obstructing the flow o f air through m outh, nose, o r throat)
a e e o d
and ‘consonants ’ (those m ade w ith som e kind o f co n strictio n o f m outh, nose, o r throat)
b y k l m n p r s t w s f h c k>' '
In som e languages, e.g. classical G reek , every syllable n ecessarily contains a vow el, w hich functions as the apex (resonant peak) o f the syllable. B ut this is not so in E g yptian C optic m orphs. It is a rem arkable p roperty o f E gyptian 28
S Y l . l . A H L i ; F O R M A T I O N
Coptic syllable formation that not only every vowel but also every consonant can have syllabic function, that is, can function as the apex (resonant peak) o f a syllable.
The discrepancy beiw een G reek and Egyptian Coptic syllable form ation m ay accouni for Itie use o f a special w ritten sym bol in Satiidic C optic (ttie superlinear stroke 38) to m ark ihose syllables w hose apex does n ot contain a G reek vow el letter ( ^ a - , - r n ,
B - in 2 AA.O. c c u T n , these are syllables o f a ch aracter that could n ot o ccu r in
Greek.
Egyptian Coptic vowels always have syllabic function, i.e. always function as the apex (resonant peak) of their syllable. Such, for example, is the sound 6 in the following one-syllable morphs.
(apex, i.e. resonant peak)
\
o
b o k o s
BtUK
Egyptian Coptic consonants each can have both syllabic and non-syllabic function, depending on the particular syllable to w hich they happen to belong:
i. a 'syllabic’ function (as the apex of a syllable), e.g. the phonem e /n / as sounded in the following examples
n-
i J -
h n- f n t n f-
2 N - cjiTt ncj-
In the hypothetical spoken form o f such exam ples, a non-phonemic resonance occurs ju st before the syllabic phoneme is articulated: ‘’n, 'n. en.
h^n- f^nt "nf- "n-
The non-phonem ic resonance (') o f the syllabic sounds 'h U 'm 'n 'r is som etim es w rit ten as e : e b ea. em e n Ep. E.g. B<i)E and EB<i>E ‘forgetfulness’, b a - and b e a - ‘loosen’, OYM- and o y e m - ‘ea t’, and ^ e n - ‘in ’, n n p - and n n E p — ‘do n o t’. This is non-standard orthography, and it also occurs w ith other syllabic consonants; e.g. M nK - and m h e k - , n n q - and n n E q - (negative past lense), ^^ u b c and ^ ^ o b e c ‘co v er’, to N ? and c o n e ^ ; sim ilarly non-phonem ic i, (before 2), o y c o n ? and o y c o n a.^ ‘reveal’, tc o b ^ and tco b a .^ ‘pray’.
ii. a ‘non-syllabic’ function, e.g. the phoneme /n / as sounded in the follow ing examples
h o n e n e h
e u e z
n u f a n
1 II N l>A M I-, N I A I. < <>M I’ O N I, N I S
Thus all the consonants had tw o potential functions in the syllable. Ft>r ex a m ple, the consonant phonem e / b / had both syllabic function and pronunciation ‘'h, as in
^bse ( i t y e ‘fo rg e tfu ln ess’) f b t ( t b t ‘fish ’)
w o fb (o y tu T B ‘change p la c e ’) and non-syllabic function and pronu n ciatio n b, as in
bo (b c u ‘b u sh ’)
hok ( b o k ‘g o ’)
kob (kcub ‘d o u b le ’ [verb])
C onsequently, m anifestations o f the ph o n em e /h i are transcribed as both ^b and b, d epending on its function in p articu la r syllables. T he sam e is true fo r all seventeen co n sonants:
b y k I ni n p r s t w s f h c k' ’ ‘’b i ‘'k <‘1 ‘ni <’n "p ’’r ''s ’’t u ‘’/ ‘‘h ‘"c •’k ' ale
N ote that the so u n d s i, u, a, and e o cc u r in this series as syllabic counterparts o f y, w, and n o n-syllabic / ’/.
36 Expressions o f the glottal stop I ’I. T he p h o n em e / ’/ (glottal sto p ) does not have a corresponding letter in the S ahidic alphabet. G enerally, a ‘glottal stop' is a sound produced by closing the vocal ch o rd s and then releasing a burst o f air. (This so und is heard in the second syllable o f E nglish “ w ate r” as pronounced in L ondon C ockney d ialect o r “ g o tte n ” as in som e A m erican N ew England dialects; w a -’‘’r, g o -’eii', also in delib erately spoken G erm an at the onset o f any accented syllable beginning w ith a vow el; “ d e r £ r s te .” ) W h atev er its p ro nunciation m ay have been, the C optic glottal stop is a consonant, and it had tw o fun ctio n s in C optic syllable fo n n a tio n : syllabic function and non -sy llab ic function. E xpressed in w riting, the glottal stop phoneine has fo u r m anifes tations: (a) doubHng o f a preceding v ow el letter, (b) x, (c) e , and (d) nothing (non-representation, zero). T he occurrence o f these m anifestations, in alterna tion 20, is determ in ed by the co n d itio n s an d en vironm ent in w hich / ' / occurs. (a) N on-syllahic expression. D oubling of the letter i., e , h , o , o r to , or (as allophone of
/o/) o y , where tlie letter that is doubled manifests the stressed syllabic phonem e o f a bound group 32. E.g. /so ’t/ ‘c u t’, c e e n e /sa ’pV o r /s a ’py/ ‘rem ain’, T H H n /te ’p/ ‘be accustom ed’, c o o q /s o ’f/ ‘be polluied’, m jiNOYo y* /m ’n o ’/ ‘fe ed ’ (w here o y is the allophone of /o/), cpcucuT ‘cut’ /s o ’t/.
(h) Syllabic expression. U nstressed syllabic Ji. preceding the stressed 32 syllable. E.g.
TA.N2 0 /t’nho/ ‘make alive’, ta ,k o / t ’ko/ ‘destroy’, Mi,NOYOY= /m ’n o ’/ ‘feed’, i,pocy
I 'w i / ‘becom e co ld ’.
(c) Both non-syllahic and sytiahic expression, two sim ultaneous a n d discontinuous m an ifestations within the sam e morph. Relevant m orphs have the follow ing forms (where N = ‘non-syllabic phonem e’):
/ N o N ' /, e.g. /ponV ncucuN e / N o N ’ /, e.g. /ponV n o o N e
/V is m anifested both as doubling o f the preceding stressed cu or o and sim ultaneously (provided it is the lasi phonem e in its bound group) as unstressed e. B ut if/V is follow ed by another phoneme in its bound group, only ihe doubling feature is m anifested. E.g. /w o t’, w o t’-, w oi’/ o y c u tu T e , o y o o t = , o y o o T e ‘separate’; /h o k ’, h o k ’-, h o k ’/ gcucuK e, 2 0 0K«, 2 0 0KE ‘shave’ ; /p o n ’, pon’-, p e n ’/ ncucuN e, n o o N s , n o o N e ‘tu rn ’.
(d) N on-syttahic: nothing, zero. The phoneme / ’/ is not m anifested if ii (a) im m ediately
precedes a stressed syllabic phonem e ( /’oip/ cuttt‘load’; /w ’op/ O Y o n ‘becom e p u re ’); or (P) im m ediately follow s a stressed syllabic phonem e and is the last phonem e in its bound group (/y o ’/ e ic u , but /y o ’-/ ‘w ash’; /s o ’/ ccu , but /s o ’-/ c o o = ‘d rin k ’; /n o ’/ NOY ‘g o ’; /h a ’/ g e ‘fall’); or (y) is non-syllabic and unstressed (/et’ttew tn/ e t o t-t h y tTT “ T o y o u ,” b u t/e to ’is/ e t o o t- c“ To h e r” ).
37 Articulatory classification o f sounds. A h y p othetical reconstruction o f th e spo ken articulation o f sounds in S ahidic has yielded the resu lts in table 2.
T A B L E 2 A r t i c u l a t o r y C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f E g y p t i a n C o p t i c S o u n d s IN THE S a h i d i c D i a l e c t S Y I . I . A U L I ; 1- O R M A T I O N Vo w e l s ( 5 ) Co n s o n a n t s (17) (H av in g O nly S yllab ic F u n ctio n ) (E ach H av in g B o th S y llab ic and N o n -s y lla b ic F u n ciio n )
S o n o ra n ts (7)
b y t m n r w ‘■h i n 'm '•/[ V u
F ric ativ e s S to p s A ffrica te
s s f h k p t ky ■ c •■s <’s ' / ’’h ‘k ‘p '( ' k ' a le ‘’c
Voiced Unvoiced
Adaptedfr o m: L. Depuydt, “ On Coptic Sounds,” Orientalia 62 (I993):346
38 The superlinear stroke as an optional indicator o f syllabic fitnction. M any sy l lables in E gyptian C optic m o rp h s do not contain a vow el. A s stated above 35, the apex o r resonant peak o f these syllables w as fo rm ed by a co n so n an t w ith syllabic function; ‘’b, ‘‘k, ‘’I ^p, ‘"s, etc. In w ritten S ahidic C optic, such sy lla b les— a ty p e that d o es n o t o cc u r in G reek, w here ev ery syllable co n tain s a vow el— w ere m arked w ith a special sym bol, the ‘superlinear stro ke’: t b, t i c, B \, Tfr, etc. (except th at n o tatio n o f syllabic /y /, /w /, and /V, i. u, and ale, are not m arked w ith the su p e rlin ea r stroke.) T he su p erlin ear stroke w as an optional sign; it was w ritten m ost often w hen the con so n an t b elonged to the
F U N D A M E N T A L C O M P O N I - N T S
sonorant class b I m n i b\ h Ti p. Thus the stroke is a signal related to sylla ble formation; il is not the expression of a phoneme.
Very few G reco-Coptic m orphs occur wilh a superlinear stroke m arking syllabic func tion, notably C i,p5 ‘flesh’, i,p5 ‘bear’, and M i,cTir5 ‘w hip’. In non-standard orthogra phy, the G reco-Coptic syllables e e , e a., e m, e n, and e p are som etim es replaced by b,
X. M, N, and p (thus 2 BJLO)Mi,c £p5opa(;, £>-7ii^Eiv, ni.pMBOA.H 7iapE|iPo>.ii,
NTOA.H £vTO>-li, C n p M i. OTiepiJa).
Position o f the stroke. Some scribes wrote the superlinear stroke precisely above the letter whose sound had syllabic function (and was the apex o f its syl lable) or shifted slightly to the right.
zFi. 2n7 epATq, upopn, TMhiTCABe h'^n, e ra ff, sol'll?, tnfntsahe Others wrote it above all or most letters of such a syllable, without indicating where the syllabic consonant (and syllable apex) was located. Such strokes often went from the middle o f one letter to the middle o f another.
2N, B A A e , 6pATc|, ty o p n , m n t c n o o y c , m n t c n o o y c ,
M N TCN o o y c , M N T C N O O y C
Thus, rwo systems o f superlineation are em ployed in standard spelling; a sin gle-stroke system and a connective stroke system. In both systems the stroke is able to occur over any consonant letter except i and y , with which (for obscure reasons) the superlinear stroke is incompatible; cf. 35. Cf. figure fol lowing table 1.
Modern printed editions often m isrepresent the length and position o f super- linear strokes because o f the technical difficulty of printing a connective stroke. Nevertheless, citations in this book reproduce the printed editions even when these misrepresent the manuscript, thus giving what readers may expect to find in one modern edition or another.
For exam ple, the Barcelona m anuscript o f M ark 16:6, ed. Q uecke (plate 3), actually has i.qTa)O Y N q N qzM neiM i. A.N (written solid), which, for typographical reasons, was rep resented in the sam e edition as: i,qTO)OYNq NqzMneTMJi a.n. Som e m odem editors om it Ihe superlinear stroke altogether, especially when editing a w ork whose m anuscript witnesses em ploy more than one system o f superlineation.
In Sahidic manuscripts copied after the eighth century A.D. superlineation usually does not correspond to the standard system (its function has not yet been systematically studied). In this period the stroke is written very narrow, virtually resembling a dot; this form is interpreted in the present book as a short superlinear stroke.
Superlinear stroke representing line-final n . In manuscripts, non-syllabic n
that would occur at the end o f a line is optionally replaced and represented by a superlinear stroke over the preceding vowel. E.g. ec|<yIT = equpjiN Matt
15:14 ed. Kasser; AKMtT= a k mh n 15:16; 2 6 n 15:30; etc. 32
T HI i N O T A T I O N O F G R E C O - C O P T I C M O R P H S T H E N O T A T I O N OF G R E C O - C O P T I C M O R P H S
39 The spelling o f Greek morphs. The Greek and Coptic phoneme systems were entirely different in structure. As a result, two different norms o f spelling are followed in Coptic literary manuscripts, one for Greco-Coptic vocabulary items and one for Egyptian Coptic. In the Hellenistic and Roman periods the living Greek language underwent major changes, especially a reduction in the num ber o f Greek vowel phonemes that were significantly distinguished in actual speech. These changes are evident in spellings that occur in non-literary Greek documents o f the period. But Greek literature continued to be w ritten and copied in the older, classical Greek spelling. Accordingly in early Sahidic lit erary manuscripts Greco-Coptic morphs are normally written in classical Greek spelling. However, in later Sahidic manuscripts (and to some extent in the early ones) the copyists write non-classical spellings o f Greco-Coptic morphs. Some o f these probably reflect late Greek pronunciation (especially e i = h = i = y
x \ = e), while others seem to be influenced by Egyptian-Coptic ( r = k . a = t ,
Z = c). Historically, they coincide with increasing isolation from Greek learn ing, especially after the separation o f Coptic Orthodoxy from the G reek-speak ing Chalcedonian church of Constantinople (after A.D. 451) and, a few cen turies later, the gradual replacement o f Coptic by Arabic 1.
(a) The following sets o f Greek vow el letiers are som etimes exchanged for one anoiher.
To some degree eventually there was general confusion in the spelling o f Greek vow el phonemes.
i. e i = H = I = Y (rarely = o i ) . E.g. A .H nei >_i)7iEiv, e n e i e v M e i i . £7ii0i)|jia, A y n H xcKiTHc iScKriTii(;, KYpHcce KTipuooEiv, ntpxcMOC JiEipaono(;, Boteet
PoiiOeiv, <J)Ic ic ipOoK;, i.Ni.eYH3i 6vd0ri|Ja. en y eY M £7ii6i)|jia, K i.T oirtu p ei KUTr]- yopEiv.
ii. = e.E.g. A.ITI ETi, g e p e c i c al'pEOK;. iii. 0 = 0 ). E.g. j l i k e o c SiKoioK;, Miuric )j6yi(;.
iv.Other occasional vow el exchanges: = o , i . i = o i , i . i = y . ^ = i. e = Y . k = o '
= e, OY = o
(h) The following pairs o f Greek consonant letters are sometimes exchanged for one
another.
i. r = K. E.g. r i,p n o c Kup7i6(; ‘fruit’, Kpi,<J)H ypaipii ‘scripture’.
ii. JL = T. E.g. xpHCJLii,Noc XptoTiav6(; ‘Christian’, cKi,NTi.A.ON OKav6a>.ov ‘stumbling block’; o y A e and o y T e are interchangeable in Coptic (cf. oi)5E, oCte).
iii. z = c . E.g. e n iT i.z e ^TiiTaaoEiv ‘command’ (vetb ), oi)^r)TEiv ‘debate’
(verb). \
(c) Ki (or Kei) is sometimes replaced by <5i (or <5ei). E.g. <5iei.pi. KiGcipa. eNrKi,(5i and eNrKi.(5ei iyKUKEiv.
(d) Doubled consonants are sometimes simplified and single consonants doubled. E.g.
F U N D A M E N T A L C O M P O N E N T S
4 0 2 ill place o f both rough and smooth breathing. G reek initial /h / (spiritus asper, rough breathing) regularly o cc u rs in G reco-C optic inorphs as 2; e.g.
2A rio c ayioq, 2eBJnuM A c ^pSona^, 2 0M0itu c 6noicoq, 2Y M N eye uhvevjeiv,
2 0CTe coCTTE, 2ptuMH Tcbnr|. B u t also in the n orm al spelling o f som e G reco- C optic m orphs, initial 2 occurs w here G reek has a sm o o th (lenis) breathing (no /h /); e.g. 2eeN O C for E0voq, 2e A .m z e fiXni^Eiv, 2Ikcun eIkcov.
41 T he superlinear stroke irt Greco-Coptic morphs has three purely graphic fu n c tions:
(a) (N orm al) T o m a rk abbreviated w ritings o f som e B iblical nam es and w ords o f sacred im portance to C hristianity (nomina sacra). Such abbreviations, m ade by om ission o f letters from the m id d le o f a m orph, are ca lle d ‘compendia' (or 'suspensions'). T he follow ing co m p en d ia p ersistently o ccur in C optic literary texts, instead o f the unabbreviated form :
(AAyeiJk.) David (in O ld T estam e n t books) e i A H M , eiHM etc. (Tl2iepoYCAAHM) Jerusalem I HA (icpAHA) Israel
Tc o r iH c ( iH c o y c ) (i) Jesus, (ii) Joshua
TTNA (rTNeyMA) spirit; and d erivatives, e.g. h n i k o n (nNeyMATiKON)
spiritual, rjNATO(})opoc (TTNeyMATO(})opoc) inspired
c f d c ( c T A y p o c ) cross
c f d y (c T A y p o y ) crucify
^ o r x p c (i) x p ic T o c Christ, (ii) x p H c x o c excellent
E.g. N A -TTej^ JlG 7c A y - c f o y n - t c a p 5 G al 5 :2 4 (ed. T hom pson) “ T hose w ho belong to C hrist Jesu s have cru cified the fle s h .”
(b) (R are) T o m ark, occasionally, n o n -G reek nam es; e.g. A x Jp Josh 7 :2 0 (ed. K asser), p S I a Josh 22:32. NAZ^ppA Josh 7 :1 7 , 2poyBHN Jo sh 2 2 :3 0 (c) To represent n a t the end o f a line in a m anuscript. Cf. 38.