Language
The Coptic language is the last stage of the Egyptian language.
Coptic should more correctly be used to refer to the script rather than the language itself. Even though this script was introduced as far back as the 1st century BC, it has been applied to the writing of the Egyptian language from the 1st century AD to the present day. Coptic remained the spoken language of all Egyptians until it was slowly replaced by Masri (colloquial Egyptian Arabic) around the 17th century, although it may have survived in isolated pockets for a little longer.
Today, Coptic is the native language of only about 300 Copts around the world. It is also the liturgical language of the native Egyptian Churches (the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church). It is taught worldwide in many prestigious institutions, but its teaching within Egypt remains restricted.
Dialects of Coptic language:
- Sahidic: Theban or Upper Egyptian.
- Bohairic: The dialect of the Nile Delta and of the medieval and modern Coptic Church.
- Akhmimic
- Lycopolitan (also known as Subakhmimic)
- Fayyumic
- Oxyrhynchite
Read more about this topic: Egyptian Christians
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“One can say of language that it is potentially the only human home, the only dwelling place that cannot be hostile to man.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“If fancy then
Unequal fails beneath the pleasing task,
Ah, what shall language do?”
—James Thomson (1700–1748)
“A language does not become fixed. The human intellect is always on the march, or, if you prefer, in movement, and languages with it.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)