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The Coptic language is a universal language used in Coptic churches in every country. It descends from Ancient Egyptian and uses the Coptic alphabet , a script descended from the Greek alphabet with added characters derived from the Demotic script .
The Coptic alphabet 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.
Copts have historically spoken the Coptic language, a direct descendant of the Demotic Egyptian that was spoken in late antiquity. Following the Muslim conquest, the treatment of the Coptic Christians who refused to convert ranged from relative tolerance to open persecution.
Coptic has no native speakers today, [6] although it remains in daily use as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church and of the Coptic Catholic Church. [5] Innovations in grammar and phonology and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language.
The Coptic Rite is an Alexandrian liturgical rite. It is practiced in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. [1] The term Coptic derives from Arabic qubṭ / qibṭ قبط, a corruption of Greek Aígyptos (Ancient Greek: Αἴγυπτος, “Egyptian”). The Coptic Rite traditionally uses the Coptic language and Greek.
After the Coptic version of the complete text was discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, scholars soon realized that three different Greek text fragments previously found at Oxyrhynchus (the Oxyrhynchus Papyri), also in Egypt, were part of the Gospel of Thomas. [26] [27] These three papyrus fragments of Thomas date to between 130 and 250 AD.
There have been many Coptic versions of the Bible, including some of the earliest translations into any language. Several different versions were made in the ancient world, with different editions of the Old and New Testament in five of the dialects of Coptic : Bohairic (northern), Fayyumic , Sahidic (southern), Akhmimic and Mesokemic (middle).
Since the term "Coptic" can have, besides a linguistic sense, an ethnic sense (referring to Copts) and a religious sense (Coptic Christianity), there is the propensity for ambiguity in the term "Coptic literature". [1] Coptic literature is usually defined as that in the Coptic language.