Aziz S. Atiya EDITOR IN CHIEF
Volume 8
Macmillan Publishing Company NEW 'lOR/( Collier Macmillan Canada TORONTO .Maxwell Macmillan International NEW 'IORK· OXFORD· SINGAPORE· SYDNEY ALPHABETS, OLD COPTIC 41
subdialeelale IYl,;opolitainc des tClItcs gnostiqllCs traces, but two of whleh are nevenheless attested hy copt~ dc Nag Hammadi:' Musiull 97 {I984):261 Coptic documents lh.'lt have sunrived the vicil;situdes 312. of the tormented history of the Copts: I)[AI.ECT I ___ "I'si en ti et ti pointe dans Ie P. Biling. I de (pml:QoLyeopo1itan) and OlAUCT P (an alphabetically HambOllrg," Billie/iII tie lu Societe d'egyplolo/:ie, and phonologically an:haic idiom that often looks Gtll~ve 9-10 (1984-1985):135-40. like what can be known about a proto-Sahidic, tenta· Kasser, R., and H. Sat;dnger. "L'ldiome du P. Mich. tively reconstructed and considered immigrant into 5421 (Irouve a Karanis, nOI"d·eo;t du Fayoum)." lhe TI1cb.'ln region). Witntr Ztilschrill liir die Kmrde ties MQ~tmfufldes 74 (1982):15-32. In the$C cin:umstanecs. it is scarcely surprising leXL~ :utesL~ Krall, J, "Reste koplischer SchulbueherliterJ.tur." that each of the Old Coptic a panicular Mil/hei/IIllgt" Q'/$ der Sammltmg dcr PapynlS En· Coptic alphabet (or if onj,' prefers, a panicular varie· htr<.og Raintr 4 (1888):126-3S. ty of Coptic alphabet). It is reasonablj,' to suppose Mallon. A, Grammaire cople, uvec bibliograplrie, that all these alphabets included all the Coptic let· chreMomarhie et vocabulairt. 2nd cd. Heinl!, 1907. ters of Greek origin-a supposition and not a cer Plumley, J. M. All httrodllctnry Capric Grrmmrar tainty, bt:cause these very ancient texts are gj,'nerally (Sohidic Diu/ectJ, London, 1948. too shon for each to attl'St all these Greek graph· Ouccke, H, "Ein altes bohairi:>cho FrJ.gment des emes. But thcre is no reason to suspect that one or Jakobusbriefes (P. Heid. Kopt. 452)." Orielllalia 43 more of these Greek letters was s)'!'tem:lIically elimi (1974):382-93, nated in one or anothcr of thl'SC alphabets, as is the --::-: "ZUr Schreibung \/On i/j in der koptischen case in the Coptic alphabet of a late text likc that Buchschrift." 1.0 S/Ildicn lJl Sproche Wid Rtligioll ACfPlelU, Vol. I, Sprllcht, lJI Ehrell VOII WoIfhllr1 which atlests D1AI.F.cT H (cf. AIJ'I{ABEn). COPTIC, synop ~ Wtslt'ldorf jjberrticlll \1011 stifle" Frelllldell .lIId lic table), which lacks the r, A, and of Greek Schil/em, pp. 289-326. COllingen, 1984. origin. All these Old Coptic alphabets induck-d Iet Stcindorff, G. KopliS€he GrllJllJIIlllik, mil Chresto tcrs of demotic origin, generally in largcr numbers IIIlllhit, W;men'trteicJ",is lIm/ LileruflIr. Berlin, than the Coptic alphabet properly so called, especial 1930. ly since the varielies of Old Coptic h:wc at the same ...,"'.. Lel,rlmch der koptischell GrOJl/J11lllik. Chicago, lime a number o( phoncmes more significant than 1951. that of the Coptic idioms (the evolution proceeding Stem. L Koplisdre GrommlJ/ik. Leipzig, 1880. logically toward phonological and gr-J.phical simplifi. Till, W. C. Koplische Graltlltlalik (saidisclter Dillfekl), cation and hencc toward a reduction in the number mil Bibliographie, f.ese.ttilckclI wrd Woncrvcncicll· "isseI!. Lciptig, 1955, of phonemes and graphcmes), The synoptic table of alphabeL~ Worrell, W. H, Coptit' TexIs i'l lire U'liversily 01 Michi· Old COI)tic (Table I), which includes all g~rl eollcc/iotl. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1942. Ihe Old Coptic texis lhat arc available and makes use of letlet"li of demotic origin, will make this evident. RODOlJ>HE KAssER The sigla for the texts used in this ta\)le are a~ follows: &:h1ll. - the Schmidt Papyrus (first-sl.'t:ond century): Hal', - thc London Horoscope Papyrus (firM-second century): Mich.• the Michigan Horo ALPHABETS, OLD COPTIC. The group of scope P\lpynlS (second centuly): Mun, - the Munich tcxts dcsigmdcd ow corne does not represent a l'apyms ([schoolbook?J second century): Oll. - the linguistic unity, but on the contmry a motley collec· Egyptian Oxyrltynchus Papyrus (second century): tion of essays spaced out between the fit"lit 'IIU.! Mum, - the two mummy labels in Berlin (second fourth centuries A.ll. Chronologically thcy most frc· century): Mim, - thc Mimllut PlIpynls (third centu· quently pr'l;ldatc littm1)' Coptic, but wmetimL'S, ry); DMP _ the Demotic Mllglcal Papyrus of London though rarely, are l,;ontcmpomry with its beginnings. and Leirlel1 (third-fourth century): Par, I- first Howcver tlnlt may be, through their char.lcter as non·Greek section of the Paris Magical Papyrus isolated essays tentatively made, not very systematic (founh century); Par. 2 - second non·Greck section or even pmetically unsystemlltic, and through their (bllt not the third and lasl) of lhe Ptuis Magical language, in which one observes a significant pro· Papyrus (fourth century), portion of prl.'-Coptie features, they all logically rep' To the alphabets of these ten lexts properly desig· resent a slage prior to th:;at of litemry Coplic. includ· nated Old Coptic are added here, by way of compari· ing prolo-Coptic. The laller is already syslemalic and son, those of the only two protodialel,;u sunriving in makes its appearance in the form of PROTODtAu:crs, Coptic, P and i. because both have preserved eenain many of which have disappeared without leaving any phonemes of Old Coptic that later disappe:lred in TAB1..£. I. S)'1lop/ie Table of Old Coptic Alp},abels, \\,;/h CommellIury Schm. Hor, Mich. Mun. 0,. Mum. Mim. OMP. »:lr.! 1'(Ir.2 P I i Ikl , , ? , ? , , , , , , , /oJ " , • • • • • • • " • , " 3 N 3 • ? • 3 • 3 • •• 4 IfI ., , , , , ? , ., .', , , 0' 5 M , , , ? , , 3 , 3 , ,, ,. , x x 6 1'1 • , • ? • " ,• " ? 7 M & , ? • ? , ,, , • 8 Ilil •• • , • ? •••• 'r t 9 f/ (.L )? , ? ? , gem. .L gem. (I)? , , , 0 iO 101 • • • , • • II M ? :> :> ? :> , 'x) :> ~~/'X" • 12 It-hI (.) , 13 Ihl 3 " ? 'V? Totnl 31 ? 35 31 32? m ? 281 34? 3D? 271 35 3Z (In the following. "A.C.lablc" ..crers luthe ~ynoptic table in "I.PUAliEB. eo,,"ne.) UII< I (A.C. tabk.l. 10); UO<". gcncr-IIly hal;), /k/and II./e/. but lhis tellt ICnds toconfust! ~ two pOOncme5. sincconc also fin
42 ALPHABETS, OLD COPTIC 43
Coptic; P even h:lS in its a1phabel such a large num· The majority of the graphemes of Old Coptic al bel' of lelten typical of Old Coptic that it reaches a phabets presented here are considered, :is has been tOlal alphabet of at ICOlSt thirty-five grolpherncs. This said. as being certainly of demOlic origin: for othen is thus an alphabet as rich as the richest of Ihe Old (especially K lei. Y ItJ/, x Ixl and, above nil, some.· Coptic alphabets (excluding exceptional gmphemlOS; timl.'S cvcn leI in Coptic, if not in olll Coptic), even see below), that of Hor., with it~ thil1y.five lellers; if their appearance i§ wholly lhat of grolphcII1CS of one might even s;,IY thai P has thh1y-slx gmphemes if Greek origin, one may strongly SUSf)\.'Ct that it is a onc admits Ilml the II. Ikl of its Copto·Greek vocabu· casc of signs of de.motlc o,igin having been cntirely Illry is to be distinb'llishcd from the K leI of its ussimiluted graphically to Greek leller~ thai resem· autochthonous voeabuku)'. the first developing from hIe them and h.lVc influcnced their graphic form. the Greek K, and the second from tl llemolic graph· This series of leliefS will now be reviewcd in the erne (sec du Bourgoet, 1976, p. 75, sign for g, firsl following ordel~ first the g"'dphemc:s of Greek ap variant). pearance; then the. lellers of demotic origin utilizl.-d To facilitate comparison, the ordel' of the pho in COplic; and, linally, the grnphcOlcs uf demotic ncmes is that of the final sections in the synoptic origin (whedu'r ecnain 01' possible), utiJi7.ed only in table of Coptic alphabets (only nos. 25-36 are con Old Coptic, nOl in Coptic (Ihe Coptic protodiak-ct P, cerned), except for I'l.l and Inl,, placed right at the 1H)"'ever, here rejoining the Old Coptic group). beginnin&. and 11.'/, placed at the vel')' end. In the In the enumeration of each of these signs below, table hereafter. the sign ~ indicates th.1t instead of the.re is first indicated, so far :IS possihle, lhe pn.-cisc rendering Itil by a sillgle grapheme, t, the text in demotic sign from which it derives or may be pre question rellders it by two leiters, TI; "gem." signi· 5Untt.-d to have derived; for these referencl.'S to the fies that /'I is rendered not by a gl'al)heme of iL~ own dcmotic grophemcs, the work cited will in ench case (like .l in HoI'. L? J and P) but hy the second clement he implicitly du BUUl'Kuet (1976, p. 75), where the of a g1'llphic voealie geminulJon (see AI.EPH). "usual" gmphic fonns arc presented on the left :llld In lhis pt\:scn1:ltion of the graphemes typical of their "variants" on lhe !'ight. Thercartel', Ihe name of Old Coptic, each Is given in a standuroized f01'1II and lhe (Old) Coptic gmphemc will be given: the name no account is takcn of ils numerous particular lraditionally known in lhe case of the lellers 01, lion of the Gn:ck epigraphic roo&h bn:athing ~. 13. 6 (Coptic graphic foml) leI derives from the placed above the y and finally confused with it; but demotic sign for k. the lil'St of the usual fomlS this y It).l could better still have a demotic origin: (which has, however, a very !;mall loop lind stretehcs see lhe third of the variant~ of the sign for ~. Name its upper antenna at lenglh to the right, as is the a.~signed: Y-slwped grapheme. case also with 6 in Old Coptic; see lIbovc). It is 3. x Ixl could strictly be tile !lamc gmphcme as x prohahle lhat lhis forrH of the Old Coptic 6 should Ikil/. cor'l'csponding to some local Greek pronuncia· not lead one to confuse II with the graphically VCI)' tion; if nol. lhere is some chance that il issued frotn ,;imilar one thllt Par. I eventually uscs for lehl rath· the fourth 'l3riant of the demotic sign for h. Name er than for Icl (see no. 30). Traditional nnme: gima: assigned: chiQid ~Qi or chioid kluli. in Old Coptic ooe may also call it, if pn:ferred, 4. x ItI is phonologically 50 remote from x Ikhl $lrO!,,:h~d gimQ. (of Greek origin) that their confusion appears very 14. 6 /thl (only in 8, etc.) cOtJld be deri\'ed IlOI unlikely (e\'rn if one ven!lln,:s to ~uppose a local from the demotic sign for k (see above with refer Greek pronunci:J1ion in which [k] > [11 and [h) > ence to 6 Ie/), but from the demotic sign for d, the: (~], hence (khl > [t~l > It]); it is more reasonable to last of the ","unts, which n:sembl(:s a bulging a make this x I~I derive from the (!cmolic .~ign fnr ~, with the rounded pat' beluw and the twO "horns" fit'j;l variant (slightly inclined to the len). Namc liS' above (suppression of the Icft horn would ill fact signed: chioid ja"ja. pt'Oduce.- kind of 6). Namc assigned: IIsp/raled j6lJja. 5. l,. Ihl will t:videndy be inter'Preh:d first of all a.~ 15. t llil is gener-illy considered as derived from a variant (in trulh not ran:) of the Greek epigraphic the delllOtic sign for I, the sewnd or eighth of the rough breathing (the more 50 sincc in Old Copt.ic variants (with cunsidcr.lblc graphic cvolution). It one finds l,. not only as a leiter placed between the will. how..-ver, be n:rnarlu..-d that Ihis Coptic lettcr other graphcometi of its line but also as an "accent" has uaclly the fonn of the 'r in latin epigraphy. a placed above graphemes in its line, as the rough compendium for Ilil, more ran:ly for lill (cf. Kassel'. breathing would be placed). One cannot, however. 1984-1985); a strong gr.lphic innuenee from the ut exclude a demotic origin for this sign also: see the in compendium on the demotic sign, str"olngcly abo grapheme for h, firth or seventh variant (with the scnt from Old Coptic but adopted in Coptic, seems final "hook" cut 011). Name assigned: '.·shl/pe,1 to be lhe least one can admit. Tmditional name: Ii. #fIlpheme. 16. t Ipsl is lhe customal)' forl11 of the gmphcme 6. CO IV der'ives from the demotic sign fur s, third psi in the Greek manuscripts cuntemporal), with the usual form (see also the fifth and eighth vadants). oldest Coptic manuscript~: all the same. af'ler the Traditional name: shui. adoption of t ltil (a non-Greek grapheme) in Cop 7. C, 1<;1 evklendy derives from the same sign as It. tic, h was necessary to modify the fonn of the psi, t but completed by a diacritical clement. Name as· > t, to avoid confusion with t Iti;' (1lee Coptic signed: CTO~d PlIli. tellts that still ....The t Ipsl, all very ancient. are 8. .. (Coptic graphic fOml) IfI deri\"C!i from the ran:.) Name assigned: lioid psi. demotic sign for (, first 'l3riaOl (which is however 17. .1 1'1 derives from the demutic sign for i. the clearly inclined toward the right, as is 'I in it<; graph· third of the usual fonns, perhaps also innucnced hy Ie form in Old Coptic; see above). Traditional nllme: the demotic sign for' 3, lhe lil1lt of the usual forms or fai; in Old Coptic it could also, if prefen-ed, be coiled the lil'!lt of the variants. Name assigned: reversed inclined flli. tall·shaped Clfeplt. 9. ~ Ixl derivcs from the demotic sign for II, lil'Sl 18. ~ Ikl derives from the demotic sign fur ~, the usual form. Traditional name: ~IQi 01· kJl(~i. second of the usual for·ms. Name assigned: Uloid 10. ~ 1111 derives bum the demotic sign for h, kappa. usual fonn (but not without some graphic cvolu· 19. _/nl derives from the demotic lign for n. the • tion). Traditional name: hon. first of the usual fonn~. Name assigned: hyph~n. 11 .• /xl clearly derivcs from the same sign as ~ .shaped nil. but is completcd by a diacritical clement. Name: 20. 3. the equivalent in Old Coptic most often for assigned: btlrTt!d hori. lsI. but also sometimes fur Ihl or 11.1/. has particu· 12. .x leI deriVCll from the demotic !;ign for !f., the larly variable graphic forms (St..'<: above) and derives lil'!lt of the usual fo.nns or the lasl of the vari::lnts from the demolic liign for ~. the second usual fann (but in both with .<;ome graphic evolution). Tl'I\dition· (sec :1150 the thh1eenth lind the twenty·si~th variants al name: ;anil/. fOt' ~). Name assigned: J-shaped grapheme. 'AYIN 45 21. co. the cqUl\'alent in Old Coptic most oftcn for othel' of the varianlS of the ,ign for g. Name as IfO/. but also sometimL"S for 11>/. derives from the signed: divided-lriQtlg/IHhaped grapheme. demotic sign for h, the Iirst usual form. Name as 30, The grapheme of Mich. for leI (?) and that or signed: 6·spiroled grap/If!nre. Par. I for Ichl (7) (sec no. 13 and KaMer. 1980, 22. " the equivalent in Old Coptic (Hor.) of Ihl or p. 269) arc Uecidedly too doubtful to merit being (DMP and less dearly)/x/. but systematically equiva· studied here and named, given pn'5Cnt knowk-dgc. Itnt to ItI in pruto-Coptic P (an inversion of the (; presented just above?). deriv('S from the demotic sign for h, the l.I.SuaI foml (?) or lim. third. or sixth BI.BLIOGRAI'HY variant (strungly developed on the grnphic le\'el). or Bourguct. P. duo Grummaire fO'lc/ilJllllelfe 111 progres eventually also from the demotic sign for h. tenth sive de I'tgyplien deff/otiqlle. Lollr.!in, 1976. vanant (?). Name assigned: 9-spirtllet/ grapheme. K3..'I.."Cr, R. "Pmlegomenes ;i un essai de c1aS3iilica· 23. / 151 pmbably aJi'iO derivL"S frum liome valiant tinn s~ltlllllatique deo; dialectes et subdialcctes of a demotic sign. bUl which? FOI' phonological rea' coptes scion lcs principes de la phoneiiquc, II, sons, one cannot compare it with the sign for r, Alphabets et systcmcs phon~tiques:' Museoll 93 second usual form, or lhe silln for f. third variant, 01' (1980):237 -97. the sign for t, second usul'll forlll, or even the sign --:--:. "(,si cn ti et Ii pointe dans Ie P. Siling. I de fur (I. fourth variant. Name assigned: fmc/iou·stroke· Hamboul·ll." Oulltt/i'l de la Soc/be d'cgyplologic, shaped grapheme. Gcuil1'e 9- I0 (1984-1985): 135-40. 24. I 1r;1 (? in Mich.) does indeed seem to derive ROOO!.PHE KAssER from the demotic sign for '!' ilCcond usual fonn. Name 3.....~igned: Slre/ched·capil(J/,~·igllrfl·sJr(Jped graph. eme. 'AYIN, 'Ayin (- ') is the voiced laryngeal fricative 25. ", the equivalent in Old Coplic of Ihl ($chm. (Vergote. 1945, pp. 10, 72-76, 79-80), the Ar