Coptic | |
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ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ (Timetremənkʰēmi) | |
Native to | Egypt |
Ethnicity | Copts |
Era |
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Afro-Asiatic
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Early forms | |
Dialects |
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Coptic alphabet | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | cop |
ISO 639-3 | cop |
cop | |
Glottolog | copt1239 |
![]() Historical map of the distribution of the Coptic dialects.[citation needed] | |
![]() Coptic is classified as Extinct according to the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[3] | |
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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 Sultanate.[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]
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]
...four main dialects were spoken in Graeco-Roman Egypt: Bohairic in the Delta, Fayumic in the Fayum, Sahidic between approximately Oxyrhynchus and Lykopolis and Akhmimic between Panopolis and Elephantine.
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