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Font: Coptic
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'Coptic' is the name given to the latest stage of the Egyptian language, as well as to the script used in writing it. Egyptian belongs the Hamito-Semitic family of languages. Dating back to the 4th millennium BC, Egyptian was first written in hieroglyphic script which was later simplified into Hieratic, then Demotic script. When Egypt came under Greek rule, Greek naturally became the administrative language, thus sowing the first seeds for Coptic script.
With the spread of Christianity to Egypt came the added influence of Christian texts written in Greek. Consisting of 32 alphabetic letters, Coptic script is directly derived from the uncial style of the Greek alphabet, with an additional 7 letters adopted from Demotic script for Egyptian sounds not represented in Greek. Demotic script had flourished from the 7th century BC until the 5th century AD. With the translation of the Bible into Coptic in the 4th century AD, Coptic script began to supplant Demotic.
Coptic script is written from left to right and has small and capital forms for each letter, though the rules for their use are not well defined. Coptic writing is the only fully phonetic transcription of the Egyptian language and is therefore important to scholars of Egyptian. Incidentally, the interpretation of Greek letters in Coptic script can also serve as a mirror for the pronunciation of Greek. Although Coptic is often spoken of as a single language, many different dialects are known to have existed. The two most well known dialects or dialect families, are 'Bohairic' (Northern) and 'Sahidic' (Southern).
As it is known today, Coptic script consists of a collective repertoire which supports the phonology of all Coptic dialects as manifested over a period of at least 1000 years. Although Coptic is now extinct as an everyday language, it remains integral to the liturgy of the Coptic Church in Egypt as well as abroad. Aside from the steady stream of academic Coptic studies, there is renewed interest in Coptic as evidenced by various efforts to revive the language.
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