THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN & COPTIC LANGUAGES
-The Coptic Language-
Script, Dialects, and Literature
The Dialects of the Coptic Language:
The Coptic language was divided into different dialects according to the regions of Egypt and the length of the Nile Valley. Egyptians lived in varied places — around the marshes, close to the banks of the Nile, in oases, in cities, while many worked in agriculture and dwelt in villages. For this reason, we can trace the dialects in Egypt from the earliest time of the ancient Egyptian language until it appeared clearly and was written in the Greco-Roman era. From studying the early manuscripts and inscriptions onward, philologists have divided the Coptic language into Boheiric, and the Upper Egyptian dialects of Sahidic, Faiyumic, and Akhmimic, as well as secondary dialects that follow.27
Boheiric Dialect:
This is the dialect of Lower Egypt. Some scholars gave
it this name thinking it belonged to the language
of the area neighboring the Mediterranean. However, it
probably belonged to the province of Bohira in Lower
Egypt. Lower Egypt lies in the northern part of the country
and the North in Egypt refers to Bahri. The Boheiric
dialect was previously and wrongly called the Memphatic
dialect. It is believed that Boheiric was the first dialect
used in the style of writing upon which agreement was
reached in the city of Alexandria. In general, Boheiric
is the only dialect whose writing form was to some extent
borrowed from the Demotic. It appears that the pronunciation
in the other dialects had no relation to the Demotic
nor did those creating the other dialects use Boheiric
spelling as a beginning point. Unfortunately, the original
pronunciation of the Boheiric dialect is not known exactly
as all the papyri having linguistic importance have disappeared.
In the eleventh century A.D., after the seat of
the Pope was moved from Alexandria to Cairo, the Bohairic
dialect became the literary language for all of Egypt
and is still used, to some extent, in Coptic liturgy.28
The Boheiric dialect was employed in Alexandria and its districts, the Nile Delta,
and the Valley of Natrun. The books of the Coptic Church today are written in
the Bohairic dialect, with the sole exception of one hymn. Another manuscript,
entitled “The History of How the Miaroun Is Made,” was written mostly in Boheiric
although some parts are in the Sahidic dialect.29
Upper Egyptian Dialects
(Sahidic, Faiyumic, and Akhmimic):
(1) Sahidic refers to Upper Egypt or the “high
land,” for the Nile runs from Upper to Lower Egypt.
“Upper” refers to the south of Egypt and in Arabic
has the name “Sahid,” from which the Sahidic dialect
appeared. This dialect belongs to area around ancient
Thebes and thereafter was employed for the literature
of Upper Egypt. From the point of view of Worell,
“the dialect [was] established after the Boheiric
dialect and it seems that it was borrowed from
one of the dialects which was used as a spoken
dialect in the northern part of the Nile Valley
from Memphis until Asyut.”30
(2) Faiyumic was employed in Faiyum and incorrectly called Bashmouria.
(3) Akhmimic was used in the city of Akhmim until it weakened and gave way to
the Sahidic.31
These are the main dialects and from them appeared some secondary dialects, including
the following.
(a) The Memphitic was used as a spoken language in Memphis and replaced the Boheiric
dialect.
(b) The secondary Akhmimic or the Asyutic was
used from Oxyrhynchus (El Behnisa) to Asyut and
was descended from the Akhmimic.
(c) The dialect
of Bashmur was borrowed from the Boheiric. According
to Worell, the native writers of Egypt mentioned
this dialect in their books. It was probably an
Egyptian dialect spoken by the Greeks who lived
in the eastern part of the Nile Delta and was written
in Greek letters.
(d) The Oasis dialect was a mixed
dialect from the Faiyumic and Sahidic according
to the Coptic text discovered by Ahmed Fakhry in
1951.32