What is Coptic or Coptic Egyptian?
Q: What is Coptic or Coptic Egyptian?
A: Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is an Egyptian language.
Q: How many people used to speak Coptic in Egypt?
A: Until at least the 17th century, many people in Egypt used to speak Coptic.
Q: What new writing system was used to write Egyptian in the 1st century?
A: Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century.
Q: What is the Coptic script?
A: The Coptic script is an adapted Greek alphabet with the addition of six or seven signs from the demotic script to represent Egyptian sounds the Greek language did not have.
Q: What are the two most common dialects of Coptic?
A: The two most common dialects of Coptic are Sahidic and Bohairic.
Q: Is Coptic similar to the earlier Egyptian language written in the hieroglyphic script?
A: Yes, Coptic and demotic Egyptian are very similar to the earlier Egyptian language written in the hieroglyphic script.
Q: What happened to Coptic as a spoken language?
A: Coptic was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic as a spoken language toward the early modern period.
