Editing Coptic language (section)

{{short description|Latest stage of the Egyptian language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Coptic
| nativename       = {{Coptic|ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ}} ({{tlit|cop|Timetremənkʰēmi}})
| era              = *[[Literary language|Literary]]: {{circa|3rd|14th century AD}}{{sfn|Richter|2009|p=404}}
*[[First language|Spoken]]: {{circa|3rd|19th century AD}}{{sfn|Allen|2020|p=1}}
*[[Sacred language|Liturgical]]: {{circa|3rd century AD}} – present{{sfn|Allen|2020|p=1}}
| ethnicity        = [[Copts]]
| states           = [[Egypt]]
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]]
| ancestor         = [[Egyptian language#History|Archaic Egyptian]]
| ancestor2        = [[Egyptian language#Old Egyptian|Old Egyptian]]
| ancestor3        = [[Egyptian language#Middle Egyptian|Middle Egyptian]]
| ancestor4        = [[Egyptian language#Late Egyptian|Late Egyptian]]
| ancestor5        = [[Egyptian language#Demotic|Demotic]]
| script           = [[Coptic alphabet]]
| iso2             = cop
| iso3             = cop
| linglist         = cop
| notice           = IPA
| dia1             = [[Bohairic Coptic|Bohairic]]
| dia2             = Sahidic
| dia3             = Akhmimic
| dia4             = Lycopolitan
| dia5             = Fayyumic
| dia6             = Oxyrhynchite
| glotto           = copt1239
| glottorefname    = Coptic
| map              = 
| mapction       =
}}
{{Contains special characters|Coptic}}
{{Culture of Egypt}}
{{Copts}}
'''Coptic''' ({{langx|cop|ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ|translit=Timetremənkʰēmi|label=Bohairic Coptic}}) is an [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] [[dormant language]].<ref name="BritannicaC">{{citation|title=Coptic language &#124; Egyptian, Christianity & Alphabet &#124; Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coptic-language|website=britannica.com|date=21 September 2024 }}</ref><ref name="Extinctlang">{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/apr/15/language-extinct-endangered|access-date=12 October 2024 |title=Endangered languages: The full list |date=15 April 2011 }}</ref> It is a group of closely related Egyptian [[dialect]]s,{{sfn|Allen|2020|p=1}} representing the most recent developments of the [[Ancient Egyptian language|Egyptian language]],{{sfn|Allen|2020|p=1}}{{sfn|Layton|2007|p=1}} and historically spoken by the [[Copts]], starting from the third century AD in [[Roman Egypt]].{{sfn|Richter|2009|p=404}} Coptic was supplanted by [[Arabic]] as the primary [[Vernacular|spoken language]] of Egypt following the [[Arab conquest of Egypt]] and was slowly replaced over the centuries.

Coptic has no native speakers today apart from a number of priests,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coptic |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/cop |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Ethnologue |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701095528/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/cop |url-status=live }}</ref> although it remains in daily use as the [[Sacred language|liturgical language]] of the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]] and of the [[Coptic Catholic Church]].{{sfn|Layton|2007|p=1}} It is written with the [[Coptic alphabet]], a modified form of the [[Greek alphabet]] with seven additional letters borrowed from the [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic Egyptian script]].{{sfn|Layton|2007|p=1}}

The major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, Bohairic, Akhmimic, Fayyumic, Lycopolitan (Asyutic), and Oxyrhynchite. Sahidic Coptic was spoken between the cities of [[Asyut]] and [[Oxyrhynchus]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Blasco Torres|first=Ana Isabel|title=Representing Foreign Sounds: Greek Transcriptions of Egyptian Anthroponyms from 800 BC to 800 AD|publisher=University of Salamanca|date=2017|page=613|doi=10.14201/gredos.135722|doi-broken-date=1 November 2024|quote=...four main dialects were spoken in Graeco-Roman Egypt: Bohairic in the Delta, Fayumic in the Fayum, Sahidic between approximately Oxyrhynchus and Lykopolis and Akhmimic between Panopolis and Elephantine.|url=https://gredos.usal.es/handle/10366/135722|access-date=2021-03-14|archive-date=2021-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516150147/https://gredos.usal.es/handle/10366/135722}}</ref> and flourished as a [[literary language]] across Egypt in the period {{circa|325|800}} AD.{{sfn|Layton|2007|p=1}} The [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] texts in the [[Nag Hammadi library]] are primarily written in the Sahidic dialect. However, some texts also contain elements of the Subakhmimic (Lycopolitan) dialect, which was also used in [[Upper Egypt]].{{sfn|Pearson|1989}} Bohairic, the dialect of [[Lower Egypt]], gained prominence in the 9th century and is the dialect used by the Coptic Church liturgically.{{sfn|Allen|2020|p=1}}