Coptic alphabet

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

Template:Infobox WS 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.

Contents 1 History 2 Unicode 3 Alphabet table 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History

History of the alphabet
Middle Bronze Age 19th c. BCE Ugaritic 15th c. BCE Proto-Canaanite 14th c. BCE Phoenician 11th c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10th c. BCE Samaritan 6th c. BCE Aramaic 8th c. BCE Brāhmī & Indic 6th c. BCE Tibetan 7th c. Khmer/Javanese 9th c. Hebrew 3rd c. BCE Syriac 2nd c. BCE Nabatean 2nd c. BCE Arabic 4th c. Pahlavi 3nd c. BCE Avestan 4th c. Greek 9th c. BCE Etruscan 8th c. BCE Latin 7th c. BCE Runes 2nd c. Gothic 3th c. Armenian 405 Glagolitic 862 Cyrillic 10th c. Paleohispanic 7th c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9th c. BCE Ge'ez 5–6th c. BCE
Meroitic 3rd c. BCE
Ogham 4th c.
Hangul 1443
Canadian Syllabics 1840
Zhuyin 1913
complete genealogy

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 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 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 Unicode.org chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

Template:Latinx

Ⲁ

ⲁ

Ⲃ

ⲃ

Ⲅ

ⲅ

Ⲇ

ⲇ

Ⲉ

ⲉ

Ⲋ

ⲋ

Ⲍ

ⲍ

Ⲏ

ⲏ

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Ⲑ

ⲑ

Ⲓ

ⲓ

Ⲕ

ⲕ

Ⲗ

ⲗ

Ⲙ

ⲙ

Ⲛ

ⲛ

Ⲝ

ⲝ

Ⲟ

ⲟ

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Ⲡ

ⲡ

Ⲣ

ⲣ

Ⲥ

ⲥ

Ⲧ

ⲧ

Ⲩ

ⲩ

Ⲫ

ⲫ

Ⲭ

ⲭ

Ⲯ

ⲯ

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Ⲱ

ⲱ

Ⲳ

ⲳ

Ⲵ

ⲵ

Ⲷ

ⲷ

Ⲹ

ⲹ

Ⲻ

ⲻ

Ⲽ

ⲽ

Ⲿ

ⲿ

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Ⳁ

ⳁ

Ⳃ

ⳃ

Ⳅ

ⳅ

Ⳇ

ⳇ

Ⳉ

ⳉ

Ⳋ

ⳋ

Ⳍ

ⳍ

Ⳏ

ⳏ

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Ⳑ

ⳑ

Ⳓ

ⳓ

Ⳕ

ⳕ

Ⳗ

ⳗ

Ⳙ

ⳙ

Ⳛ

ⳛ

Ⳝ

ⳝ

Ⳟ

ⳟ

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Ⳡ

ⳡ

Ⳣ

ⳣ

ⳤ

⳥

⳦

⳧

⳨

⳩

⳪

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⳹

⳺

⳻

⳼

⳽

⳾

⳿

Alphabet table

image	majuscule	minuscule	numeric value	name	translit. (IPA)
Image:Copte a.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	1	alpʰa	a ([ɑ, ʕ, ʔ])
Image:Copte b.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	2	bēta	b, v, w
Image:Copte g.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	3	gamma	g (/k/, /g, ŋ, ɣ/)
Image:Copte d.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	4	dalda	d (/d, ð/)
Image:Copte e.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	5	ei	e
Image:Copte soou.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	6	sou	–
Image:Copte z.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	7	zēta	z (/s/, /z/)
Image:Copte ee.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	8	ēta	ē (/eː, ɛː, i/)
Image:Copte th.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	9	tʰēta	tʰ (/tʰ, θ/)
Image:Copte i.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	10	iōta	i (/i, j/)
Image:Copte k.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	20	kappa	k, q
Image:Copte l.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	30	laula	l
Image:Copte m.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	40	mē	m
Image:Copte n.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	50	nē	n
Image:Copte ks.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	60	kˢi	kˢ (/ks/)
Image:Copte o.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	70	ou	o
Image:Copte p.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	80	pi	p, b
Image:Copte r.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	100	rō	r
Image:Copte s.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	200	sēmma	s
Image:Copte t.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	300	tau	t (/t, d/)
Image:Copte u.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	400	he	u (/u, w, i, v/)
Image:Copte ph.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	500	pʰi	pʰ (/pʰ, f/)
Image:Copte kh.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	600	kʰi	kʰ (/kʰ, χ, ʃ/)
Image:Copte ps.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	700	pˢi	pˢ (/ps/)
Image:Copte oo.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	800	ō	ō (/oː/)
Image:Copte sh.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		šai	š (/ʃ/)
Image:Copte f.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	90	fai	f
Image:Copte x.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		ḫai	ḫ (/x/)
Image:Copte h.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		hori	h, ḥ
Image:Copte dj.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		ḏanḏia	ḏ (/ʤ, g, ɟ/)
Image:Copte tsh.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		čima	č (/q, ʧ, gʲ, ʃ/)
Image:Copte ti.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic		ti	ti (/ti, c/)
Image:Copte r barre.png	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic	900	pˢis ənše

Letters derived from the demotic:

hieroglyph		demotic		coptic
	→	Image:Demotique sh.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic š
	→	Image:Demotique f.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic f
	→	Image:Demotique kh.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic ḫ
	→	Image:Demotique h.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic h
	→	Image:Demotique j.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic ḏ
	→	Image:Demotique tsh.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic č
	→	Image:Demotique ti.png	→	REDIRECT Template:Script/Coptic ti

See also

• Coptic pronunciation reform
• Institute of Coptic Studies
• Coptic Orthodox Church

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.

External links

Template:Commonscat

• The Coptic Alphabet (omniglot.com)
• Michael Everson's Revised proposal to add the Coptic alphabet to the BMP of the UCS
• Coptic Unicode Fonts Unicode 4.1.0 compliant fonts
• Download Free Coptic Fonts
• Ifao N Copte - A professional Coptic Unicode font for researchers, students and publishers has been developed by the French institute of oriental archeology (IFAO). Unicode, Mac and PC compatible, this free font is available through downloading from the IFAO website (direct link).

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