Phlox Pyros

Yes! I got my Sahidic Coptic introduction in the mail the other day. Let's see what we can do with it....for those who want to try. If anyone wants to jump in and present a chapter or something on their own, go ahead. I'm not real sure how to do this in an internet forum, but I'll give it a try.

This is the textbook:
Introduction to Sahidic Coptic (or via: amazon.co.uk) by Thomas Lambdin

The work contains a bibliography for further study and a "Glossary that will be useful to the student beyond his first year's study. ...the Glossary is intended to contain the full vocabulary of the Sahidic New Testament..."

What on earth is Sahidic Coptic?

Coptic is a late, written form of the Egyptian langauge (yes, that's right, the ancient language formerly written in heiroglyphs inside pyramids and such!). Coptic appears to have been invented by Christians around the 2nd century A.D., likely to replace the relatively clumsy hieroglyphs and the cursive counterparts known as Demotic. It was used initially for creating a translation of the Bible from Greek into Egyptian.

Sahidic is just one of several Egyptian language dialects. Others include Bohairic, Fayyumic, Achmimic, and Subachmimic.

If anyone has ever learned much about Egyptian hieroglyphs, one might recognize some of the ancient words and grammar. I, personally, have (but have not really read in any great detail yet), The Handbook of Egyptian Hieroglyphs (or via: amazon.co.uk) by Mercer/Kamrin, if you're interested. This may not be the best source, but it is what I know. If anyone knows of a better one, please share it.

Coptic Alphabet and Their Sounds (Coptic Unicode Converter)

The coptic alphabet was, obviously, derived from Greek. Around 6 unique letters were added to represent sounds unique to the Egyptian language (ie. ϣ ϥ ϧ ϩ ϫ Ϫ ϯ).

α - a as in father
β - b as in back
γ - g as in good
δ - d as in dog
ε - e as in let
ζ - z as in zoo
Η - a as in hate
θ - combination of τ + ϩ (an aspirated t), different from the Greek pronunciation of θ, which sounded like th as in thin
ι - i as in machine
κ - k as in kin
λ - l as in lamb
μ - m as in mother
ν - n as in neighbor
ξ - combination of κ + ϲ (ks) as in backs (rarely used)
ο - o as in log
π - p as in pin
ρ - r as in road
ϲ - s as in see
τ - t as in top
Υ - does not appear as a "simple vowel" in Coptic words (ie. in combination with other vowels, especially οΥ, pronounced oo as in food).
φ - combination of π + ϩ (an aspirated p), different from the Greek pronunciation of φ, which sounded like f as in father[/i].
χ - combination of κ + ϩ (an aspirated k), different from the Greek pronunciation of , which sounded like the German ch in bach.
ψ - combination of π + ϲ (ps) as in corpse (rarely used)
ω - o as in hope
ϣ - sh as in shall
ϥ - f as in foot
ϩ - probably like English h as in hope
ϫ - conventionally j as in judge
Ϫ - conventionally ch as in church
ϯ - merely a graphic symbol for τ + ι, but it was the normal way to spell this sequence of sounds. Pronounced ti as in time.

Semivowels and Dipthongs

These could probably use some correction. Please correct me if some of these look/sound wrong to you.

αι, αει - ay as in pay
αΥ - (rarely αοΥ) aw as in paw
ει - (less comonly εει) ee as in feet or ay as in say. May also be used as a consonant, y as in yet.
εΥ - (rarely εοΥ) ew as in pew
Ηι - ay as in pay
ΗΥ - (less commonly ΗοΥ) ew as in pew
ιει, ειει - (very rare) yea as in yeast
ιοΥ - (rare) ew as in pew
οει, οι - oy as in soy
οΥ - oy as in boy. May also be used as a consonant, w as in wait.
οοΥ - oaw sound as heard in boat.
ωι - oy as in boy
ωοΥ - ow as in town
οΥι - (rare) ooey as in gooey or we as in weep
οΥοΥ - oow sound as heard in in new

Well, that took much more time than I thought, so I think I'll have to stop there for now. If anyone wants to summarize the rest of the chapter or a little bit more, by all means, go ahead.

Phlox Pyros

Somebody feel free to help me out. I thought there were others who were interested.

Double Vowels

Two simple vowels together is an indication of a "glottal stop". A "glottal stop" is when you briefly stop the flow of air in your throat. I know this is incorrect English grammar, but suppose you were to say "a apple". You stop the flow of air after the "a" and start it again with "apple". This, very basically, a "glottal stop".

Μααβ (ma'ab)
ϣοοΝ (sho'op)
ΜααΥ (ma'aw) - note: vowel doubling occurs in dipthongs, too
ΜεεΥε (me'ewe) - note: vowel doubling in dipthong

Accent is on first vowel, second vowel was likely brief.


Syllabification and the Supralinear Stroke

In one of the Gospel of Judas threads, I asked what the dash over some of the letters were. Well, Lambdin has the answer...

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to represent the supralinear line in Unicode (anyone know how?).

τΝϲωτΜ (imagine line above the Ν and Μ) - pronounced tnsotm
τβτ (line above β) - tvt
ϣτορτρ (line above ρ) - shtortr
κρΜρΜ (line above both Μs) - krmrm

For the consontants that run together, think of an extremely short "e" sound between them. That should help with pronounciation.

Here is some example text so that you can see the supralinear lines above the blemner letters.



Well, that's all the time I've got tonight. I'll tackle it again when I can get to it.