ABSTRACT

Coptic – the latest form of Egyptian, which belongs to the Semito-Hamitic family – was widely spoken in Egypt from the third to the sixth centuries AD. It was never the language of administration, a role which the Greek introduced by the Ptolemies continued to discharge, even under the Roman Empire. From about 100 BC onwards, the old demotic script was discarded in favour of the Greek alphabetic script, and, with the spread of Christianity, Coptic began to acquire literary status. The translation of the Bible into Sahidic Coptic (mid-third century) was of enormous importance in this respect.