ABSTRACT
Dioscorus is always considered a 'Copt', and thus as a Coptic-speaker who learnt Greek as a second language. Dioscorus's family is known to have been of Coptic origin, as the name of his great-grandfather Psimanobet sufficiently proves, and though it rose to the rank of the minor gentry and Dioscorus received a comparatively good education and had travelled as far as Constantinople, it is probable that his mind was essentially Coptic. Dioscorus must have made a particular effort in this respect in order to master written Coptic at a higher level. It is possible that he received this education in the context of the monastery founded by his father since monastic circles had long since been Coptic-writers in the first instance. From this perspective, the Greek-Coptic glossary compiled by Dioscorus could be interpreted in exactly the opposite way from the generally accepted view proposed by Bell and Crum.
