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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.
The Coptic script is the script used for writing the Coptic language, the most recent development of Egyptian. 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.
The ascription of the alphabet to the Phoenicians was firmly embedded in Greek historical tradition as found in the works of the fifth-century B.C. Greek historian Herodotus. The earliest Greek script is known to be the eighth century B.C.
Coptic 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.
Coptic is written with an alphabet that includes the twenty-four characters of the Greek alphabet in traditional Greek order, followed by six Demotic-derived characters (some dialects add more). 5 The forms of Greek letters used in Coptic were derived from Greek majuscules, but there are exceptions (xi and possibly zeta use Greek minuscules ...
ALPHABET IN COPTIC, GREEK. The Greek alphabet is much in evidence in Coptic; in fact, among the various Coptic alphabets (cf. ALPHABETS, COPTIC), all have a considerable majority of Greek graphemes, or letters (cf. ALPHABETS, COPTIC, especially the synoptic table; Kasser, 1980b, pt. II, pp. 280-81). This majority varies from one dialectal ...
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The consensus is based on four points: According to Greek legend, the alphabetic characters - named phoinikeia grammata (Phoenician letters) or kadmeia grammata (the letters of Kad mos) - were introduced together with other arts by the Phoenicians who came to Greece with a leader named Kadmos.
