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The repertoire of glyphs is based on the uncial Greek alphabet, augmented by letters borrowed from the Egyptian Demotic. It was the first alphabetic script used for the Egyptian language. There are several Coptic alphabets, as the script varies greatly among the various dialects and eras of the Coptic language .
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. The Coptic alphabet came into being during the 3rd century BC after the Greek conquest of Egypt and the subsequent spread of Christianity.
In contrast to earlier stages of Egyptian, which used hieroglyphic writing, hieratic script, or demotic script, Coptic was written in the Greek alphabet, supplemented by seven letters borrowed from demotic writing. Coptic also replaced the religious terms and expressions of earlier Egyptian with words borrowed from Greek.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with several additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script. [4] The major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmimic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan, and Oxyrhynchite.
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 letters.
ShapeShapeLetterPronunciationⲀⲁAlphaAⲂⲃVeetaB In beginning of the word V In the ...ⲄⲅGhammaG Gh NG if there are two consecutive ...ⲆⲇDeltaTH D in namesApr 9, 2023 · 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.
The Coptic alphabet has a long and proud history which derives itself from the Hellenistic period, where the Greek alphabet was used to translate texts written in the Egyptian Demotic script. In essence, the Coptic alphabet was created to correctly pronounce and understand the words spoken in the Demotic language.
