫ ⲫ Ⲭ ⲭ Ⲯ ⲯ
U+2CBx Ⲱ ⲱ Ⲳ ⲳ Ⲵ ⲵ Ⲷ ⲷ Ⲹ ⲹ Ⲻ ⲻ Ⲽ ⲽ Ⲿ ⲿ
U+2CCx Ⳁ ⳁ Ⳃ ⳃ Ⳅ ⳅ Ⳇ ⳇ Ⳉ ⳉ Ⳋ ⳋ Ⳍ ⳍ Ⳏ ⳏ
U+2CDx Ⳑ ⳑ Ⳓ ⳓ Ⳕ ⳕ Ⳗ ⳗ Ⳙ ⳙ Ⳛ ⳛ Ⳝ ⳝ Ⳟ ⳟ
U+2CEx Ⳡ ⳡ Ⳣ ⳣ ⳤ ⳥ ⳦ ⳧ ⳨ ⳩ ⳪ Ⳬ ⳬ Ⳮ ⳮ ⳯
U+2CFx ⳰ ⳱ Ⳳ ⳳ ⳹ ⳺ ⳻ ⳼ ⳽ ⳾ ⳿
Notes
1. ^ As of Unicode version 16.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Alphabet table

image majuscule minuscule numeric value name translit. (IPA)
Ⲁ ⲁ 1 alpʰa a ([ɑ, ʕ, ʔ])
Ⲃ ⲃ 2 bēta b, v, w
Ⲅ ⲅ 3 gamma g (/k/, /g, ŋ, ɣ/)
Ⲇ ⲇ 4 dalda d (/d, ð/)
Ⲉ ⲉ 5 ei e
Ⲋ ⲋ 6 sou –
Ⲍ ⲍ 7 zēta z (/s/, /z/)
Ⲏ ⲏ 8 ēta ē (/eː, ɛː, i/)
Ⲑ ⲑ 9 tʰēta tʰ (/tʰ, θ/)
Ⲓ ⲓ 10 iōta i (/i, j/)
Ⲕ ⲕ 20 kappa k, q
Ⲗ ⲗ 30 laula l
Ⲙ ⲙ 40 mē m
Ⲛ ⲛ 50 nē n
Ⲝ ⲝ 60 kˢi kˢ (/ks/)
Ⲟ ⲟ 70 ou o
Ⲡ ⲡ 80 pi p, b
Ⲣ ⲣ 100 rō r
Ⲥ ⲥ 200 sēmma s
Ⲧ ⲧ 300 tau t (/t, d/)
Ⲩ ⲩ 400 he u (/u, w, i, v/)
Ⲫ ⲫ 500 pʰi pʰ (/pʰ, f/)
Ⲭ ⲭ 600 kʰi kʰ (/kʰ, χ, ʃ/)
Ⲯ ⲯ 700 pˢi pˢ (/ps/)
Ⲱ ⲱ 800 ō ō (/oː/)
Ϣ ϣ šai š (/ʃ/)
Ϥ ϥ 90 fai f
Ϧ ϧ ḫai ḫ (/x/)
Ϩ ϩ hori h, ḥ
Ϫ ϫ ḏanḏia ḏ (/ʤ, g, ɟ/)
Ϭ ϭ čima č (/q, ʧ, gʲ, ʃ/)
Ϯ ϯ ti ti (/ti, c/)
Ⳁ ⳁ 900 pˢis ənše

Letters derived from the demotic:

hieroglyph   demotic   coptic
SA
 → → Ϣ š
f
 → → Ϥ f
M12
 → → Ϧ ḫ
F18
Y1
→ → Ϩ h
U29
 → → Ϫ ḏ
k
 → → Ϭ č
D37
t
→ → Ϯ ti

See also

References

  • Quaegebeur, Jan. 1982. "De la préhistoire de l'écriture copte." Orientalia lovaniensia analecta 13:125–136.
  • Ritner, Robert Kriech. 1996. "The Coptic Alphabet". In The World's Writing Systems, edited by Peter T. Daniels and William Bright. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. 287–290.
  • Kasser, Rodolphe. 1991. "Alphabet in Coptic, Greek". In The Coptic Encyclopedia, edited by Aziz S. Atiya. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Volume 8. 30–32.
  • Kasser, Rodolphe. 1991. "Alphabets, Coptic". In The Coptic Encyclopedia, edited by Aziz S. Atiya. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Volume 8. 32–41.
  • Kasser, Rodolphe. 1991. "Alphabets, Old Coptic". In The Coptic Encyclopedia, edited by Aziz S. Atiya. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Volume 8. 41–45.
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