Demotic (Egyptian) - Language

Language

Demotic is a development of Late Egyptian and shares much with the later Coptic phase of the Egyptian language. In the earlier stages of Demotic, such as those texts written in the Early Demotic script, it probably represented the spoken idiom of the time. But, as it was increasingly used for only literary and religious purposes, the written language diverged more and more from the spoken form, giving Late Demotic texts an artificial character, similar to the use of classical Middle Egyptian during the Ptolemaic Period.

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