Language/Coptic/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-pronunciation

Coptic (ⲘⲉⲧⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ) Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Coptic alphabet is variant of the Greek alphabet containing a number of extra letters for sounds not found in Greek. The extra letters come from the Demotic form of the Egyptian script.

Finish this lesson and explore these related pages: Say Hello and Greetings in Coptic.

History of the Coptic Alphabet

The origin of the Coptic Alphabet

The present 32 letters of the Coptic Alphabet are derived from two sources; The first 25 letters are modified from the Greek alphabet (table 1); it should be remembered that the origin of these Greek letters can be traced back to the old Egyptian letters4 . whereas the last 7 letters are a modification from Demotic letters (table 2)13.

The contribution of the Coptic Alphabet to the Russian Alphabets

The current Alphabet of the Russian Language is known as the Cyrillic Alphabet. It was invented by Saint Cyril (826 - 869 AD) and Saint Methodius (815 - 884 AD), two Greek brothers who were missionaries to Russia during the 9th Century. They knew Coptic and they introduced, along with the Greek letters, Coptic letters such as (written as ) into the Russian Alphabet that is still in use in Russia today.

The Greek words in the Coptic Language

In the first few centuries of Christianity in Egypt, the Greek language was the cultural language of the world, in much the same way as the English language these days. Greek was always the language used in international councils (Ecumenical councils). Many of the Coptic Church fathers e.g. Saint Athanasius, our 20th Pope, wrote mainly in Greek because, at that time, this is how people everywhere in the world would understand. However, many other Church fathers wrote in Coptic. Many Egyptians, especially in Alexandria, spoke Greek fluently, in addition to Egyptian (Coptic) their mother tongue.

Alphabet

Uppercase letter	Lowercase letter	Transliteration
Ⲁ	ⲁ	a
Ⲃ	ⲃ	b
Ⲅ	ⲅ	g
Ⲇ	ⲇ	d
Ⲉ	ⲉ	ə
Ⲋ	ⲋ	s͡t
Ⲍ	ⲍ	z
Ⲏ	ⲏ	aa, ê
Ⲑ	ⲑ	th
Ⲓ	ⲓ	i
Ⲕ	ⲕ	k
Ⲗ	ⲗ	l
Ⲙ	ⲙ	m
Ⲛ	ⲛ	n
Ⲝ	ⲝ	ks
Ⲟ	ⲟ	o
Ⲡ	ⲡ	p
Ⲣ	ⲣ	r
Ⲥ	ⲥ	s
Ⲧ	ⲧ	t
Ⲩ	ⲩ	u
Ⲫ	ⲫ	ph
Ⲭ	ⲭ	kh
Ⲯ	ⲯ	ps
Ⲱ	ⲱ	ô
Ϣ	ϣ	š
Ϥ	ϥ	f
Ϧ (Ⳉ)	ϧ (ⳉ)	x
Ϩ	ϩ	h
Ϫ	ϫ	j
Ϭ	ϭ	c
Ϯ	ϯ	ti
Ⳁ	ⳁ	—

Consonants

Vowels

Coptic Online Virtual Keyboard

Sources

• https://www.suscopts.org/deacons/coptic/FT-Coptic%20Language-Lectures.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_alphabet