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The Coptic alphabet and transliteration
editThe Coptic alphabet have 31 characters derived from both the Greek alphabet and the Demotic cursive hieroglyphic script (marked in green). Unlike the original Greek alphabet, Coptic does not posses -a distinct upper case version of its letters.
Coptic does not have a set transliteration. But since it derived from the Greek alphabet, we can borrow the Greek transliteration with few changes.
Case | Characters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper | Ⲁ | Ⲃ | Ⲅ | Ⲇ | Ⲉ | Ⲍ | Ⲏ | Ⲑ | Ⲓ | Ⲕ | Ⲗ | Ⲙ | Ⲛ | Ⲝ | Ⲟ | Ⲡ | Ⲣ | Ⲥ | Ⲧ | Ⲩ | Ⲫ | Ⲭ | Ⲯ | Ⲱ | Ϣ | Ϥ | Ϧ | Ϩ | Ϫ | Ϭ | Ϯ |
Lower | ⲁ | ⲃ | ⲅ | ⲇ | ⲉ | ⲍ | ⲏ | ⲑ | ⲓ | ⲕ | ⲗ | ⲙ | ⲛ | ⲝ | ⲟ | ⲡ | ⲣ | ⲥ | ⲧ | ⲩ | ⲫ | ⲭ | ⲯ | ⲱ | ϣ | ϥ | ϧ | ϩ | ϫ | ϭ | ϯ |
Case | Transliteration | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Upper | A | B | G | D | E | Z | Ē | Th | I | K | L | M | N | Ks | O | P | R | S | T | U | Ph | Kh | Ps | Ō | Š | F | X | H | C | Ch | Ti |
Lower | a | b | g | d | e | z | ē | th | i | k | l | m | n | ks | o | p | r | s | t | u | ph | kh | ps | ō | š | f | x | h | c | ch | ti |
Other letters
edit- Ϧ may be written either with a straight or a curled beginning.
- Akhmimic used its own Ⳉ (a modification of Ϩ /h/) instead of Ϧ /x/.
- Some earlier manuscripts contain a special adaption of shai "Ⳃ ⳃ" and a unique "Ⳋ ⳋ", both probably representing a voiceless palatal fricative (/ç/).
Origin
editThe origin for the additional seven characters — shai, fai, xai, hori, cancia, chima and tiei — is from Egyptian hieroglyphs through a mediate cursive form known as Demotic.
Characters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Letter | Ϣ | Ϥ | Ϧ | Ϩ | Ϫ | Ϭ | Ϯ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hieroglyphic |
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Demotic |
Vowels
editAll dialects seem to have had the same vowel set, but they utilized them differently.
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i, iː, y | u, uː | ||
Close-mid | e, eː | o, oː | ||
Mid | ə | |||
Open-mid | ɛ, ɛː | ɔ, ɔː | ||
Open | a, aː |
Consonants
editLabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | ||||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | c[note 1] | k | ʔ |
ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | |||
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡ʃʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | (d) | (ɡ) | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x[note 2] | h | |
voiced | β | (z) | |||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
Velar nasal
editScholars noticed a possible realization of a velar nasal, particularly in Sahidic. The digraph "ⲛⲕ" /nk/ may be interchanged with "ⲛⲅ" at the end of words. According to Vergote, Ernštedt, Loprieno and Kasser, this points to a realization of [ng] or [ŋg], according to Hinze and Worrel [ŋk], and according to Cartreau and Peust simply [ŋ] similar to German nk.
The rare digraph "ⲙⲕ" /nk/ is also interchangeable with "ⲙⲅ". According to Peust, this is realized as [mŋ]:
Sahidic
editLabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | ||||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | c | k | ʔ |
ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | |||
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡ʃʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | (d) | (ɡ) | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
voiced | β | (z) | |||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
Bohairic
editLabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) | ||||
Stop | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ | |
ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | |||
aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | t͡ʃʰ | kʰ | |||
voiced | b | (d) | (ɡ) | ||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | h | |
voiced | β | (z) | |||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Approximant | l | j | w |