Coptic grammar

PORTA LINGUARUM ORIENTALIUM Neue Serie Herausgegeben von Werner Diem und Franz Rosenthal

Band 20

2000

Harrassowitz Verlag • Wiesbaden

Bentley Layton

A C O PTIC GRAMMAR With Chrestomathy and Glossary

Sahidic Dialect

2000

Harrassowitz Verlag • Wiesbaden

Contents Preface

page ix

Select Coptic Linguistic Bibliography Text Editions Consulted

xvi

Introduction: The C optic Language Abbreviations

xiii

1

5

Part 1 The Basic Components of the Sentence and Their Phrasal Syntax 1

Fundamental Components: Phonemes, M orphs, Syllables, and Alphabet 11

1.

Determinators: Articles and D eterm inator Pronouns

V

Specifiers: C ardinal N umbers and O ther Specifiers

■I.

Personal Morphs: Personal Pronouns and Affixes

s.

Nouns

54 63

75

Gendered Common Nouns i>a>MG 85 Genderless Common N ouns n o n h p o c Proper Nouns m a p ia 97 Possessed Nouns p c u - q 102 Cl.

35

90

lintity Term s, Entity Statements, and T heir Phrasal Syntax

7.

Inflected M odifiers

K.

Verbs

106

118

124

Adverbial M odifiers: Prepositions and A dverbs M)

Conjunctions and Initial Attitude M arkers

II .

hiterjections

I .V

Nexus Morphs and Negators

158

176

185 189

Hart 2 The Basic Clause Patterns and the Imperative Iy

riic Nominal Sentence

197 Vll

CON I I N I S

f'Or the Basic Scntcncc of Existence aiul Indication I'ormed with e i c —, see chapter 21 14.

The Durative Sentence

15.

Non-durative Conjugation

o

\ n - and

233 251

16.

The Imperative

291

17.

The Suffixally Conjugated Verboid na .n o y - c|

18.

Predication of Possession: ‘H ave’ o y N T e - ( m Mik.Y) 305 O ther Expressions o f Possession

297

305 312

For the Impersonal Predicate (2k.NA.rKH etc.), see chapter 22

Part 3 Complex Clause Patterning 19. The Conversions

319

Relative Conversion 324 Circumstantial Conversion 335 P reterit Conversion 347 Focalizing Conversion 352 20. The Cleft Sentence

367

21. Sentences of Existence

e ic -

and Indication Formed

w ith o y w -

and

381

22.

The Entity Statement as Subject Expansion

391

23.

The Adverbial Clause Construction: Adverbial Clauses and Infinitive Phrases 397

24.

Reported Speech and Cognition: Direct and Indirect Discourse

Part 4 Time Reference 25.

The Coptic Tense System

433

Chrestomathy 443 Glossary to the Chrestomathy 453 Signals o f the Basic Sentence Patterns and Conversions Subject Index 469 Select Coptic Index

Vlll

501

465

420

Preface

AS A N E W C E N T U R Y o f Coptic studies begins, this gram m ar is m eant lo provide a fundamental reference tool describing and documenting the clas­ sical dialect, Sahidic, found in literary texts of th e fourth to eighth centuries A.D. in Egypt. Of all the Coptic dialects, Sahidic conveniently shared the greatest num ber of features w ith others; it also had a prestigious association with the orthodox Christian establishment. The pow erful combination o f con­ venience and prestige tum ed Szihidic into a nationwide medium o f communi­ cation for orthodox ecclesiastical and monastic Christianity in early Coptic speaking Egypt. It is the idiom o f m ost native authors in Coptic. I’his book does not presuppose a technical knowledge o f linguistics; undefined linguistic jargon is carefully avoided. I have explained each grammatical term, even ‘noun’ and ‘verb’, where it is first discussed in the book— and specifical­ ly as applying to Coptic, w hich bears little structural resemblance to the famil­ iar Indo-European languages of Europe. Definitions can also be located through the subject index. I also call attention to the select Coptic index, w hich can help readers to identify many ambiguous o r puzzling grammatical forms. Unlike m y predecessor Ludw ig Stem,* I have draw n extensively from the writings o f Apa Shenoute {alias Sinouthios or Shanudah, A.D. ca. 350—465), now regarded as a major stylist in Szihidic and an important source of histori­ cal information; one of the secondary aims o f this grammar is to make Shenoute’s Coptic m ore accessible. T he vast corpus o f Shenoutean evidence was hardly available in S tem ’s day (1880), nor is m uch of it found in the more recent hand grammars.^ B u t within the last few years Shenoute’s language has been richly documented and presented to linguists through the efforts o f Ariel Shisha-Halevy and Shenoute’s literary corpus h as at last been put in order by Stephen Emmel,"* though a unified critical edition of Shenoute’s works does not yet exist. I cite works originally know n under Shenoute’s authorship with the siglum Sh (more than 800 such citations w ill be found below). A few o f ' L. Stem, Koptische Grammatik (Leipzig 1880; reprint, Osnabriick 1971). ^ In the Porta series, the present volume replaces Georg Steindorff’s brief Koptische (irammatik (Berlin 1894; 2d ed. 1904). ^ Both his “Circumstantial Sentence” and the Categories, as w ell as the valuable Chrestomathy, draw examples entirely from Shenoute. S. Emmel, “Shenoute’s Literary Corpus” (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 1993).

ix

I ' K i i A< i;

these in fact belong lo other authors, bul for simplicity o f rcfcrcncc I mostly keep this siglum even where attribution to Shenoutc can no longer be accept­ ed; they are in any case a good sample o f standardized Szihidic. I cite the pub­ lished works by page and line of the edition, there being no conventional ref­ erence system by title and chapter. Citations from unpublished manuscripts are transcribed from microfilm copies. Naturally, I have also drawn many illustrations from the Bible. There is no reason to doubt that Biblical Sahidic Coptic is normal, idiomatic, and pol­ ished in character even though its wording and rhetoric are also governed by the Greek original. The Biblical version is the earliest literary monument of Sahidic Coptic, and m ust have exercised a pow erful influence on all subse­ quent Sahidic literature. The examples cited in this grammar thus represent three somewhat distinct linguistic layers: Bible, the Shenoute corpus, and other ecclesiastical literature. Despite m y persona] involvem ent in editing the fourth-century “ G nostic” m anuscripts discovered near Nag Hammadi, I entirely refrain from citing those works here, for they scarcely illustrate the standardized Sahidic dialect.^ At the other end of the scale I make no refer­ ence to the non-literary texts (personal, legal, m agical, medical, graffiti), whose linguistic character shows striking divergences from standard literaiy Sahidic and which deserve their ow n special grammars. Coptic citations are mostly quoted from m odem printed editions; within typo­ graphical limits, they reproduce o r om it superlinear strokes according to the practice o f their m odem editors, w hether or not this corresponds to the manu­ scripts. Citations are thus what a reader can expect to find in one modem edi­ tion o r another; for some texts, several editions are cited. Only a few published citations have been recollated against the manuscript (mostly from microfilm copy), and these are indicated. English translations of the Bible are more or less according to the Revised Standard Version (© 1952-71, Division of Christian Education o f the National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A.), and sometimes B renton’s English in the Bagster Septuagint, both very often with alteration. Translations of other works are my own. Occasional observa­ tions on the English translation of Coptic, which appear w ithin parentheses or in smaller type, are n o t a part of the grammatical description; their only pur­ pose is practical, and they can be safely ignored by technical readers. ^ Those Nag Hammadi texts whose language resembles Sahidic display a non-Standard m ix of isoglosses, sometimes fluctuating, from all over Egypt. Their dialectal peculiarities extend beyond phonology, word formation, and lexicon into the area o f syntax. For similar if less urgent reasons 1 ignore the Bruce, Askew, and Berlin Gnostic codexes. Even the work entitled Pistis Sophia, whose language in many ways resembles standard Biblical Sahidic, shows peculiarities. In any case, the features that all these manuscripts share with standardized Sahidic are, I trust, well illus­ trated in this book by other texts, even as their non-Standard peculiarities are signalled by tacit omission here.

i ' R i : i A( I-

Twenticth-ccntury Coptic linguistics was established by two scholars, both ori­ ented to the mainstream of European descriptive structuralism; P. V, EmStedt or Jcm stcdt (1890-1966) in St. Petersburg and H. J. Polotsky (1905-1991) in Jerusalem. Em.^tedt (a student o f Baudouin de Courtenay) laid down a theo­ retical basis, with far-reaching implications, for investigating Coptic phrasal syntax and govemance by his analysis of C optic direct object syntax, noun determination, and referential linkage.^ At a larger analytical level, the basic ('optic clause types and m ost of the com plex clause pattem ing w ere correctly analyzed fo r the first time b y Polotsky.^ Furthermore, Polotsky’s highly inno­ vative studies on focalization pattem s in Coptic^ opened a new door not only lor Coptic studies but also for Egyptology in general and even for general lin­ guistics. The analytical outlook, comprehensive knowledge, and scrupulous tncthod o f these two linguists prepared several generations o f successors, in various countries, to undertake their own creative, ambitious, and original Studies of both special problems and th e overall structure of C optic, following in their footsteps.^ This ongoing tradition— now international in scope— is non-dogmatic; it continues to revise, innovate, and develop. T he Select Coptic I .inpuistic Bibliography below lists items, mostly from within the tradition, to u hich the present grammar is especially indebted. These are works that I con­ fidently recommend to the reader—above all, A . Shisha-H alevy’s Coptic Cram rm tical Categories (1986), a book that has radically transform ed the study of Coptic syntax. l iiially, a word about traditional terminology. Readers accustomed to the tra­ ditional terms o f Coptic gram m ar in English, French, or G erm an will find many of these included, as cross-references, in the subject index at the end of this book. But as might be expected in a new full-scale gram m ar some old lernis had to be abandoned or replaced, and some new ones created, when the overall structure of the language more precisely came into view. For these " "t)as koptische Praesens und die Ankniipfungsarten des naheren Objekts” (1927); “K deteriiiinacii v koptskom jazyke” (1949, German translation 1978). Em stedt’s influence upon the rest ••t l-ufDpean scholarship was delayed by international political circumstances. His extensive notes 111! a complete survey of Coptic grammar were edited only twenty years after his death, as Iwlfiltivanija po grammatike koptskogo jazyka, Moscow 1986; a bibliography of his publications IS UK ludcd in the preface to that vclume, pp. 51-55. The writings o f Emstedt’s successor A. I. M.inskuja for the years 1955 to 1987 are listed in Journal o f Coptic Studies 1 (1990): 1-12 I Hil>liographie A. 1. Elanskaja,” by P. Nagel). “ I’he Coptic Conjugation System” (1960), “Nominalsatz und Cleft Sentence” (1962), ■( iriind/iige des Nominalsatzes” (ca. 1972; published in his Grundlagen vol. 1, 1987). " lii'ginning with “ Les temps seconds” in his Etudes (1944). ' 1 he underlying linguistic approach o f this tradition owes a great deal to classic descriptive siiiK Uiralism in the tradition of Saussure, Bloomfield, Bally, Hjelmslev, etc.— synchronic in per•.|H»live, oriented to syntax, non-universal, and viewed from a reader’s standpoint of decipheriiu-Ht; ami based on textual philology, as befits a non-living language. It is described in more detail (t\ A .Shisha-Halevy, Coptic Grammatical Categories, pp. 5-13, and passim; and W.-P. Funk, I «)war(l a Synchronic Morphology of Coptic.”

xi

innovations I ask the readers’ indulgence, hoping they will ltK>k beyond the new names and consider, instead, the enduring structural entities that they merely serve to label.'® *** It remains fo r me to thank those whose generosity made my work possible. The greatest debt is to my revered teacher H. J. Polotsky, whose analytical brilliance, vast knowledge, absolute respect for data, cool judgement, and unstinting hospitality left a deep mark on all his students and, m ost cenainly, upon this book; and, likewise, to Ariel Shisha-Halevy— ^to both o f these schol­ ars I am deeply indebted for twenty years of study, discussion, and textual analysis together; and to my first instructor o f Coptic and general linguistics Thom as Lambdin. Prof. Shisha-Halevy very generously commented in detail o n several successive drafts o f this grammar; his brilliant criticism and tireless help pointed the way to improvements o f the text o n almost every page and saved me from countless errors; I gratefully acknowledge his collaboration. The project o f a new Coptic grammar was first proposed to m e by the late Prof. Roland Toumay, O.P. and Prof. (now Cardinal) Carlo Martini, S.J. then directors respectively o f the Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem and the Pontificio Istituto Biblico in Rome. The preparation of this book was made possible by a grant from the R esearch Tools Program of the National Endow m ent for the Humanities, an independent federal agency (which asks its grant recipients to state that their w ork does not necessarily represent the view of the Endowment). Its publication at an affordable price was generously subvented by the Yale Endowm ent for Egyptology, funded by the Marilyn M. Simpson Charitable Trust, through the good offices of Prof. W illiam Kelly Simpson. T o both I am extremely grateful. I am grateful also to the adm inis­ trators of Yale U niversity for their unwavering encouragem ent o f Coptic Studies; likew ise to my old colleagues at the E cole Biblique et Archeologique Fran9aise de Jerusalem for a scholarly environment and warm collegiality second to none; the H arvard Society o f Fellows for extremely The old second tenses are here called the ‘focalizing conversion’. Polotsky’s bipartite and tripartite conjugation patterns are here the ‘durative sentence’ and ‘non-durative conjugation’. Personal pronoun is mostly replaced by ‘personal morph’, status constructus by ‘prenominal state’, and status pronominalis by ‘prepersonal state’. The Verstarker have become ‘inflected modifiers’. Old adjective verbs are here a subclass of the ‘suffixally conjugated verboid’ (chap­ ters 17—18), and the term adjective is entirely avoided. In chaptCT 3 is isolated a pronoun-like word class etc.), which, for brevity’s sake, I simply call the ‘specifier’. The noun (chapter 5) is analyzed as a set of four distinct classes. ‘Initial attitude marker’ is tentatively distinguished from conjunction (chapto- 10). On the other hand, important composite categories o f ‘entity term’, ‘entity statement’, and ‘nexus morph’ had to be established for syntactic and semantic reasons (chapters 6 and 12).

xii

(O l'lK

I.IN (iU lS T l(

l U B L K X i K AIM! Y

>»cucn)us rcscarch support; the A m erican Council o f Learned Societies under a program funded by the National Endowment fo r the Humanities, for an assisting grant; so also to Stephen Emmel for com puterization of the project; David Brakke for creating an analytical database o f the Sahidic New Testament, and the Packard Foundation for the Humanities, w hich supported Inin; W olf-Peter Funk for advice on dialectology; Howard Gralla for consul­ tation on certain matters o f design; R obert Babcock (Beinecke Library); Anne Boud’hors (CNRS, Paris); and the A. W hitney G risw old Hum anities Research Fund of Yale University. Citations were checked by Andrew Crislip. For book design I acknowledge the m odel o f the University of ( ’hicago M anual o f Style, 12th edition. I am indebted to Franz Rosenthal for iirranging the publication o f this grammar, and to Stanley Possick for essen­ tial personal support. ^ iilc University, New Haven (Connecticut)

S i;i,H C T C O P T IC L IN G U IS T IC B IB L IO G R A P H Y (’ iTiiy. J. Coptic Etymological Dictionary. Cambridge 1976. ( rimi, W. E. A Coptic Dictionary. Oxford 1939. IK-puydt, L. “ On Coptic Sounds.” Orientalia 62 (1993): 338-75. I Jiiiiskaya (Jelanskaja), A. I. “ Slucai nesoglasovanija ‘podxvatyvajuScego mestoimenija’ s antecedentom opredelitel’nogo predlozenija v koptskom jazyke” IOccurrences of Disagreement between the “Resumptive Pronoun” and the Antecedent o f the Relative Clause in Coptic]. In Akademija nauk SSSR, Institut narodov Azii. Drevnij Egipet i drevnjaja Afrika (Festschrift for V. V. Struve), edited by I. S. Kacnel’son, pp. 21-29. Moscow 1967. I luiucl, S. “ Proclitic Forms of the Verb in Coptic.” In Studies Presented to Hans ./akoh Polotsky, edited by D. W. Young, pp. 131-46. East Gloucester, Massachusetts (USA) 1981. I'iiist(*dt. See Jemstedt riiiik, W.-P. “ Formen und Funktionen des interlokutiven Nominalsatzes in denkoptischen Dialekten.” Langues orientates anciennes: philologie et linguistique 3 (1991):1-75. . “ Toward a Synchronic Morphology of Coptic.” In The Future o f Coptic Studies, edited by R. McL. Wilson, pp. 104-24. Leiden 1978. “ Zur Syntax des koptischen Qualitativs.” Zeitschriftfiir agyptische Sprache und AUertumskunde 104 (1977);25-39; 105 (1978):94-114. •••laiiskaja. See Elanskaya IniistcJi (r.rn5tedt), P. “K determinacii v koptskom jazyke.” Sovetskoe vostokovedenic 6 ( 1949): 52-62. German translation by Peter Nagel, “ Zur Determination im Koptischen.” Universitat Halle-Wittenberg, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, ( Jcsellsch. u. sprachw. Reihe 27.3 (1978):95—106.

xiii

ACi;

Jemstedt {continued) ------ . “Das koptische Praesens und die Ankniipfungsarlen des niihcrcn Objekts.” In Akademija nauk SSSR (St. Petersburg), Doklady 1927:69-74. Layton, B. “Compound Prepositions in Sahidic Coptic.” In Studies Presented to Hans Jakob Polotsky, edited by D. W. Young, pp. 239-68. East Gloucester, Massachusetts (USA) 1981. ------ . “The Coptic Determinator Syntagm and Its Constituents. ” Journal o f Coptic Studies 1 (1990);79-97. ------ . “A Penultimate Personal Object Morph in Classical Sahidic Coptic.” In Akten des 6. internationalen Koptologenkongresses, Mimster, 20.-26. Juli 1996, edit­ ed by S. Emmel, M. Krause, S. G. Richter, and S. Schaten, vol. 2, pp. 347-58. Sprachen und Kulturen des christlichen Orients, vol. 6. Wiesbaden 1999. Polotsky, H. J. Collected Papers. Jerusalem 1971. Especially the following: “ The Coptic Conjugation System.” Pp. 238-68 (from Orientalia 29 [1960]:392-422). “ Etudes de syntaxe copte.” Pp. 102-207 (originally a separate monograph in: Publications de la societe d ’archeologie copte. Cairo 1944). “Modes grecs en copte?” Pp. 208-25 (from Coptic Studies in Honor o f Walter Ewing Crum, pp. 73—90. Boston 1950). “ Nominalsatz und Cleft Sentence im Koptischen.” Pp. 418—35 (from Orientalia 31 [1962]:413-30). “Zur koptischen Lautlehre II.” Pp. 358-62 (from Zeitschrift fiir dgyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 69 [1933]: 125-29). “ Zur koptischen W ortstellung.” Pp. 398-417 (from Orientalia 30 [19611:294-313). ------ . Grundlagen des koptischen Satzbaus. 2 vols. American Studies In Papyrology, nos. 27, 28. Decatur, Georgia (USA) 1987, 1990. Quecke, H. “ [Einleitung.] ” In Das Johannesevangelium saidisch, pp. 3—67. Barcelona and Rome 1984. ------ “ [Einleitung.]” In Das Lukasevangelium saidisch, pp. 3-90. BiU'celona 1977. ------ . “ [Einleitung.]” In D as Markusevange/ium saidisch, pp. 2—59. Barcelona 1972. Satzinger, H. “ Phonologie des koptischen Verbs (sa‘idischer Dialekt).” In Festschrift Elmar Edel 12. Mdrz 1979, edited by Manfred Gorg and Edgar Pusch, pp. 343-68. Bamberg 1979. Shisha-Halevy, A. “ Achmlmoid Features in Shenoute’s Idiolect.” Le Museon 89 (1976): 353-66. ------ . “ Apodotic efs5tm.” Le Museon 86 (1973):455-66. ------ . “ The Circumstantial Present as an Antecedent-less (i.e. Substantival) Relative in Coptic.” Journal o f Egyptian Archaeology 62 (1976): 134-37. ------ . “ The Circumstantial Sentence in Shenoute’s Coptic” [in modem Hebrew, with English summary]. Ph.D. dissertation, Hebrew University (Jerusalem), 1972. (Published in a limited edition.) ------ . “ Commentary on Unpublished Shenoutiana in the British Library.” Enchoria 6 (1976):29-61. ------ . Coptic Grammatical Categories: Structural Studies in the Syntax of Shenoutean Sahidic. Analecta Orientalia, vol. 53. Rome 1986.

xiv

(O i 'l K

I IN(aM. Sri <

HI Ki.l()(;KA Pii Y

. Coptic Gramniatu al Chrestomathy: A Course for Academic and Private Study. Oricntalia Lovaniensia analecta, vol. 30. Louvain 1988. . “7'he Coptic Circumstantial Present with an Empty (Impersonal) Actor-Suffix and Adverbial Function.” Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 61 (1975):256-57. — . “ Existential Statements in the Sahidic New' Testament.” Gottinger Miszellen 77 (1984): 67-79. —. “ Grammatical Discovery Procedure and the Egyptian-Coptic Nominal Sentence.” Oricntalia 56 (1987): 147—75. —. “Notes on Some Coptic Nominal Sentence Patterns.” In Studien zur Sprache und Religion Agyptens: Zu Ehren von Wolfhart Westendorf, pp. 175-89. Gottingen 1984. — . The Proper Name: Structural Prolegomena to Its Syntax, a Case Study in Coptic. Beihefte zur Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 15. Vienna 1989. — . “ Protatic efsotm.” 43 (1974):369-81; 46 (1977): 127-28. —. “ Sahidic.” In The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 8, pp. 194-202. —. “ Some Reflections on the Egyptian Conjunctive.” In Divitiae Aegypti: Koptologische und verwandte Studien zu Ehren von Martin Krause, edited by Cacilia Fluck et al., pp. 300-314. Wiesbaden 1995. “ The ‘Tautological Infinitive’ in C optic.” Journal of Coptic Studies 1 (1990):99-127. —. “ Two New Shenoute-Texts from the British Library II (Commentary).” Orientalia 44 (1975):469-84. “ What’s in a Name? On Coptic ‘he of’.” Enchoria 13 (1985):97-102. Stern, L. Koptische Grammatik, Leipzig 1880. -. “ Versuch iiber eine gleichmassige Worttrennung im Koptischen.” Zeitschriftfiir dgyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 24 (1886): 56-73. Wilson, M. Coptic Future Tenses: Syntactical Studies in Sahidic. Janua linguarum. Series practica, vol. 64. The Hague 1970. W(»rrell, W. Coptic Sounds. With an appendix by H. Shohara. Ann Arbor, Michigan [USA] 1934. Worrell’s conclusions about the probable location of Coptic dialects must now be modified in light of important new manuscript evidence for dialects of Middle Egypt. I hi- complete linguistic and philological bibliography can be located by consulting: W. K.iiiuiierer, E. M. Husselman, and L. A. Shier, A Coptic Bibliography (Ann Arbor, Michigan [USA] 1950); supplemented by Unione accademica nazionale, Corpus dei niaiioscritti copti letterari, Coptic 'Bibliography, edited by T. Orlandi (Rome 1989-); .iiul The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1991). Coptic literature is catalogued in: K.inuuercr et al.. Bibliography, Orlandi, Bibliography, and T. Orlandi, Elementi de lingua c letteratura Copta (Milan 1970). Articles on Coptic authors and genres can be ItMiiui in The Coptic Encyclopedia, vols. 1-7 (1991).

XV

Text Editions Consulted

Amelineau, E., ed. Monuments pour servir a I’histoire de I’Egypte chretienne aux IV^ et siecles. Mission archeologique frangaise au Caire, M6moires, vol. 4. Paris 1888. ------ , ed. CEuvres de Schenoudi. 2 vols. Paris 1907, 1911. Aranda Perez, G., ed. El evangelio de son Mateo en copto sahidico (texto de M 569, estudio preliminar y aparato critico). Madrid 1984. Bouriant, U. Fragments coptes relatifs au candle d ’Ephese. Mission archeologique fran^aise au Caire, Memoires, vol. 8. Paris 1892. Budge, E. A. Wallis, ed. Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect o f Upper Egypt. London 1913. ------ , ed. Coptic Biblical Texts in the Dialect o f Upper Egypt. London 1912. ------ , ed. Coptic Homilies in the Dialect of Upper Egypt Edited from the Papyrus Codex Oriental 5001 in the British Museum. London 1910. ------ , ed. Coptic Martyrdoms Etc. in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London 1914. ------ , ed. The Earliest Known Coptic Psalter: The Text, in the Dialect of Upper Egypt,

Edited from the Unique Papyrus Codex Oriental 5000 in the British Museum. London 1889. ------ , ed. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect o f Upper Egypt. London 1915. Bybliothecae Pierpont Morgan codices Coptici photographice expressi, edited by H. Hyvemat. 56 vols. Rome 1922. Campagnano, A., ed. Ps. Cirillo di Gerusalemme, Omelie copte sulla passione, sulla croce et sulla Vergine. MUan 1980. Chame, M., ed. Le manuscrit de la version copte en dialecte sahidique des “Apophthegmata patrum.” Institut fran 9ais d ’archeologie orientate, Bibliotheque d’etudes coptes, vol. 4. Cairo 1960. Chapman, P., ed. “Homily on the Passion and the Resurrection Attributed to Eucdius of Rome.” In Homiletica from the Pierpont Morgan Library, edited by Leo Depuydt, pp. 79-106. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium, vol. 524. Louvain 1991. Chassinat, E., ed. Le quatrieme livre des Entretiens et epitres de Shenouti. Institut frangais d ’archeologie orientale du Caire, Memoires, vol. 23. Cairo 1911. Ciasca, A., ed. Sacrorum bibliorum fragmenta copto-sahidica musei Borgiani. 2 vols. Rome 1885, 1889. Crum, W. E., ed. Catalogue o f the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum. London 1905. ------ , ed. Catalogue o f the Coptic Manuscripts in the Collection o f the John Rylands Library, Manchester. Manchester and London, 1909. de Lagarde. See Lagarde XV i

r i i x r i-DITIONS CONSULT I'D Drcscher, James, ed. “ Apa Claudius and the Thieves” (Constantine o f Assiut, First Encomiuin on St. Claudius of Antioch], Bulletin de la societe d ’archeologie

co p te S {m 2 ):6 3 -S l. ----- , ed. Apa Mena: A Selection of Coptic Texts Relating to St. Menas. Societe d’arch6ologie copte, Textes et documents. Cairo 1946. lUanskaya, A. L, ed. The Literary Coptic Manuscripts in the A. S. Pushkin State Fine Arts Museum in Moscow. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 18. Leiden 1994. (Pagination differs from the Budapest edition o f 1991.) l-oat, M. E., ed. “Encomium on SS. Peter and Paul Attributed to Severian of Gabala.” In Encomiastica from the Pierpont Morgan Library, edited by Leo Depuydt, pp. 84-130. Corpus scriptomm Christianomm orientalium, vol. 544. Louvain 1993. (laritte, G ., ed. S. Antonii vitae versio Sahidica. Corpus scriptomm Christianomm ori­ entalium, vol. 117. Paris 1949. (loehring, J., et al., eds. The Crosby-Sch0yen Codex M S 193 in the Sch0yen Collection. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium, vol. 521. Louvain 1990. (luerin, H., ed. “ Sermons inedits de S enouti.” Revue egyptologique 10 (1902): 148-164, 11 (1904): 15-34. Ilintze, F. and Schenke, H.-M., eds. Die berliner Handschrift der sahidischen Aposteigeschichte (P. 15926). Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, vol. 109. Berlin 1970. Homer, G., ed. The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect Otherwise Called Sahidic and Thebaic. 1 vols. Oxford 1911—24. Kasscr, R., ed. Papyrus Bodmer XVI: Exode I—XV,2I en sahidique. Cologny-Geneve 1961. —, ed. Papyrus Bodmer XVIII: Deuteronome I~X, 7 en sahidique. Cologny-Geneve 1962. —, ed. Papyrus Bodmer XIX: Evangile de Matthieu XfV, 28-XXVIII, 20, Epitre aux romains /, 2-II, 3 en sahidique. Cologny-Geneve 1962. ed. Papyrus Bodmer XXI: JosueVI, 16-25, VU, 6-XI, 23, XXII, 1 - 2 ,19-XXIII, 7 , 15-XXFV, 23 en sahidique. Cologny-Geneve 1962. , ed. Papyrus Bodmer XXII et Mississippi coptic codex //; Jeremie XL, 3-LII, 34, Lamentations, Epitre de Jeremie, Baruch I, I-V , 5 en sahidique. ColognyGeneve 1964. , ed. Papyrus Bodmer XXIII: Esdie LXVII, 1-LXVI, 24 en sahidique. ColognyGeneve 1965. Kuhn. K. H., ed. The Coptic (Sahidic) Version o f Kingdoms I, II (Samuel I, II). Corpus scriptorum Christianomm orientalium, vol. 313. Louvain 1970. . ed. Letters and Sermons ofSesa. Corpus scriptorum Christianomm orientalium, vol. 157. Louvain 1956. I a^jarde (Boetticher), P. de, ed. Aegyptiaca. Gottingen 1883. J rl'ori. L.-Th., ed. S. Athanase, Lettres festales et pastorales en copte. Corpus scripto­ mm Christianorum orientalium, vol. 150. Louvain 1955. . ed. “ Cat6ch^se christologique de Chenoute.” Zeitschriftfiir dgyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 80 (1955):40—45. . cd. “ Le ‘De virginitate’ de S. Clement ou de S. Athanase?” Le Museon 40 (l927):249-64.

xvii

I I; X I I D I T I O N S

( O N S I I M t;t)

Lcfort {continued) ------ , ed. CEuvres de S. Pachome et de ses disciples. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium, vol. 159. Louvain 1956. ------ , ed. S. Pachomii vitae sahidice scriptae. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum orientalium, vol. 99. Paris 1933. Leipoldt, J., and Crum, W . E., eds. Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia. Vols. 3 and 4. Corpus scriptomm Christianorum orientalium, vols. 42, 73. Paris 1908, 1913. Lemm, O. von, ed. “ Sahidische Bibelfragmente I I I .” In Academie imperiale des sci­ ences de St.-P6tersbourg, Bulletin, 5th series, vol. 25 (1906):93-137. Maspero, G., ed. Fragments de la version thebaine de I ’ancien testament. Mission archdologique fran^aise au Caire, Memoires, vol. 6, fasc. 1. Paris 1892. MingJureUi, J. A., ed. Aegyptiorum codicum reliquiae Venetiis in bibliotheca Naniana asservatae. 2 vols. with continuous pagination. Bologna 1785. Muller, C. Detlef G., ed. DieBiicherder Einsetzung derErzengel Michael und Gabriel. Corpus scriptomm Christianomm orientalium, vol. 225. Louvain 1962. Munier, H., e d Catalogue general des antiquites egyptiennes du musee du Caire, rf^ 9201-9304: manuscrits coptes. Cairo 1916. Orlandi, T., Pearson, B., and H. Drake, eds. Eudoxia and the Holy Sepulchre, A Constantinian Legend in Coptic. Milan 1980. ------ , ed. Shenute, Contra Origenistas. Unione accademica nazionale. Corpus dei manoscritti copti letterari. Rome 1985. Perez. See Aranda Perez Pieyte, W., and Boeser, P. A. A., eds. Manuscrits coptes du musee d ’antiquites des Pays-bas a Leide. Leiden 1897. Quecke, H., ed. Das Johannesevangelium saidisch: Text der Handschrift PPalau Rib.

Inv.-Nr. 183 mit den Varianten der Handschriften 813 und 814 der Chester Beatty Library und der Handschrift M 569. Papyrologica Castroctaviana, vol. 11. Rome and Barcelona 1984. ------ , ed. Das Lukasevangelium saidisch: Text der Handschrift PPalau Rib. Inv.-Nr. 181 mit den Varianten der Handschrift M 569. Papyrologica Castroctaviana, vol. 6. Barcelona 1977. ------ , ed. Das Markusevangelium saidisch: Text der Handschrift PPalau Rib. Inv.-Nr. 182 mit den Varianten der Handschrift M 569. Papyrologica Castroctaviana, vol. 4. Barcelona 1972. ------ . Untersuchungen zum koptischen Stundengebet. Publications de I’institut orientaliste de Louvain, vol. 3. Louvain 1970. Rossi, F., ed. “Trascrizione con traduzione Italiana di due sermoni attribuiti, il primo a s. Atanasio arcivescovo di Alessandria, il secondo a s. Giovanni Grisostomo arcivescovo di Constantinopoli, dai testi copti, appartenenti alia collezione egizia del museo d ’antichita di Torino.” InMemorie della reale accademia della scienze di Torino, serie seconda, vol. 39, pp. 49-152bis. Turin 1889. (= Papiri copti del museo egizio di Torino, vol. 2, pt. 1.) ------ , ed. “Trascrizione con traduzione Italiana di un testo copto del museo Egizio di Torino.” In Memorie della reale accademia della scienze di Torino, serie sec­ onda, vol. 41, pp. 1-121. Turin 1889. (= Papiri copti del museo egizio di Torino,

xviii

n x r i D i n o N s c o n s d i i i;i> vol. 2, pt. 3.) — , ed. “Trascrizione di tre manoscritti copti del museo Egizio di Torino.” In Memorie della reale accademia della scienze di Torino, serie seconda, vol. 37, pp. 65-175. Turin 1886. (= Papiri copti del museo egizio di Torino, vol. 1, pt. 3.) ------ , ed. “Vita di sant’Darione e martirio di sant’Ignazio vescovo d’Antiochia.” In Memorie della reale accademia della scienze di Torino, serie seconda, vol. 38, pp. 3-103. Turin 1888. (= Papiri copti del museo egizio di Torino, vol. 1, pt. 4.) Schiissler, K., ed. Die katholischen Briefe in der koptischen (sahidischen) Version. Corpus scriptorum Christianonim orientalium, vol. 528. Louvain 1991. Sheridan, J. M., ed. Rufus o f Shotep, Homilies on the Gospels o f Matthew and Luke. Unione accademica nazionale. Corpus dei manoscritti copti letterari. Rome 1998. Shisha-Halevy, A., ed. “Two New Shenoute-texts from the British Library.” Orientalia 44 (1975): 149-85, plates 9 and 10. ------ , ed. “Unpublished Shenoutiana in the British Library.” Enchoria, Zeitschrift fiir Demotistik und Koptologie 5 (1975):53—108, plates 9—30. Shore, A. F., ed. Joshua I-IV and Other Passages in Coptic Edited from a Fourthcentury Sahidic Codex in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Ehiblin 1963. Thompson, H., ed. A Coptic Palimpsest Containing Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Judith, and Esther in the Sahidic Dialect. London 1911. ----- , ed. The Coptic Version of the Acts o f the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles in the Sahidic Dialect. Cambridge 1932. Till, W., ed. Koptische Heiligen- und Martyrerlegenden: Texte, Ubersetzungen und Indices. Orientalia Christiana analecta, vol. 102. Rome 1935. Wessely, C., ed. Griechische und koptische Texte theologischen Inhalts. Vols. 1 and 5. Studien zur Palaeographie und Papyruskunde, vols. 9 and 18. Leipzig 1909, 1917. Worrell, W., ed. The Coptic Psalter in the Freer Collection. New York 1916. — , ed. The Proverbs of Solomon in Sahidic Coptic According to the Chicago Manuscript. University of Chicago, Oriental Institute Publications, vol. 12. Chicago 1931. Yoimg, D. W., ed. Coptic Manuscripts from the White Monastery: Works of Shenute. Mitteilungen aus der Papyrussammlung der osterreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer), neue Serie, vol. 22. Vienna 1993. ed. “ A Monastic Invective against Egyptian Hieroglyphs.” In Studies Presented to Hans Jakob Polotsky, edited by Dwight W. Young, pp. 348-60. East Gloucester, Massachusetts (U.S.A.) 1981. /oi-ga, G., ed. Catalogus codicum Copticorum manu scriptorum qui in museo

Borgiano Velitris advervantur: Avec une introduction historique et des notes hibliographiques par Joseph-Marie Sauget. Hildesheim 1973 (Rome 1810). HiWlical texts published before 1959 are indexed in A. Vaschalde, “ Ce qui a 6te public lies versions copies de la bible,” Revue biblique n.s. 16 [28] (1919):220-43, 513-31; (I920):91-I06, 241-58; 30 (1921):237^6; 31 (1922):81-88, 234-58; supplemi iiicil by W. Till, “Coptic Biblical Texts Published after Vaschalde’s Lists,” Bulletin <>lthe John Rylands Library A \ (1959); 220-40.

xix

Introduction The Coptic language I C 'O P T IC is the last phase o f the Egyptian language, from about A .D. 200 to 1000. Egyptian, th e indigenous language o f Egypt, h ad been expressed in w rit­ ing since before 3000 B.C.; it constituted a language group unto itself but also had affinities with Semitic and various A frican languages, being classified as a sibling of the Berber, Cushitic, and Sem itic language groups. The written attestation o f standardized Coptic Egyptian begins with B iblical manuscripts iJating to about A.D. 300, shortly after the translation o f the C hristian Bible into Coptic; and continues w ell beyond the extinction o f Coptic as a spoken daily language (perhaps about A.D. 1000), dow n to the last faltering letters written by leam ed Copts in Egypt at the beginning o f the nineteenth century.^ Native literature originally com posed in Coptic dates alm ost exclusively to the fjirly Byzantine period, roughly A.D. 325-800.^ A fter the A rab conquest of l--gypt (A.D. 642) there began a period of Arabization and Islam ization in which Coptic was gradually replaced by Arabic for most practical purposes. I'ivcntually, the Coptic language was reduced to the status of a m ere religious and ethnic relic, cultivated only by leam ed members o f a C hristian minority in l-jiypt. In the thirteenth century w e see a burst o f interest o n the part of I •gyptian Christian scholars in the philology o f their ancient tongue, but now in the form o f Coptic grammars, vocabularies, and textual editions written in Arabic and taking account o f Arabic gram matical tradition,^ thus signalling ihc disappearance o f spoken Coptic as a language o f fluent com m unication rvcn among the leamed. Such works belong to the Arabic Christian literature ol ihc Copts."* This is the only recorded elaboration of gram m atical theory .itnong the ancient Copts. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt today retains a liiurgy chanted in Medieval Coptic (Bohairic dialect) w ith certain passages 111 ( ircek; Biblical lections are read in both Coptic and Arabic. B ut Arabic has ' I . Orlandi, “ Literature, Coptic,” in The Coptic Encyclopedia (New York 1991) vol. 5, i'p I ISO-60; Coptic letter by Athanasius o f AbutTg written in the Bohairic dialect o f Coptic ..» A I). I K(K). ed. and trans. W. E. Crum in Catalogue o f the Coptic Manuscripts in the Collection
.’(M 6. ' S Kiibciison, “Translating the Tradition: Some Remarks on the Arabization of the Patristic llriii;i^>r in lipypi.” \n Medieval Encounters 2 (1996);4-14; G .G rsi, Geschichte der christlichen ■II,ihiM hrn Literature {VaUcan City 1944-53).

1

IN TR O D IH

I ION

long been the practical language of the Egyptian church and its members. Occasional neports of the continuous survival of spoken Coptic into modem times are unsubstantiated and unlikely. A movement to revive the Coptic lan­ guage existed in Egypt throughout the twentieth century, but with almost no permanent results. T h e m odem word C opt m eans a Christian native of E gypt as opposed to a M oslem or Jew. It deriives from neo-Latin coptus < M iddle Arabic qibtl, qubtl < Greek AiyCTtxioc; ‘E gyptian’/ ^ AiyunToq ‘E gypt’. Ancient Coptic speakers called them selves n ^ n KHMe ‘the people o f Egypt’ ; their language, TMNrpMNKHMe ‘the abstract category associated with people of E gypt’; and their land, khm g.

Coptic comprised a family o f regional dialects spoken and written from the Mediterranean coast and the Delta all the w ay south up the Nile Valley into the Sudan (aincient Nubia), and also in the oases of the W estern Desert of Egypt. M ore than a dozen dialects are distinctly represented in ancient literary manuscripts, and Biblical texts are attested in no less than eight of these.^ The natural homes of these dialects are a m atter o f abstract scholarly calculation, in the absence o f objective geographical evidence.^ A basic contrast probably existed between those of the Delta on the one hand, and those of the extreme southern end of the N ile Valley on the other. At their greatest extremes, the dialects are sufficiently different to have been mutually incomprehensible to their native speakers, while those in closer proximity would have had more features in common. The leading dialect in the pre-Islamic period was Sahidic (from Arabic S a ‘ld ‘Southern Egypt’); it is thought^ to have begun as a regional dialect o f the southern Nile Valley, emanating from Smun/Hermopolis (m odem Ashmunein) or possibly somewhat south of that town. Sahidic is the dialect that has the most features in common w ith the other dialects o f Coptic, and it has a very small number of peculiarities unto itself. Such a level profile would have made Sahidic easy to understand and use as a nationwide medium o f commu­ nication; in fact, it came to be w ritten and understood up and down the Nile Valley and (at least later) to some degree in the North. It w as roughly about A.D. 300, under historical circumstances now unknown, that Sahidic began to be written in literary form. From the beginning, literary Sahidic was remark­ ably standardized in alphabet, morphology, syntax, vocabulary, phraseology, and translation technique: this is Standard Sahidic, the subject of the present ^ The number o f dialects that must be reckoned with has increased since the publication of W. E. Crum’s authoritative Coptic Dictionary; the ongoing discovery of ancient manuscripts in the Nile Valley causes these numbers to rise from time to time. ® W.-P. FunK, “ Dialects Wanting Homes: A Numerical Approach to the Early Varieties of Coptic,” in Historical Dialectology, Regional and Social (ed. Jacek Fisiak; Berlin 1988) pp. 149-92. ’ Funk, “ Dialects.”

n i l ; (o

P iK '

i.A N Cii)A (ii;

grammar. (The curliest manuscripts show variation in spelling and a slight admixture of other dialect forms. A fully standardized spelling was attained perhaps about the sixth c e n tu ry .S a h id ic was an influential language o f both Egyptian monasticism and the orthodox Christian power structure more or less throughout Egypt in the early Byzantine period. Alm ost all native authors in Coptic write in this dialect; their dates range from the fourth to eighth cen­ turies A.D. Sahidic literature continued to be recopied and used in Egypt until somewhat beyond the extinction of Coptic as a living daily language; for example, important Sahidic literary m anuscripts were still being copied and collected from the ninth to early eleventh centuries in the Faiyum Oasis, Sohag, Esna, and Edfu. (Late, post-Standard spelling systems are strikingly evident in some of these manuscripts.) B ut in the end it was the Bohairic dialect, originally centered in the W estem Delta and the great monasteries o f Ihe Wadi Natrun, that outlived Sahidic and the others £is the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Dnlike the earlier phases of Egyptian, Coptic is written in an alphabet o f ( Ireek letters supplemented by additional signs taken from th e Egyptian Demotic script 8. There are six additional letters in the Sahidic alphabet: qp q e X 6 t . Many of the dialects and sub-dialects are written in a special variety ()l the Coptic alphabet, some having more or few er additional letters than Sahidic. At present, fourteen Coptic alphabet system s have been recorded. I'here is no record, even legendary, o f the circum stances in w hich the Coptic alphabet was invented. From the M acedonian capture of Egypt under Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. dow n to the A rab conquest of A.D. 642, the Creek language was an ever-present fact o f daily life in Egypt, used increas­ ingly in administrative, religious, literary, and scientific affairs. Greek was iviained as the chief administrative language under Roman rule, and to some i-xicnt it remained in administrative use even until A.D. 1000. Egypt o f the Mcllenistic and Roman periods was bilingual, w ith Alexandria (an influential (ircek metropolis) as the main diffusion point o f Hellenistic culture, which iiavclled along a Greek-speaking administrative and cultural network spread ihroitghout the country. In this period, Hellenism had a deep influence on the li’xtcon o f the Egyptian language. A considerable portion o f Coptic vocabul.iry comes from Greek 7, including words from all aspects o f life and belongiMf; to most word classes; the Greek word stock seems to occur as frequently III native Coptic authors as in literature translated from Greek and so m ust be I Miisi(Icred a real part of the Coptic literary lexicon.^ On the other hand, Coptic shows little influence of Greek syntax. ' ( ruin's intention in the Dictionary is to give in first place the principal standardized spelling III Siittuliird Sahidic. as far as it was known at his time. ’ I I h. Ix'fort. “ Clreco-copte,” in Coptic Studies in H onor o f Walter Ewing Crum (Boston I'^'ii) pp. (vS 71.

I N T R O D IJC TION

6 Coptic ^// dialects),^^^ a good part of which survives in fragmen­ tary form,
‘0 Orlandi, “Literature” ; W . Kammerer e t al., A Coptic Bibliography (Ann Arbor, Michigan [USA] 1950); supplemented a t intervals by Unione accademica nazionale. Corpus dei manoscntti copti letteravi^ Coptic Bibliography, ed. T. Orlandi (Rome 1989-); T. Orlandi, Elementi de lin­ gua e letteratu^^ (Milan 1970). Special articles on Coptic authors and literary genres can be found in The Coptic Encyclopedia, vols. 1-7.

Abbreviations For full bibliographic entries, see also Text E ditions Consulted, p. xvi.

a = column a

Deut = Deuteronomy

alt., alts. = altemant(s) ApophPatr = Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum

(e) = optional occurrence of e within a written morph ed. = edited by e.g. = exempli gratia, for example Ep Jer = Epistle o f Jeremiah Eph = Ephesians Esth = Esther Exod = Exodus Ezek = Ezekiel

h = column b BAp = Budge, Coptic Apocrypha BM = Crum, Catalogue . . . British Museum [now British Library (London), Oriental and India Office Collections (formerly Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books)], accor­ ding to entry number, page, and line BMar = Budge, Coptic Martyrdoms HMis = Budge, Miscellaneous Coptic

Texts lUitLib = manuscripts of the British Library, London (formerly British Museum), Oriental and India Office Collections (formerly Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books), according to manuscript num­ ber < = column c ( airoHamuli = manuscripts of the ( optic Museum (Cairo), Hamuli col­ lection, according to letter designation (see Dep., page Ixxxiii) etc. ( ;iii = Canticles t t)l = Colossians ( 'nini Diet. = W. E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary. Oxford 1939, according to p;ige and column

Gal = Galatians Gen = Genesis Heb = Hebrews i.e. = id est, that is to say Isa = Isaiah Jjis = James Jdt = Judith Jer = Jeremiah Josh = Joshua Judg = Judges K = manuscripts (K series) in the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna), Papyrussammlung, accord­ ing to manuscript number etc. Layt. = Layton, Catalogue . . . British Library (London 1987), according to entry number Lefort CEuvres = Lefort, CEuvres de S.

Pachome

I ).iti = D aniel

I )rp. = L. Depuydt, Catalogue o f Coptic

Manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan l.ihrary. Corpus van verluchte handschriflcn, vol. 4. Louvain :Kci>rtling to entry number

fem. = grammatically feminine frag. = fragment

1993,

Lev = Leviticus Leyd = manuscripts of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Leiden), as edited by Pleyte and Boeser, Manuscrits coptes, according to page, column, eind line

ABBRI- V I A TIO N S

masc. = grammatically masculine Matt = Matthew Miss4 = Am6lineau, Monuments Miss8 = Bouriant, Fragments coptes

relates au concile d ’Ephese Morgan = manuscripts (M series) of the Pierpont Morgan Libraiy (New York), according to manuscript number etc. Morgan Facs. = Bybliothecae Pierpont

Morgan codices Coptici photographice expressi (N -) = optional occurrence (in formal patterns) of the moiph n Num = Numbers Phil = Philippians Phlm = Philemon pi. = plural Prov = Proverbs Ps = Psalm, according to Septuagint numbering (with MT numbering in parentheses) r = recto reflex. = with reflexive construction 176 Rev = Revelation Rom = Romans Rossi = Rossi, editions o f Coptic texts in

Memorie . . . Torino, serie seconda, according to volume, fascicule, page, and line. Where pagination o f the sep­ arate edition (Papiri copti del museo egizio di Torino, designated by the siglum R in Crum’s Coptic Dictionary) differs, it is given in parentheses. Sh = works attributed, whether rightly or wrongly, to Shenoute, as follows ShAm61 = Amelineau, (Euvres de

Schenoudi ShBesa = Sh published in Kuhn, Letters

and Sermons o f Besa ShBM = Sh published in BM ShChass = Chassinat, Le quatrieme livre

des Entretiens et epitres de Shenouti ShEnch = Shisha-Halevy, “Unpublished Shenoutiana in the British Library”

ShGu6 = Gu6rin, “Sermons inedits de Senouti” ShIF2 = manuscrit copte 2 in the Institut frangais d’archeologie orientale du Caire (Cairo) Shlnvect = Young, “A Monastic Invec­ tive against Egyptian Hieroglyphs” ShLef = Lefort, “ Catechese christologique de Chenoute” ShLeyd = Pleyte and Boeser, Manuscrits

coptes ShMing = Mingarelli, Aegyptiorum cod-

icum reliquiae ShMiss4 = Sh as edited by Am61ineau in Miss4 ShMun = Munier, Catalogue generate ShOr = Shisha-Halevy, “Two New She­ noute-Texts from the British Libraiy” ShOrig = Orlandi, Shenute, Contra Origenistas, according to paragraph number, page, and line ShOxford = manuscripts in the Univer­ sity of Oxford, Bodleian Library, Department of O riental Books, according to manuscript number etc. ShP = manuscripts in the Bibliotheque nationale de France (Paris), Departement des manuscrits. Division des manuscrits orientaux, according to manuscript number etc. ShRossi = Sh as edited in Rossi ShRyl = Crum, Catalogue . . . John Rylands Library according to entry number, page, and line ShWess9 = Wessely, Griechische und koptische Texte, vol. 1 (= Studien, vol. 9), according to page, column, and line ShWesslS = same, vol. 5 (= Studien, vol. 18) ShYoung = Young, Coptic Manuscripts

from the White Monastery = Zoega, Catalogus codicum Copticorum S hlll = Leipoldt and Crum, Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia.

ShZ

vol. 3

ABBRI-VIATIONS

Shiv = same, vol. 4 sing. = singular Sir = Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), according to Septuagint numbering where applicable TillHML = Till, Koptische Heiligen- und

Mdrtyrerlegenden V= verso var., vars. = variant, variants Vienna = manuscripts (K series) in the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna), Papyrussammlung, accord­ ing to manuscript number etc. Wess9 = Wessely, Griechische und kop­ tische Texte, vol. \ (= Studien, vol. 9), according to page, column, and line WesslS = same, vol. 5 (= Studien, vol. 18) Wis = Wisdom Z = Zoega, Catalogus codicwn copticorum, according to page and line I C o r= 1 Corinthians I Pet = 1 Peter I Sam = 1 Samuel 1 Thess = 1 Thessalonians I Tim = 1 Timothy I St = first person

1 Cor = 2 Corinthians

2 Pet = 2 Peter 2 Sam = 2 Samuel 2 Thess = 2 Thessalonians 2 Tim = 2 Timothy 2d = second person 3 Kgdms = 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 3d = third person 4 Kgdms = 4 Kingdoms (2 Kings) ® significant absence of moiph within a paradigm, namely (i) zero article 47; (ii) personal morph expressing 1st sing, and 2d sing. fem. 89; (Hi) bare­ ness o f the relative mutable converter € t4 0 5 — a relationship of adjacent dependency (boundness) follow ing a morph (except with personal suffix) 2 7 ; marks the prenominal state (e.g. 2N—, C€TTT-)

ss the set of eight, interchangeable per­ sonal suffixes in a relationship o f adja­ cent dependency (boundness); marks the prepersonal state (e.g. n ^ h t s , COTTTs) 30 ^ stative actualization of the verb lexeme 162 > is manifested as (in moiphology struc­ ture) 189,190 / / phoneme or phonemes, e.g. /e / 9

Part 1

The Basic Components of the Sentence and Their Phrasal Syntax

Fundamental Components: Phonemes, Morphs, Syllables, and Alphabet Sources of the Coptic W ord Stock

7

W riting, Sounds, and Phonem es 8 Alphabet 8 Phonemes 9 Circumflex 11 Trema 12 Monograms 5 x ^ ® /k s kh ps p h ty th / r, and t 14 Digrams ei, o y Notating /y/, /w / 15 The W eakness of / h / 17 Morph and Syllable

13

18

Alternants and Variants 20 Allophones and Allom orphs 20 /o/ = cu, o y 20 Assimilation o f Syllabic /n / ( n- ) (Alternants and Variants) /k / = K, ic, r, ? 23 Simplification o f a a a , e e , o y o y , e i e i 24 /e-/ before Morph-initial b , a , m , n , p 25 /m t/ expressed as m n t 26 Soundness (Adjacent Dependency) as a Feature of M orphs Bound Groups of M orphs 27 Soundness Classes and A utonom y 28 Adjacent Dependency Analysis o f Bound G roups 29 Mutable M orphs: the Three States 3 0 Absolute Spelling o f the Prenominal State 31 Stress Accent G roups 32 Sentence Intonation Contours

21

27

33

Nucleus and Expansion in Syntactic Patterns

34

Syllable Formation 35 Syllabic and Non-syllabic M anifestation o f Phonemes Expressions o f the Glottal Stop Phonem e 36

35

11

FU NDA M ENTAL

CO M PO N EN TS

Articulatory Classification o f Sounds 37 The Superlinear Stroke Indicating Syllabic Function Superlinear Stroke Representing Line-final n 38 The Notation o f Greco-Coptic M orphs 39 The Spelling o f Greek M orphs 39 2 in Place o f Both Rough and Smooth Breathing The Superlinear Stroke in Greco-Coptic Morphs

38

40 41

SO U R C E S O F T H E C O P T IC W O R D S T O C K

Coptic word stock mainly comes from Egyptian 1 and Greek 5. These two com­ ponents— 'Egyptian Coptic’ and ‘Greco-Coptic’— ^belong to very different lan­ guage structures and to some extent m ust be described separately. Some 3,308 Egyptian Coptic vocabulaiy entries are recorded in W. E. C rum ’s authoritative Coptic Dictionary (Oxford 1939), along with many derived forms. Two-thirds of Crum’s Egyptian Coptic entry words can be traced back to an earlier stage of Egyptian; cf. J. Cem^, Coptic Etymological Dictionary (Cambridge 1976). The remainder have no attested Egyptian etymology, including some of the most common vocabulary in Sahidic.

The sizeable Greco-Coptic vocabulaiy 5 is not recorded in our modem Coptic dictionaries; the lexica of classical and Byzantine Greek m ust be consulted. Not all meanings of these Greek items came into Coptic nor did all Greek words of the period enter Coptic. Greco-Coptic items are not inflected (formally marked in para­ digms) as they are in Greek; for example, Greek substantives and adjectives come into Greco-Coptic in an invariable form, recognizable as the Greek nominative singular. Despite the large amount of Greek vocabulary in Coptic, little influence of Greek syntax is evident.

M ost Coptic items expressing general grammatical categories (conjugation bases, auxiliaries, converters, articles, affixes, personal morphs, and adverbial modifiers) are Egyptian in origin. W R IT IN G , S O U N D S , A N D PH O N EM ES

8 Alphabet. Since Sahidic Coptic ceased to be a spoken language many centuries ago 1, what now remains is written text, expressed in a system o f thirty alpha­ betic letters (table 1) and associated signs. The other expression o f the lan­ guage consisted o f spoken sounds; these are now lost. Text is written from left to right in an alphabet consisting o f the twenty-four Greek capital letters (in lunate i.e. rounded form, thus e c cu instead o f E £ n ) supplemented by six additional letters t ^ e n from the Egyptian Demotic script and stylized to resemble lunate G reek capitals: oj q ? jc 6 -f-.

12

W R IT IN G , S O U N D S , A N D

PH ONEM ES

TABLE 1 T h e e S a h id ic A l p h a b e t w i t h E g y p tia n C o p tic V a lu e s

(For illustrations, cf. 10) Broad Pronunciation Syllabic Non-syllabic

Modern Name

X

a

B r

^8

b 8

beta gamm a

—

(d)

delta epsilon

e

alpha

e

z

z

zeta

Underlying Phonemes and Allophones 9, 20 /a/; also syllabic / ’/ (or /y/) Also as allophone o f /y / and /o / /b / Egyptian Coptic allophone o f /k / O ccurs mainly in G reco-Coptic m orphs O ccurs only in Greco-Coptic m orphs /e/; under many conditions, non-phonem ic A lso as allophone o f /a/, /y/, and / ’/ Egyptian Coptic allophone o f /s/, only in

^NZHBe H e 1 or e i

e —

i

K A M

N 5 o n P c

—

T Y or o y

U u



—

X

—

t cu

th^ y k I m n ks

ksi omicron

P r s t w

pi

o

^ps d

ph^ kh^ ps S

f

Z X 6 t

ti

eta theta iota kappa lambda mu nu

h (!> ts ky ty

rho sigma tau upsilon phi khi psi omega Sai fai hore(h) djandja kyim a

ti

O ccurs mainly in Greco-Coptic m orphs /e/ /t/ + /h / (tw o distinct phonemes) /y/

lij m /nV

M N on-phonem ic in the syllable m NT /m t/ / k / + /s/ (tw o distinct phonemes) /o /

/P/ /r/

Isl N /w / A lso as allophone o f /o / /p / + jhj (tw o distinct phonemes) /k / + /h / (tw o distinct phonemes /p / + /s / (tw o distinct phonemes)

lol N Itl Ih/ /£/ Also /t/ + /5/ (tw o distinct phonem es)’ /kV N + /y / (two distinct phonemes)

N ote : Broad spoken correspondents in the table follow W. Worrell, Coptic Sounds (Ann Arbor, Michigan [USA] 1934). 't/i Two sounds, cf. Engl. “Hit /lim! ” ^ph Two sounds, cf. Engl. "Slap /lim! ” ^kh Two sounds, cf. English “ThinJt/iard!” ^Cf. Engl. ‘c W c h ’ ’Infinitive ‘cut’, stative q;eT q;cuT /5ot5t, SetSot/, consonantal skeleton t g - T - t g - T

13

The C optic A lphabet in a S tandard Sahidic (4) L iterary M anuscript . Fragment of Shenoute (6), Discourses, book 8. The author lived until A.D. 465; this manuscript is a later copy, made in the 7th or 8th centuiy (?) in Shenoute’s m mastery near Sohag (White Monastery codex ZD). Note the use of con­ nective supetlinear strokes c cu t m (38), circumflexes
W RiriN (;,

SOUNDS,

AND

l> 11 () N I - M I-S

f ’honcmcs. Underlying both written and spoken Sahidic is a system of tw en­ ty iwt) minimal (smallest), distinctive elem ents o f structure, which are poten­ tial and latent in nature and whose m ain function is to be distinct from one another. T hese tw enty-tw o fundam ental elem ents, called the prim ary Itluniemes' of Sahidic Coptic /aeeoobyklmnprstwsfhck^V actualized and manifested in two ways: speaking (sounds) and writing.* phonemes speaking

w riting

( iiMicrally in languages, the relationship of phonem es, sounds, and letters is •n)i«)riously inconsistent, arbitrary, and hard to predict; so it should be no sur|)i ISC that in Coptic (a non-living language), the sounds and their Eirticulation 1 an only be vaguely reconstructed from w ritten texts alone. Table 1 gives conM'lilional (broad) spoken correspondents o f the alphabet as it expresses I j*yptian Coptic phonemes in the Sahidic dialect. W hether the phonem es of
' I’huiii-Dics will be notated between slant lines / /, hypothetical spoken sounds in italic type, .mil wriiii-n expression in Coptic type. E.g. /e/ was written e and spoken as e.

15

I t l N D A M I i N I A I. C O M P O N I - , N I S

10

lllustratiom toaccomiwny table !:

Bu;e/Bu>, N -r-/coY tO N -r, ege, ANZHse/— ,

H n e , — /oooyr, n im a n d eiM e/TA Y o, c o e i^ K a ig . 8AA,e/AO, 2 M 2 a a /m a , n o ^ o t /n o C , ON, — ^/5oyp, 6 c u A n /n e , e p p e / p o , tu M c /c o , 2 0 t 2 t / t 0 , M oyp and Moyre/

N e y z o o p (N e~Y 2 0 o p ), —/4>o ( n ~ 2o), — /x o ii.x , k .a ^ /'J 'ic , pcu, n t u p ^ / q j o , o y t u c q / q o , o y a jN ^ g O ’ n tupS /jcco, 2 coa6 (Acts 2 0 :1 0 )/6 e ,'t'M e /c 'f'tb g e (ShChass 9 9 :4 4 ). Cf. also t o b t b , C TO i/c-t— , 20 K2 K, c o a c a , 6 om6 m, t o n t n , c o n c r f , q ^ o p c p , KOCKC, n o T n r , cooyT N /coyT C O N , 6 o o q q jq , TA.2T2, 6 0 x 6 ^ Syllabic 5 ^ks occurs only in Greco-Coptic m orphs, e.g. ApS ‘bear’ and ca.p5 ‘flesh’.

11

Circumflex is w ritten (rarely) in some m anuscripts over single letters or linking pairs o f letters; its function is obscure. E.g. o y i ,, ? e . A, e o H e c iA ,

d)JCN, ^ 1, ^pHNH, e ^ e - , 2i^B , h ^ a a t o c , tg ^ i- ,

oJ m m o , o j , cucu,

oy^,

djN ^.

no^,

K o y ^ , Nxk, T&k, d y , MNT-epb, p - , c o t t , c w tu c o q , ^ u p e . T he form or posi­ tion o f circum flex is m isrepresented in som e printed editions. Cf. figure follow ing table 1 .

Trema C) is w ritten (rarely) in som e m anuscripts over the letter 1 o r (m ore rarely) over y. Its function is obscure. E.g. n c c o - i , 'foyAa.T, nAi, e \e ~ , 2 'f~, n Tm , T- (for 21- ) , Tpe, T (for ev), e f r e (elxe), m coY chc. C f figure follow ing table 1.

12

13 Monograms. The alphabet of thirty letters contains six ‘m onogram s’, 5 x 'J' <|> t e , i.e. single letters that always express a combined pair o f phonemes instead o f a single phoneme. For purposes of grammatical analysis, a mono­ gram is always understood to express two phonemes. /k / /k / Ipf /p/ /t/ /t/

followed by followed by followed by followed by followed by followed by

/s/ /h / /s/ /h / /y/ /h /

5, equivalent to x, equivalent to equivalent to 4>, equivalent to f , equivalent to e , equivalent to

kc kz

nc nz ti

rz

Rarely, /t/ + /s / = jc, equivalent to (table 1); mostly ji; = /c/, a single phoneme. Each of these phoneme pairs is also susceptible to being written with two simple letters (k c , k^, rrc, t i , t^ ); the use of monograms was a matter o f spelling conventicm in particular words. The phonemes expressed by a monogram can belong either to the same morph ( e iB io ‘humiliate’) or to different m orphs that are grammatically united ( e e for rl^ e “The manner”). In standard spelling fi) 5 x 'J' 4> occur m ostly in G reco-Coptic morphs; (ii) f in Egyptian Coptic m orphs; (Hi) e in both. Exam ples in standard spelling (Egyptian/Gr(Mk): (i) 3o y p (only th is ? ) /c A ^ , cyNaLSic, 5eN H ; XOIA2X (= k o i a 2k, standard?)/xpiC T 0 C, A pxei, xa.pi2;e , m o n a x o c ;

^^iT6 (only?)/'|'yxH,

eA i'j'ic; <})ooyT (= n20oyr, standard?)/rpa.<})H,

c o 4 > o c , 4 > o p ei; (ii) -f, f~, i ’BC, "fM e, -f-ee, e 'f'- ( e r * + 1), 't'o y A x T A (rlio y A A fa.)/— ; (iii) e i e i o , eA B , e M o , e A o , e e (= t I2 c ), ex A A C ca. (= t I2J^a a c c a ), e e N e e r e (= T l2 eN eeT e), e e o o y (= e T l2 o o y )/A r3 k .e o c , e M p io N , e A i e e

14 r. A, and z. In Egyptian Coptic morphs, r and /s/ when associated with preceding /n/

16

z express altem ants 2Qof /k / and

WRITINC;,

SOUNDS,

AND

l» H () N I; M li S

r = allophone o f /k / z - allophone o f /s/ .ukI

does not properly occur.

S tan d ard sp ellin g p refers r f o r /k / w h e n fo rm in g sy lla b le w ith p re c e d in g /n / ( n p - in ste a d o f N K -. N r - in stead o f nic—, e - N —r . . . a n in stea d o f e - N ~ K - . . . a n ) ; and ^ in the w u rd ANZHBe ‘sc h o o l’, var. ANCHBe.

However, r A 2 occur in the classical G reek spelling o f Grw;o-Coptic morphs (e.g. rAp, jve, nAiAA.ro)roc, zh th m a ., n eip A ^e). W hether they expressed liisiiiict phonemes in such m orphs is unknow n; cf. 39(b). 19 hi^ram s. In Egyptian-Coptic morphs, the phonem es /y/ and /w / are expressed iMlher by a simple letter i, y or b y a ‘d ig ra m *— that is, a pair of letters combiiiecl lo express a single phonem e: ei and o y expressing /y/ and / w / 16. Thus /y/ is written as i, i, e i, or e \ /w/ is written as y, y , oy, o r d y /n7 also occurs in the m onogram -f' /ty/. In standard spelling digrams occur only in l-gyptian Coptic moiphs. lA Oiih(tf>raphy o f the phonem es /y / and /w/. In the formation o f spoken syllahk-s, the consonants /y / and /w / each had two potential functions 3 5 : syllabic and non-syllabic. /y / = syllabic i and non-syUabic y (cf. English big, jo u ) /w / = syllabic u and non-syllabic w (cf. E nglish pwsh, wish) I Ilf spelling of these two phonem es (and corresponding four sounds) fluctu­ ates. even in good, early manuscripts. (Because the letters i and y are not inatked by a superlinear stroke 38, syllabic/non-syllabic functions cannot be iliiis iiistinguished in w riting.) /y / (both i and y) is written i, ei, o r ^ /w / (both u and w ) is w ritten y , o y , or o y IlDvvever, the tendency of standard orthography can be described in terms of Ihi- letter sequences listed below, where iV means ‘non-syllabic manifestation «)( any con.sonant phoneme’, V means ‘vowel (/a e e o 5/, allophone 2 0 m)’, and w means ‘beginning or end o f a m orph’. .1. I hi'phonem e lyl I. w riilen as jf o r e i o r ^ o r i N + V + /y / # : e.g. nA i, nAT, n A e i, ( ‘th is o n e ’) # V + /y/ # : e.g. e i , e'f, e e i , e ^ , e i ( ‘c o m e ’ or p re se n t te n s e c o n ju g a tio n b a s e + T ) ; Ai, A'f, A ei, A ^ (m ark o f past tense + ‘I ’) li. w ritten as sim p le letter i N (+ N ) /y /; e.g. q i ( ‘ta k e ’), j c i c e ( ‘ lift u p ’)

17

I It N l >A Ml N I A I

( D M I’ O N I N I S

# N + N + /y/: e.g. c ^ m e (‘woman'), Jcnio ('.sliainc') # N + /y/ + V; e.g. ^ ih (‘road’), ^lOMe (‘women’) # N + /y/ + N: e.g. n im (‘who?’), 6 i j c (‘hand’), q i T - q (“Take it away” ) iii. written as the digram e i

# /y /. . .

e.g. e in e (‘bring’), eicupS (‘be astonished’)

Other spellings also occur. Nouns in the pattern #N + /y/ + V take the long definite arti­ cle ( n € - , T E -, N €-), implying that i is here non-syllabic 52(a): t€ 2 I h tehye “The road,” N e^ioM e nehyome “ The women.”

(b) The phonem e Iwl i. Simple letter y is normal after a, e , h , a - , and e - . E.g. n a y ‘hour’, m aay ‘moth­ er’, N e y - ‘their’. M eeye ‘think’, c n h y ‘brothers’, e i eeoA “A decree came forth,” A - Y ^ e A e e r q^cune “A wedding occurred,” e-YMexANoiA “For for­ giveness,” e-YN-jeNM AToT 2 AFAT-* “ Having soldiers in my charge,” NelYZoop “The dogs.” ii. After the double vowel o o manifesting /o ’/ 36, simple letter y is normal: /jo’w/

x o o y i.e. x o o - y “ Say them.” Iii. Elsewhere the digram o y is normal. E.g. m o o y ‘water’, e o o Y ‘glory’, ^ c d -o y ‘they too’, eiepcuoY ‘rivers’, o y ^ h ‘night’, tyo yo ‘flow’, o ;o y u ;o y ‘pride oneself’, o y n ta - T “I have,” o y Io y 2 0 )P “A dog.” iv. Nouns beginning wifh the following two sequences # OY + N . . .

N + OY . . . optionally take the long definite article ( n e - ) , implying that ( o )y has non-syllabic func-~ tion 52(a): n e lY o e ) ^ (but sometimes n IoY oeiq;) “The se:ison,” p Ioy -xaT (rarely nelY-XAT) “Salvation,” t c Iy ^ h “The night,” NelY^oop “The dogs.”

(c) Accordingly e i expresses either /y / or /ey/ OY expresses either /w / or /ow / E.g. N e i-c c u T n /neysotp/ “ 1 was choosing,” N c e i - c t u r n /neysotp/ “ I was choosing,” j c c o - y /jo ’w / “ Say them ” (jccc= + y)> x c - c y /jow / “ Sow them” + oy)(d) In standardized spelling, wherever word division would cause simple i or y to occur as the first letter o f a manuscript line, ei or o y is written instead. E.g. n ^ le i, t h Ic y t n . 17

The weakness o f/h /. The phoneme /h / {h z ) is sometimes not written and also sometimes

written in the wrong place, suggesting that the phoneme was expressed weakly or not at all and thus open to misrepresentjition. E.g. Ape? instead of 2 Ape2 John 2:10 ‘keep’; T-naT instead of ^ i-n aT Mark 15:39 ‘thus’; p k a instead of p k a ? Prov 1:11 (ed. Worrell) “The earth” ; oycd instead of o ycd? Prov 9:18 ‘add’; rJ^ApA-q instead of NNA2 pA -q Prov 24:36 “In his ovwi opinion” ; ^cIm c instesid of c ^ m e Acts 24:24 (ed. Hintze-Schenke) ‘woman’; n - often occurs where 2 n - is expected.

18

MORPH AND SYLLABLE M O R P H A N D S YL L ABL E

18 Although one can conceive o f the primary phonemes 9 individually, as the smallest elements o f linguistic structure, in reality they always occur in units (o f one, two, three, or more phonemes) called ‘m orphs’. M orphs are the m in­ imal (smallest) units o f grammatical or lexical meaning. E.g. /m pe/ /n / /k / /rom e/ /b o k / /nhet/

(mark o f negatived past tense) (m ark o f general relationship 147) ‘y ou’ (singular, masculine) ‘person’ ‘g o ’ ‘in’

In other words, phonemes always occur as constituents o f morphs and/or strings o f morphs (some morphs consist o f a single phoneme). /nhet-k/ “ In you (sing, m asc.),” two morphs (5 phonemes) But when phonemes were realized and manifested in spoken form, the sounds were uttered in units o f one, two, three, or more sounds to form 'syllables ’— the minimal (smallest) units o f articulated speech that Occur. ‘n\he\t^k “ In you,” probably three syllables (5 sounds) Sounds always occurred as constituents o f syllables as well as expressing morphs. These two natural systems o f division, morph and syllable, did not necessari­ ly coincide; e.g. morphs: syllables:

/nhet-k/ N2 h t - k ( IJ z h t ‘in ’ k ‘you’) *^n\he\fk (probable division in speech)

‘In y o u ’

As this example shows, a single morph could underlie more than one syllable o r part o f a syllable (as the morph /nhet-/ underlies the syllables ‘n \h e \t. . .) , and one syllable could cut across several morphs or parts o f morphs (the syl­ lable f k cuts across two morphs /nhet-k/l. The exact syllable articulation o f a non-living language such as Coptic is uncertain and beyond the em pirical reach o f linguistics. But the isolation and identification o f morphs is sure, pro­ vided that grammatical analysis has been carried out correctly, fully, and effi­ ciently. Subsequent chapters o f this book are concerned with the relationships and configurations o f morphs as known in w ritten form, without paying fur­ ther attention to syllables and pronunciation. By definition it is the morphs that convey meaning. 19 A ncient Sahidic writing generally has no word division. It does not regularly mark the boundaries o f syllables, morphs, or bound groups 27: they are neither set apart by spaces nor tied together by ligatured writing in literary

19

F U N DA M I N I A I, ( () M I* () N I. N I S oY O yEieN lN Acts 1 6 :1 “ A G reek"; N e y ep K T e instecul ol' N eyO Y erH TK Rev 11:11 “Their feet” ; NTepoYcu instead o f N T epoy-O Y ^u Mark l.‘i:2() “ W hen they liail ceased” ; eM noycuM instead o f e -M n o y -O Y ^ u M Mark 8:3 “ W ithout their having eaten” ; c o y a . instead o f c o y - o y i . ‘first day o f the nionlli/week’. (c) The sequence e i - e i (witliiu a bound group) is sometimes simplified. E.g. N T -a.ei and a.'f instead of N T - a . ^ - e i and a .I - e i John 16:28 “ 1 have com e” ; a .U - iastead o f a .i-ia .- John 13:14 “ 1 have w ashed"; e e l p e inslead of e l - e i p e Mark 11:29 “ I do."

25 /e -/ before morph-inilial b , a , m , n , p. W hen a m orph-initial syllabic .sonorant ( b , a , m , n , or p ) , especially the nasals m and n , is preceded by the m oiph /e-/ e-M n q -ccu T T T e - N - C e - C C U T T T A.N

tw o variants com m only occur: I. the sonorant is non-syllabic (has no superlinear stroke), e.g.

e-M nq-ccuTTT e - N —C e-C C U TTT A.N

ii. o r else, /e/- is not m anifested, e.g. M nq-C C U T T T = e - M n c j - c c u T T T N -c e -c c u T n

a .n

= e -N -c e -c c u rn

a .n

In som e m anuscripts, one o r the other o f these variants occurs rather persis­ tently. 26 The sequence Imil, form ing a unit, norm ally occurs as n fn i m n t w ith nonphonem ic ‘n n; abnorm ally, as m‘'l m t. E.g. oyom = ‘e a l’ + - t ‘m e’ = OYOMNT “ E at m e” (John 6:57), textual var. o y o m t. L ikew ise, /som t/
BOU ND NE S S ( A DJ AC E NT U E P E N U H N C Y ) AS A t HATURE OF MORPHS

27 B ound groups o f morphs. C(»ptic m orphs— the butkling blocks o f patterns and constructions— lypically occur in strings, w hich are united by relationships o f adjacent dependency o r ‘b oundness’. Such m orph strings will be called 'bound groups'. (M orphs sim ultaneously enter into other kinds o f dependency, cf. 3 4 .) In the follow ing exam ple, all the m orphs united in bound group.s are linked by hyphens; seven bound groups occu r (one consists o f a single m orph,

AYtu); j N - T e - j o y e i T e N e - q - u p o o n N 6 i-n -u p a.J(.e a.yco n-upa.J(.e N e - q - u p o o n N N i2 f> N -n-N O yT e “ In the beginning I was I the Word, I and I the W ord I was I willi G o d ” (John 1:1)

T h e constituents, sequence, and boundaries o f a bound group are regulated by the basic dependency properties o f each m orph that happens to occur w ithin it,

22

M O 11 N n N I S S

( A n

I Al

I N I

I) I !•!

M l I N(

^

I

as w ell as by other laciois. lUnuiil iiuiipli };ieq-p-'’NOBe “ A sinner,” T e T c jm e “TTiis woman,” T K ecjiM e “ TTie other woman,” n eq H i “ His house,” nefupoMNT “These three,” OYna.r>a.-TeYYc'c “An unnatural Ihing,” KecBco “ A different teaching,” "npotJiHTHc “Prophet|s]” ), except that n / r / N i.s hyphenated when antecedent of the articulated relative construction 411 (n^eNT-a.q-na.f>a.Ji.lJi.OY MMO-q “The one who betrayed Him”); (h) mulahle coiwerlers and iion-duralive conjugation bases are written solid with Ihe personal intermediate ( w e q - , a.q-); (c) com ponents o f the inflected nw difiei

a .N O = / f lT o = (a.NOK. J I t o k

etc.) 153;

(d) com ponents o f the possessive article (n a .-. n e K -, etc.); (e) initial iJ form ing adverb is not set off by hyphen, even in aiialyzable foniis (iJjoYO . n t g y n o y - M n M e j-c e n cNa.Y. N e e); (/) combinative adverbs 206 (eBOA, upa.20YN, etc.); (g} iion-coinhinative adverbs o f spatial orientation 223 (n b oa. 2 iOYNa.M. eBOA jN T n e); (h) hoiind elements within a com pound preposition 208 (enMa. f i - , fica.BOA

n- ,

elc.).

The.se convention.^ are typographical and aesthetic, and have no grammatical signifi­ cance. They are not a recoinmeiulation for editorial practice in text editions.

28 Bonndness classes and autonomy. R elationships o f adjacent depen d en cy , w hich unite (and disunite) m orphs into bound groups, am ount to co m p atib ili­ ties and incom patibilities in tem is o f i. w hich clas.scs o f m orph m ust, can, or cannot com bine with w hich others in general: they are by their very nature 'bound’, ‘bound!unbound’ (occurring bolh bound and free), or ‘unbound’ respectively ii. w hich positions, if any, the m em bers o f a m orph class can or m ust o c c u ­ py w ithin a bound group; they are by their very nature ‘initiar, ‘non-tenninal’ (occurring in both initial and m edial position), ‘m edial’, or ‘term inal’ W ith these term s in m ind, every m orph in the C optic language can be c la ssi­ fied in one o f six classes, as follow s. ( I ) Initial hound morphs e.g. n 6 i- ; iJ- in allributive construction of the noun wbicli only occur in initial position within any bound group. These cannot tx; pieccdcd even by j c e - marking reported discourse. This is a very small class nolahly conlaining

23

F U N D A M K N T A I, C () M I* () N li N T S N - the mark o f relationship 203, N T e - 204, n 6 i - 87(b), and the inllcctcd modifiers 152. E.g. oy-p^U M e N -ca.B e “A wise person,” N e - q - u p o o n N 6 i- n-tpa.Ji.e “The Word existed.”

(2) Non-term inal hound morphs e.g. n - , c e r n - , cOTn=, a.Nr-, "t'-, N T e p e -, Ka.Ta.-, Na.NOY-, Na.NOY= which can occur in either initial or medial position, but not in terminal position. This is large class containing articles, infinitives in the prenominal and prepersonal states 30, conjugation bases, prepositions, suffixally conjugated verboids, etc. E.g. n - N o y T e ccoT n, a .-n N o y T e c c o r n ; a .-n J (.o e ic c e T n - 0YA a.0c. a .q - c e T n - 0YAa.0c: a .-n N o y T e c o T n - ci. A q - c o T n - q: A N r-o y p p o . e - A N r -o y p p o : + -c c u T n . N -j:r C ‘UTn a.N; N T e p e -q -c u )T n . A e - N T e p e -q -c c u r n : n a n o y - c . N e - Na.NOY-c (3) M edial hound m orphs {infixes) e.g. - T -, - c which only occur in medial position (and not in terminal position). This is a small class consisting mainly of the personal intermediates 80. E.g. a i-c c u T n . N e c -c c u T n . (4) Term inal hound morphs e.g. ra.AiAa.Ya., - q which only occur in terminal position, always preceded by at least one other bound morph. This class contains non-selfactualizing proper nouns, personal suffixes, etc. E.g. TlraAiAa i.a, c o r n ^ , o y N T a - y - c e . (5) Term inal bound!unbound morphs which can occur either bound in terminal position (preceded by at least one other bound morph) or free o f bound relationship. These are of two distinct types, 5a and 5b. (5a) E.g. ccOTn, n i c r e y e , c o r n , n a i, oyH p, c jiM e . Mapia, aNOK This is a very large subclass containing infinitives in the absolute stale 30. slalives, deter­ minator pronouns, specifier pronouns, common nouns, self-actualizing proper nouns, personal independents, etc. E.g. a q - c c u r n a - n N o y T e c c o r n ; q - c o r n . n A a o c c o r n : t e t n - x e k - q x h e , oyH p h e ; ^ n - u jo m n t f i - j o o y , pcoME c N a y h cuoMfiT: TElc9 iM e. C9IME. NiM; t I n o 6 M -nO A ic, TnOAic n o 6 : a - M apia CMOy, M a p ia cM aM aaT .

(5b) E.g. ayco,

h,

EniAH.

e ic j h h t e

These morphs usually occur free o f bound relationship. They occur bound in terminal position only if preceded by x e - . This subclas.s contain.s most fir.st-po.sition conjunc­ tions 235 and initial attitude markers 239 and some interjections. E.g. nE X E -njA A O N a -q j t E - aycu E K -p -o y N -N E ijN a a y T H p -o y ApophPatr 181 (Chaine 43:28) “The senior monk said lo him. And what are you doing with all these vessels?” ; Eq-Ji.co M M o-c j ( E - Eir.?HHTE "t -M -n E iM a Athanasius, Life o f St. Anthony 9 (Oaritte 14:2-3) “ Saying, Look! Here 1 am.” (6) U nbound m orphs (enclitics) e.g. a N ,

Jle, n E ,. , ,

n im

(article)

which never occur in bound relationship (they cannot even be preceded by jce- ) . This is a small miscellaneous class containing morphs that by nature cannot occur first in their

24

H O U N D N l - S S

( A D J A C I i N T

I J i ; 1> I - N I ) K N ( ’ Y )

clause (cnclitics). (Inasm uch as they musi follow some other moipli or m orph group, enclitics are not free.)

Autonomy. W ithin a particular text, any morph (whatever its class may be) that actually happens to occur free o f bound relationship can be called ‘autonom ous’. Autonomous morphs belong to classes 5 and 6; class 5 morphs sometimes occur autonomously; class 6 morphs, always. E.g. a .-T e c 2 iMe c c u T n “The woman chose” (class 5a), c?im c n i m “ Every woman (5a + 6), a.c-ccu T n “ And she chose” (5b), a.c-ccu T n ^ “ But she chose” (6), OYMee T€ “ It is ju st” (6). In close textual analysis, an autonomous m orph makes up a bound group consisting o f one morph. At a broader level o f analysis a single unit, corresponding in speech to a single colon under one primary stress accent, was probably formed by the combination o f any enclitic (class 6 morph) together with the preceding bound group; e.g. IcjiM e nimI or la .c -c c o T n Jtei. The cohesiveness of such units sometimes seems to be reflected in the spelling o f the morph preceding ihe enclitic, either (1) without vowel or with substitution o f e , e.g. p M n e C N T e = p o M n e C N T e “ Two years,” c e n c N a . Y = c o n c n a y “ Tw ice, T w o tim es’’: (2) with final vowel doubled o y M e e r e = o yM e r e “ It is ju st” 252.

29 Adjacent dependency analysis o f bound groups. Every bound group begins with an Initial or a Non terminal and ends with a Terminal. Between these two boundaries, various Non-terminals and/or M edials can occur. Enclitics (unbound morphs) do not join into bound groups, but float between or after them; each enclitic can be thoughi o f as a bound group consisting o f a single morph. In the example analyzed below, class numbers are designated in paren­ theses, e.g. (2), (4), (6), etc. I(nitial), class / M(edial), class 3 N(on-terminal), class 2

T(erminal), classes 4, 5a, 5b U(nbound, enclitic), class 6

n - u ) o p r r M€N

n - aotoc

N -T

I - T N - M - N -

(2)

(5a)

U (6)

(I)

i-T i.M io - q

(5a) (2) (3)

(2)

uJ eeo<})iAe €TBe-2tuB nim

X T

T

(4) (5a)

N - T U

(5b)

(2) (5a) (6)

“ I wrote Book One, O Theophilus, about all the things N T - a .- ic

a.pxei

N- N- T

T

N -N -N - T

n - " a.a.-Y

(2) (2) (5a)

(5a)

(2 )(2 )(2 )(4 )

n -* T

cbcu

N -N -N -N - T

(5b) (2 )(2 )(2 )(2 )(5 a )

n 2 H t- o y N -T (2)

(4)

that Jesus began to do and to teach w ith” (Acts 1:1) 30 M utable morphs: the three states. Some morphs occur as a set o f allomorphs c c u T n , c e T n - , c o T n = ‘c h o o s e ’ € T B e - , eTBHHT= ‘b e c a u se o f ’ tra d itio n a lly c a lle d ‘states', n a m e ly

25

FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS

i. 'absolute sta te’, a term inal bound/unbound m orph 28(5a) (e.g. c c u rrr ‘ch o p se’) ii. ‘prenominal state a non-lerm inal bound m orph 28(2) that m ust be com ­ pleted by a non-personal entity term , i.e. determ inator pronoun 44, specifier pronoun 63, article phrase 43, specifier phrase 64, proper noun 126, or any prenom inal + possessed n oun 138 (after som e prenom inal states, also the 2d pi. alternant personal suffix - t h y t n table 6, p. 69) (prenom inal states are m arked w ith a single hyphen in m odem dictionaries, e.g. c e r n - ‘ch o o se’, e t b e - ‘because o f ) iii. ‘pi epersonal state a non-term inal bound m orph that m ust be com plet­ ed by a personal entity term , i.e. any prepersonal +

personal interm ediate 80, 82 o r suffix 85 (with som e further allom orphic alternations)

(prepersonal states are m arked w ith a ditto sym bol in m o d em dictionaries, e.g. €T B H H T = ‘because o f’, c o T n = ‘ch o o se’). Stales are thus altem ate form s whose selection relates to w hat kind o f m orph, if any, is suffixed to them . Traditionally, the three states are status absolulus, siat44s cpnstnictus, and status pronom inatis.

M utable transitive infinitives 167 occu r in all three states, e.g. cc u ttt, c e T r r - , coTTT= ‘ch o o se’. O ccurring only in prenom inal and prepersonal states are: (i) prepositions, e.g. e - / e p o = ‘to w ard s’, k a t a - / k a t a p o = ‘according to ’ K axa, 2 N - / n 2 H t= ‘in ’ ; (ii) co n ju g atio n b ases and m u ta b le co n v erters, e.g.
31 Absolute spelling o f the prenominal state som etim es occurs as a variant, in w hich the prenom inal is spelled like the absolute (oy^um - for o Y e n - ‘e a t’). E.g. el-N A -o Y ti> N 2 -rT 2 u;B eB oA ShC hass 6 5 :1 9 -2 0 (w here o y i u n ^ - is for oY eN 2 ~) “ I shall dem onstrate this assertion,” eq-TAYo-®KApiTOc S h lll 175:24 (w ith textual var. e c |- T J i Y e - ) “ Bearing fru it,” AN0 K - 0 Y p e c |p-®NOBe A pophP atr 160 (C haine 3 6 :3 ) ( a n o k - fo r a n ? - , very com m on variant) “ I am a sinner.”

32 Stress accent groups: the hypothetical spoken correlate o f houndness. N orm ally in E gyptian C optic m orphs e . o. and p ( h. o . and cu) seem to occur ooJy in the lasi or pe\.t to last syllable o f a bo u n d group, and no m ore than one

:6

NDCLEDS

AND

E X P A N S IO N

IN

S Y N T A C T IC

PA TTERN S

of these sounds/letters occurs within any bound group (with a few exceptions such as eroT-THYTN /e t’ttewtn/ “To you” ). (It must also be noted that there are many bound groups in which none of these three sounds/letters occurs.) This and other factors have led to the following hypothesis: the m ajor stress accent in each spoken bound group fell upon the last or next to last syllable; and, furthermore, it coincided with e, o, or 6 if one of these sounds happened to occur; furthermore, a doubled letter coincides with a stressed syllabic sound in most cases, 36(a). A y ti’ 2 M—r r - M e 2 - a j o M N T N - 2 0 0 Y A - Y - a j e A . e e T upcurre

awo h’’mpmehs6m‘’nt ‘’nho’w aw sele’t sope “ On the third day there was a marriage” (John 2:1) This hypothesis implies that in speech, a bound group (optionally followed by an enclitic unbound morph 28[6]) correlated to a complete spoken phrase (stress group, breath group, prosodic colon). But the pronunciation o f GrecoCoptic morphs is not accounted for by this hypothesis, since their presence often causes several letters of the h o cu set to occur in a single bound group. S E N T E N C E I N T O N A T IO N C O N T O U R S : Q U E S T IO N S , F O C A L P O IN T S , E T C .

33 Completely lost, because not represented in writing, are the contours o f sen­ tence intonation that would have distinguished e.g. questions from assertions. This causes ambiguity especially since Coptic writing does not employ a ques­ tion mark nor is there a distinctive interrogative word order. Some written interrogative sentences can be identified in other ways 511, but many cannot. Also unrecorded are the distinctive intonation contours that would have marked focal points 445 in the flow o f information; their absence leads to ambiguity in interpreting sentences marked by the focalizing conversion. Indeed, it must be supposed that all individual patterns as such would have been characterized by distinct intonation contours. This information would have resolved many of the ambiguities o f the text as represented only in writ­ ing. N U C L E U S A N D E X P A N S IO N IN S Y N T A C T IC P A T T E R N S

34 The strictly sequential analysis o f bound groups 29 by no means exhausts the dependent relationships among morphs. At the next level of analysis we find syntactic patterns that contain hierarchies o f elem ents in grammatical rela­ tionships, which are in fact the main topic of this book. E.g. oYpeqpNOBe rre “ He is a sinner” = ([0 Y - ( p e q - [ p - ( ® N 0 Be)])] [ n e ] )

27

1 U N I J A M l i N

1AI,

C O M l ’ O N I i N

I S

111 this exam ple, oypecipN O B e “ A sin n e r” and iie “ H e (is)” are both essen­ tial (co-dependent) elem ents in a nom inal sentence pattern 267 ; furtherm ore, oYpecjpNOBe is an article phrase 43 that contains an indef. article o y - + pecjpNOBe, w hich is a com posite agential com m on noun 121 that contains an agential prefix p e c j- -t- pNOBe, w hich is a com pound verb 180 that contains an infinitive p - ‘d o ' + ®NOse, w hich is an article phrase that contains a zero article ® -t- a gendered com m on noun n o B e ‘sin ’. In adjacent dependency analysis 28, 0 Y-pecj-p-® N 0 Be is sim ply a bound group consisting o f five m orphs o f classes 2-2 2-2-4 (N -N -N -N -T ). B ut at the subsequent level o f analysis, even the exclusively unbound m orphs (enclitics) o f bound group analysis, such as rre , w ill stand in a dependent relationship w ith som e other elem ent o f the syntactic pattern to w hich they belong. W ithin such a hierarchy, each non term inal bound m orph ( o y - , p e c j-, p - , ®) functions as a ‘nucleus’ (syntactic base o f departure) that is ‘expanded’ (added to) by a gram m atically com patible elem ent. M any expansion elem ents are them selves com plex, containing w ithin them selves on e or m ore nucleii with their ow n expansion elem ents. T hus in the previous exam ple o y - is expanded by pecjpN O se p e c j- is expanded by p n o B e p - is expanded by ®NOBe ®is expanded by, and actualizes 92, the lexem e n o Be ‘E xpansion’ also occurs on a scale larg er than the single bound group, as w hen a determ inator pronoun o r personal m orph is expanded by an entity term : e.g. oY M ene I nN O X ce John 3 :3 3 “ G od is tru e” (true is-H e I G od) 275; rreJCA-g jv.e I n 6 i - 7 c L uke 9 :6 2 “ Jesus sa id ” (said-H e I Jesus) 375; o r a verb, by its adverbial expansions 181.

S YLLABLE F O R MAT I O N

35 Syllabic and non-syllabic manifestation o f phonemes. B roadly, Sahidic C optic sounds fall into tw o physiological classes; ‘vowels’ (those sounded w ithout obstructing the flow o f air through m outh, nose, or throat)

a eeod and ‘consonants ’ (those m ade w ith som e kind o f constriction o f m outh, nose, or 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 necessarily contains a vowel, w hich functions as the apex (resonant peak) o f the syllable. B ut this is not so in E gyptian C optic morphs. It is a rem arkable property o f Egyptian

28

SYl. l.AHLi;

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) of a syllable. The discrepancy beiw een G reek and Egyptian Coptic syllable form ation m ay accouni for Itie use o f a special written sym bol in Satiidic C optic (ttie superlinear stroke 38) to m ark ihose syllables w hose apex does not contain a G reek vowel letter ( ^ a - , - r n , B - in 2 AA.O. c c u T n , these are syllables of a character that could not occur 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)

\ b

o

k

o s

o

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 phoneme /n/ as sounded in the following examples

h

n-

f

2N -

n

t

cjiTt

n f-

n-

ncj-

iJ -

In the hypothetical spoken form o f such examples, a non-phonemic resonance occurs ju st before the syllabic phoneme is articulated: ‘’n, 'n. en. h^n-

f^nt

"nf-

"n-

The non-phonemic resonance (') o f the syllabic sounds 'h U 'm 'n 'r is som etim es writ­ ten as e : e b ea. em e n Ep. E.g. BE ‘forgetfulness’, b a - and b e a ‘loosen’, OYM- and o y e m - ‘eat’, 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 ‘cover’, toN ? and c o n e ^ ; sim ilarly non-phonemic 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

euez

h

n

f

a n

NOYCJ

u

AN

29

1 II N l>A M I-, N I A I. < <>M I’ ON I, N I S

Thus all the consonants had tw o potential functions in the syllable. Ft>r ex am ­ ple, the consonant phonem e /b / had both syllabic function and pronunciation ‘'h, as in

^bse ( i t y e ‘forgetfuln ess’) f b t ( t b t ‘fish ’) w o fb (oytuT B ‘change p la ce’) and non-syllabic function and pronunciation 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 phonem e /h i are transcribed as both ^b and b, depending on its function in particular syllables. T he sam e is true fo r all seventeen consonants:

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 sounds i, u, a, and e o ccur in this series as syllabic counterparts of y, w, and non-syllabic / ’/. 36 Expressions o f the glottal stop I ’I. T he phonem e / ’/ (glottal stop) does not have a corresponding letter in the Sahidic alphabet. G enerally, a ‘glottal stop' is a sound produced by closing the vocal chords and then releasing a burst o f air. (This sound is heard in the second syllable o f E nglish “ w ater” as pronounced in L ondon C ockney dialect or “ gotten ” as in som e A m erican N ew England dialects; w a -’‘’r, g o -’eii', also in deliberately spoken G erm an at the onset o f any accented syllable beginning with a vow el; “ d er £ rs te .” )W hatever its p ro ­ nunciation may have been, the C optic glottal stop is a consonant, and it had tw o functions in C optic syllable fo n n atio n : syllabic function and non-syllab­ ic function. E xpressed in writing, the glottal stop phoneine has four m anifes­ tations: (a) doubHng of a preceding vow 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 ined by the conditions and environm ent in w hich / ' / occurs. (a) Non-syllahic expression. Doubling of the letter i., e , h, o , or to, or (as allophone of /o/) o y , where tlie letter that is doubled manifests the stressed syllabic phonem e of a bound group 32. E.g. /so’t/ ‘cut’, 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 /so ’f/ ‘be polluied’, m ji NOYo y * /m ’no’/ ‘feed ’ (where o y is the allophone of /o/), cpcucuT ‘cut’ /so ’t/. (h) Syllabic expression. Unstressed 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 / ‘become co ld ’. (c) Both non-syllahic and sytiahic expression, two simultaneous a n d discontinuous m an­ ifestations within the same morph. Relevant m orphs have the follow ing forms (where N = ‘non-syllabic phonem e’):

30

SYI.I.AULI;

1- O R M A T I O N

/ 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 of 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 manifested. E.g. /w o t’, w ot’-, w oi’/ o y c u tu T e , o y o o t = , o y o o T e ‘separate’; /h o k ’, hok’-, hok’/ gcucuKe, 2 0 0 K«, 2 0 0 KE ‘shave’ ; /pon’, 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) imm ediately precedes a stressed syllabic phonem e ( /’oip/ cuttt ‘load’; /w ’op/ O Y o n ‘becom e p u re ’); or (P) imm ediately follows a stressed syllabic phonem e and is the last phonem e in its bound group (/yo’/ e icu , but /y o ’-/ ‘w ash’; /so ’/ ccu, but /so ’-/ c o o = ‘drink’; /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 t TT “ T o you,” b u t/e to ’is/ e t o o t - c “To her” ).

37 Articulatory classification o f sounds. A hypothetical reconstruction o f th e spo­ ken articulation o f sounds in Sahidic has yielded the results in table 2. TABLE 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 ti 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 V o w els (5 )

C o nso na nts

(H aving O nly Syllabic Function)

(17)

(E ach H aving B oth S yllabic and N o n -sy llab ic Funciion)

S o n o ran ts (7) b y t m n r w ‘■h i n 'm '•/[ V u F ricativ es

S tops

s s f h k p t ky ■ •■s <’s ' / ’’h ‘k ‘p '( ' k ' a le

Voiced A dapted

fr o m :

A ffricate c ‘’c

Unvoiced

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 Egyptian C optic m orphs do not contain a vow el. A s stated above 35, the apex or resonant peak o f these syllables was form ed by a consonant with syllabic function; ‘’b, ‘‘k, ‘’I ^p, ‘"s, etc. In w ritten Sahidic Coptic, such sy lla­ bles— a type that does not occur in G reek, w here every syllable contains a vow el— w ere m arked w ith a special sym bol, the ‘superlinear stroke’: t b , t i c , B \, Tfr, etc. (except that notation o f syllabic /y /, /w /, and /V, i. u, and ale, are not m arked w ith the superlinear stroke.) T he superlinear stroke w as an optional sign; it was w ritten m ost often when the consonant belonged to the

31

FUNDAMENTAL COMPONI-NTS

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 Greco-Coptic morphs occur wilh a superlinear stroke m arking syllabic func­ tion, notably Ci,p5 ‘flesh’, i,p5 ‘bear’, and M i,cTir5 ‘w hip’. In non-standard orthogra­ phy, the Greco-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. 2 N,

6pATc|, ty o p n , m o o y c , M N TCN O O yC

B A A e,

M NTCN

n tc n o o y c , m n tc n o o y c ,

Thus, rwo systems o f superlineation are employed 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 misrepresent the length and position o f superlinear 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. Quecke (plate 3), actually has i.qTa)OYNq 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 . Some m odem editors om it Ihe superlinear stroke altogether, especially when editing a work whose manuscript witnesses employ 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|
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

MORPHS

T HE N OT AT I ON OF G R E C O - C O P T I C MO 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 ei = 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 sometimes exchanged for one anoiher. To some degree eventually there was general confusion in the spelling o f Greek vowel 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,
=

e. E.g.

A.ITI ETi,

£7ii6i)|jia, K i.T oirtu pei KUTr]-

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 vowel 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,.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), (verb). \

oi)^r)TEiv ‘debate’

(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. e i.p e i BappEiv, PHNHMi, yEvvri|ia, n i.ppoiM ii, Tiapoifjia, ei.A.A.i,cci. 0a>_aooa.

33

FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS

40 2 ill place o f both rough and smooth breathing. G reek initial /h / (spiritus asper, rough breathing) regularly o ccurs in G reco-C optic inorphs as 2 ; e.g. 2 A rio c ayioq, 2 eBJnuM Ac ^pSona^, 2 0 M0 itu c 6noicoq, 2 Y M Neye uhvevjeiv, 2 0 CTe coCTTE, 2 ptuMH Tcbnr|. B ut also in the norm al spelling o f som e G recoC optic m orphs, initial 2 occurs w here G reek has a sm ooth (lenis) breathing (no /h /); e.g. 2 eeN O C for E0voq, 2 eA .m ze fiXni^Eiv, 2 Ikcun eIkcov. 41 The superlinear stroke irt Greco-Coptic morphs has three purely graphic fu n c­ tions:

(a) (N orm al) T o m ark 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 iddle o f a m orph, are called ‘compendia' (or 'suspensions'). T he follow ing com pendia persistently occur in C optic literary texts, instead o f the unabbreviated form : (AAyeiJk.) David (in Old T estam ent books) 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 derivatives, e.g. h n i k o n (nNeyMATiKON) spiritual, rjNATO(})opoc (TTNeyMATO(})opoc) inspired eiAHM,

c f d c (cT A y p o c)

cross

c f d y (cT 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. NA-TTej^ J lG 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 Jesus have crucified the fle sh .”

(b) (Rare) T o m ark, occasionally, non-G reek nam es; e.g. A xJp Josh 7 :2 0 (ed. K asser), p S I a Josh 22:32. NAZ^ppA Josh 7 :1 7 , 2 poyBHN Josh 2 2 :3 0 (c) To represent

34

n

at the end o f a line in a m anuscript. Cf. 38.

Determinators: Articles and Determinator Pronouns The Nature o f Coptic Determinators 42 Definition and List of Determinators 42 Articles and the Article Phrase 43 Determinator Pronouns 44 Determination 45 Gender 46 The Zero Article ®(Suppression of Article) Concord of Number and Gender 48 Motivation o f Gender Expression 49

47

Survey of Determinators 50 Indefinite Article and Pronoun o y - , o y x 50 ‘Another’ (Article and Pronoun) K e - , 6 e 51 Simple Definite Article n - 52 The Nexus Pronoun n e 53 Possessive Article and Possessed Pronoun tt= and h a - , TTtu= ‘The O ther’ (Article and Pronoun) n K e -. nK e 55 Nearer Demonstrative n e f - , ttaI 56 Farther Demonstrative i t - . . . eTMMAy. TreTMMAy 57 Affective Demonstrative t t i - , h h 58 Zero Article and Pronoun ®, oyoN 59 ‘Any, Every, A ll’ (Article and P ro n o u n ). . . n i m , oyoN NIM 60 Additional Com binations of These Grammatical Categories Reiteration of the Article FTirase irptuM e irptuM e

54

61

62

THE n a t u r e o f COP T I C DETERMI NATORS

42 Definition and list o f determinators. 'D etenninators', comprising articles and pronouns, are morphs that express the following grammatical categories Determination {definite versus indefinite and/or non-definite 45) Number {singular versus plural) Grammatical gender {masculine versus fem inine 46)

35

I Jin

I ' R M I N A T O R S

in the following intersections: Def. Articles and Pronouns Def. sing. masc. Def. sing. fern. Def. pi.

e.g. n e T T e i-

TJkl

this/these

N e i-

Indef. Articles Indef. sing. Indef. pi.

e.g. O Y 2EN -

a (some

. .

.)

Indef. Pronouns Indef. sing. masc. Indef. sing. fern. Indef. pi.

e.g. o y x oyei 2 0 iN e

someone/some

The zero determinator 47 expresses a suppression o f these categories. (Gender is not expressed in the plural forms, nor in the indef. sing, articles. With some gaps determination, number, and gender are also expressed by the cardinal numbers 66.) Most determinators also express an additional grammatical category: relative distinctness (otherldifferent), nexus (is), relative distance from the speaker fr/i 1.9, that), totality (each/every), or relation to a following element (related to . . .); c f also 61. Articles and determinator pronouns mostly occur in corresponding pairs. Article

Pronoun

OYK err-

OYJ^ 6e —

rr='

rre nw=^

__ 3

T IX -

rtK er r e in - . . . eTMMAY n i-

riK e

—

rreTMMAY nH OYON

0-' . .

nx\

. NIM^

OYON NIM

a; someone/-thing 50 another; another one 51 the 52 he/it is . . . 53 my (your, etc.); mine (yours, etc.) 54 the one related to . . . 54 also the; the other; the other one 55 this; this one 56 that; that one 57 the/that; this one/that one 58 Cf. 47, 59 any/every/all; any one/every one/a}^ 60

'•The . . . related to . . . n - i . - , n-EK - etc. (po.ssessive article); e.g. ni,cyi,jce “Wy word ^‘The one related to . . . ’ . n c u - (, ncu-K . etc. (possessed pronoun) “Mine, yours, (etc.)” ’Cf. the construction of general relationship the . . related to . . . 147, e.g. ohY m—n x o e r c “The hoy^e of the Lnrd' 'Zero anicle: expressed by significani absence of any morph in a position •Ahere an anicle could be e\pecied. e.g. “'Vords/An> v.ord/An> \\ords/A v.ord (elc.).“ The * i' a T7*ociern convention u^ed cnl> for grammatical anaKsis. -Enclitic: e.g. cL?x_xG MiM ■Ar> ■ ‘•ord.

T in; N A i u Ri ; o i

(o n ic

i) i: r !■k m i n a i ok s

43 The article phrase ‘A rticles’, e.g. o y - a , TT- th e , r r e i - th is . . . , . . . n im a n y l e v e i y l a l l . . . are determ inators that m ust be expanded 34 by a com m on noun, p rep o sitio n o f relationship, specifier, or relative clause, thus form ing an ‘article p h r a s e F or com patibilities, cf. table 3. T he article phrase consists o f any article + its expansion. A rticle phrases play the role o f entity term 141. E.g. o y I t t o a i c “ A c ity ,” ir ljc o e ic “ T he L o rd ,” up^Jce nim “ E very w ord,” nleBOA p e e “ T he O ne from N azareth ,” TreiltyoMNT “ T hese th ree,” TrleNT-Ac|-TTApAAiAoY m m o-c| “ T he one w ho betrayed H im .” T he article is the nucleus, expressing gram m atical categories and som etim es referentially linking the article phrase to other points in the text; the expansion elem ent expresses content (usually lexical 9 1 -9 2 ). F or exam ple. A rticle I N oun T I rro A ic (“ T he c ity ” ) nucleus I expansion (gram m atical (lexical and referential inform ation) inform ation) A rticles actualize com m on noun lexem es in the article phrase, cf. 92. A single article can actualize several coordinated nouns (rare): e.g. a,q-CMOY e p o -® e - ‘*TM-Tpe®-cycucuT M - n q e iK g i - ^ o i x e ( n - + o e iK ^ i - ^ o i x e ) S h lll 2 0 5 :2 3 -2 4 “ He has blessed you so that you do not run short o f bread and c lothing"; i ,N r - 0 YM0 Ni,x0 c A.N JciN- MneINA.Y H OYHHB S h lll 2 5 :1 -2 “ From this lim e on, I am a m onk no longer, nor priest” ( o y - + m o n a .x o c h o y h h b ) 257. All the articles are prefixes (non terminal bound m orphs 28[2]) e x c e p t. . . nim , which is an enclitic 28(6). Thus article phrases have Iwo form s: (1) Article + E xpansion Element; (2) E xpansion Elem ent + nim . TABLE 3 C o m p a t ib il it y

of

In E x p a n s io n E l e m e n t

A ny co m m o n noun 9 2 P rep o siiio n s o f rela iio n sh ip ' 1 2 4 S pecifiers (cf. table 4 , p. 57): C ardinal num bers 6 6 OY, ‘w hai? w h ic h ? ’

w it h

411

A r t ic l e s

C o m p a t ib l e A r t ic l e s

A ll articles n - , T -, N -, OY~, 2 6

n

-

All def. sin g , a rtic le s ; K e oY “ , z e N K e —, O Y ~ , 2 6

A A J iY ‘ a “ y ’

R elativ e clause

E x p a n s io n E l e m e n t s t h e A r t ic l e P h r a s e

n

—. . . . N I M

TT-, T - , N - as an teced en t 4 0 8 , 4 1 1

'E.g. EBOA. ? N -

37

i j i: T i ; r m I N A r o R S

? e N -, n - , T -, N - are also formaiive eleiiienis in complex articles (e.g. ? e N K e -. n K E - , n e T - . n - . . . etm m ay- n i - , n= ). n - and t - occur as a compoiieiil of eerlalii proper nouns, 126, 127, e.g. TrAA.iA.Aii “Galilee." n e i - , n - , . , etm m a y , ami n K e can occur wiih proper nouns 128, e.g. neeiM eAXiceJLEK “This Melchizedek.”

44 ‘Determinator pronouns' are determinators that are actualized entity temis 141 by their very nature. As pronouns they present an object o f thought by

speaking of it in grammatical categories (as would the corresponding article), but without denoting, naming, or describing it by any lexical (non-grammatical) content. E.g. o \ x someone, n ^ i this one, oyoN nim any one!every one/all, ttcutn yours ( c f the articles o y - , r r e i- , . . . n i m , and rreTN-). ? e N - , n - , T -. N - , . , . NIM are fomialive elements in complex deierminalor pronouns: ^eNKooYC, n k e(T ), nAT, neTMMAy, n n , ncu=, o y o N n im ,

45 ‘D eterm ination’ (def. versus indef. and/or non-definite) is a complex gram­

matical category, which cannot be described simply. Its minimal expression is the contrast o f simple indef. article and simple def. article, which (according to context) can convey, for example: (a) Exieni o f presupposed knowledge + absencc or presencx’ o f referenlial linkage (crossreference) Indef. (o y -)'. Known lo speaker bul nol lo listener and now being introduced as a topic o f discourse, e.g. at the beginning of a story. No referential linkage. E.g. N e-Y N -oyK piT H C ^ N -o y n o A ic e - N - q - p - ® 2 0 T e a n ? H T - c j M -nN O Y fe Luke 18:2 “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God.” Def. ( n - ) : Known to or anticipated by both speaker and listener because tlie entity term is either mentioned in the preceding text (retrospective referential linkage) or her­ alded as coming in what follows (prospective referential linkage). E.g. (retrospective) A-YK^AOOA.e a ;cu n e , , . A-ycM H JlG a ;cu n e e b o a ^ N -x e K A o o A e Luke 9;.34-5 “A cloud came . . , And a voice came out o f the cloud” ; (prospective) le p o M n e n t - a - o c T a c n p p o m oy n ? h t - c Isa 6:1 “The year in which King Ozias died” ; npAN M -n jc o e ic Mark I 1:9 “Ttje name o f the Lord.” (h) Particularity versus generality Indef. ( o y - ) : One particular instance o f a class, o f limited extern, o y r o ^ n e “One person, A person” ; o y m o o y “ Some water. Water” ; o y e o o y “Glory (in one particu­ lar situation)” ; o y n o y b “A piece o f gold” ; o y o e i k “A loaf o f bread, Some bread. Bread” ; oyM e “A truth. The truth (about one matter)” ; oyk-Ake “ Darkness (on one occasion)” ; ^ entcom n ? h t 2eNM NT-co<5 ^ et^ n N T -A T -cooY N ^^NnopNiA ^eNM itye ?eNNO<5 m - m n t - a c e b h c Shlll 2 06:1-2 “Acts o f hardhearledness, acts o f folly, acts o f ignorance, acts o f illicit sexuality, acts o f strife, and acts of great impi­ ety.” Def. ( n - ) : (i) The general name o f a class, tm e “Truth"; o m o o y “ Water (the sub­ stance)” ; npcuME “The human species. Humankind, The human being, A person (gen­ erally),” (it) A type p a r excellence. n c 0
38

iiii;

NAruRi-.

( >i

( o r i H

di

i i -.r m i n a i o r s

(c) Degree o f typicalness /ndef. (oY ~): An ordinary instance or instances o f a class. N e e N -O Y2^tA.HT e - 0 )3 iq -c c u 0 Y 2 e ^ o y N N -N e q M i.c M all 23:37 “ L ik e o (lypical) bird lhal gathers ils young” ; N e e N-oYBpH(5e Luke lO; |8 “ Like o stroke o f lightning” (but with def. arti­ cle N e e PAp N-TeB pH (5e Luke 17:24 “ Like lightening [in its essence]” ). So also ? N -O Y - . -. forming adverbs o f manner, ?N-OY M e “ T ruly.” (i) The most typical or essential instance o f a class. n N O Y T e “ G o d ” 136 always takes n - when referring to the God o f the Bible); n N O M o c “ The L aw ” [i.e. o f Israel]; n e p n e “The T em ple” [i.e. o f God in Jerusalem ], (ii) The nam e o f a unique item or .set o f items. TeY
(n -):

(N O Y T e

(d) Direct address (vocative) A ll Com m on nouns in direct address require a def, article 137(ii); x e c ^ iM e John 2 :4 “ W o m an !” ; n e N e i c u T e T ® - ? N - M n H Y e Matt 6:9 “ O ur Father who art in h e av e n !"; o5 n p c u M e o y o n n i m e x K - K p i N e Rom 2:1 “ O fellow, whoever you are, you who judge another! ” No contrast with the indefinite is possible, hence the def. m arks only the direct address status, not determ ination. A fuller accqunt o f the contrast between sem antic classification o f lexemes.

n -

and

oy

~

would also require an elaborate

In some patterns a syntactic distinction between definite versus ‘m n -d efin ite’ (i.e. indef. together with zero 47 article phrases and determinators) is m ani­ fested: cf. 322, 323, 404, 408, 430, 476, 477, 479, 480, 482. For indef. versus zero, cf. 48, 145, 171. 46 ‘G ender’ (grammatical gender) is a grammatical category permanently asso­ ciated with certain classes o f noun lexemes 105, 126, whether denoting inan­ imates or denoting items with biological gender: thus sky (r ln e “The sky” ), mother (tIm aay “The mot her ” ) , ( 2 P
39

iJi; I i : r m I N A l O R s

corcijgionisi (also Ihc bnilhcr)." (Bui Ihc converse is iioi Irue: T l
47 The zero article ®(suppression o f article). Where a def. or indef. article might normally precede a common noun, the article is often suppressed. This signifi­ cant absence o f Jirticle, where an article could normally occur, is the ‘zero arti­ cle in modem grammatical analysis, it can be notated ®. Zero article signals the actualization 92(a) of a common noun as entity term, just as the manifest jirticles do, but it conveys no information about determination, number, and gender. (English has no one single equivalent o f the Coptic zero article. “ Any . . . followed by sing, or pi., or the bare English sing, or pi. sometimes corre­ sponds; several English translations may appear to be equally correct. E.g. M irp -B tu K e 2 0 yN e-®TTOAic n - ® c a m a p i t h c Matt 1 0 :5 “ Do not enter cities of Samaritans, any city of Samaritans, any cities o f the Samaritans, etc.” el? TioXiv Lanapixwv.) Typically, ihe zero article occurs (a) To actualize a noun lexeme as having general m eaning, forming compound verbs 180: p-^^O T e “ Fear [vb.]. Be afraid” (Do-®fear); 5oi)>-e()E1v “ Serve, Funclion as servani” (Do-*'servanl); t-®B^riTicMA “ B apiize” (Give-^baplism ); JCi-®CBcu “ L earn” (Gel-®leaching); n p e q -N K O x ic mn-®2 0 o y t “ Male hom osexual” (The gram m alically ma.sculine enliiy who lies down with ®male); <5 m - ® ( 5 o m “ Be able (lo)” (Find ®power) (b) In verbal construclions expressing predication o f a general characlerislic 179, such as cpcune N-® . . . , o Fi-® . . . , p-® . . . “ be . . . e i p e MMO-q N-®, AA -q N-® . , “ Make him be . . . ” E.g. aa - k n -® pm m a 6 ShChass 8.5:34 “ Make yourself rich” (c) In genetalizalions and gnom ic conlexi: e cp A p e -n p c u M e N -A P A eoc T A y e "A rAeoN eBOA. Luke 6:45 “ A good person brings forih good ihings” ; o y o n nim eN T -A q-K A -® H i

N c cu -q

H ® coN

H "ccu N e

H ® eic U T H ®MAAY H ® c ? i M e H ® < y H p e

H ®ccuJ'yxh aycu ®>J'YXh ajcn -*’ccuma ShOrig 335 (O rlandi 26:4 3 -4 4 ) “ Do bodies come inlo being without souls and souls without bodies?” ; mm“n -®<5om N-®jLAiMcuN e-*'Tpe-® pcuM e p-**NOBe ShChass 7 7 :2 5 f2 9 “ Dem ons cannol make people sin, A demon cannol make anyone sin. N o demon c^n m ake someone sin” (d) In negative expressions, especially o f non-exislence or deprivation: ^ e N n n rH . , . e-MN-®MOOY N?HT-OY 2 Pel 2:17 “ W aterless springs' (Springs without w ater in them )” ; AJCN-®2 0 T e Phil 1:14 ficpopto^ “Fearlessly, WithoUl fear” ; n p - t m - j c i t - n egOYN e-® neipA CM O c Mail 6:13 “ And lead us not into tem ptation” ; M nN -
40

t in

;

na i u k i

:

oi

c o i

'I

ic

h i

:

i i;k m i n a i d k s

48 Concord o f number and gender. In ilie text when one eiilily tcnn 141 cross-

refers to another, grammatical 'concord' (agreeinent) in number and gender is obligatory to the extent that these categories can be expressed. Determinators and personal morphs 75 are the main expressions of number and gender, and they are important signals of what refers to what, in the network o f cross-references and agreements within textual discourse (the ‘referential linkage’ of terms in discourse). E.g. rrezMOM a c | - a o Mark 1 :31 “The fever ceased,” lit­ erally, The ( r r e - masc.) fever it ( - c |- masc.) ceased; TCAre e -M e c -Jte N A Mark 9:44 “ The unquenchable fire,” literally. The ( t - fem.) fire that ( - c fem.) does not die out; ijik w b A e A c|-Jtn o n -h u ch ({ ) tt2Ai m -m ap ia t a i eNT-AY“ -^TT^~^ eBOA N2 HT-C TTAi e-< yA Y ~ ^oyT e e p o -c | J t e - r r e j ^ Matt 1 : 1 6 “ And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, o f whom ( t a i . . . - c ) Jesus was bom, who (ttai . . . - q ) is called C hrist.” Considered in isolation almost no nouns show any mark of number or gender. (The pi. or fem. formal marking o f nouns is limited or optional 107, 108[b], 117, and therefore these marked forms play a very secondary role in the crossreference system.) W ithin an article phrase, the syntactic target o f cross-reference is the article. The zero article, however, is an ambiguous target o f cross-reference, since it is a negation of num ber and gender 47. A personal morph cross-referring to a zero article phrase can be arbitrarily sing, or pi.; if singular, it can either express the grammatical gender o f the noun o r arbitrarily be masc. (the gener­ al gender 46); and it can fluctuate among these possibilities within one single passage. Examples; m n -® cb oyi o n - ® n o <5 e - n e q c A ? Mall 10:24 “ A (®) disciple is nol greater lhan his ( - e q - ) leacher” ; ej(.e-O YN-®c2 iMe e c - n o p N e y e e t B e - 2 H T ^ OYN-®c?iMe o n o y m o n o n na~y aaaa N K e g ic e ON M -nec^A T n -e T ® -6 N-® N oeiK e p o - c e- they assem ble”

41

Ill

I I K M I N A I O R S

49 Motivarioii o f i^ender expression. Tlie selecitoii ordeiem iination, number, iincl gender wilhin the set of articles or deteriniiuitor pronouns is according to what the speaker wishes to communicate. But in articles, the selection of gender is also motivated by the grammatical class and function of the expansion ele­ ment. In form, m ost articles do not signal gender ( n - , o y - , z g n - , k g - , 2 6 N K 6 - . ®, . . . N 1m), yet even these assume a potential gender, which is real­ ized and manifested when gendered cross-reference to them occurs. Motivation o f gender expressed in articles (a) Expanded by a gendered common noun i. noun with denoting function 93(a): the article signals the gender of the noun ii. noun with descriptive function 93(b): the article signals a gender appro­ priate to the sense o f the passage, e.g. with cross-reference to another item E.g. (i) x l M e “ The truth” ; o y l M e T e - f - - J C c u m m o - c Rom 9:1 “ I am speaking ihe iruth” literally It is (T e) a truth that ( - c ) 1 speak” ; (o)Y lM i.em e q - o y o N ? eeoA . Acts 4 :16 “ A notable ( - q - ) sign” ; NelnAHPH N -? iH Rev 21:9 “The lasi fein.) plagues” ; (ii) n i n e Rev 1 9 :11 fiXri0iv6(; “ The ( n - ) True, the true one (of masc. gram ­ matical gender, 9 3 )” ; T lnA 6e Luke 5 :36 tk) TiaXaitp “ The tattered one (of fein. gender, scil.
(b) Expanded by a gendered cardinal number 66: article and cardinal number both signal the gender that is appropriate to the sense of the passage, e.g. with cross-reference to another item E.g. nilo y A Luke 15:4 “ Thai ( n i - ) one [i.e. e c o o y ‘sheep’, m asc.j” ; T lo v e i T loY ei John 2:6 “ Each (t - ) one [i.e. ‘stone ja r’, fem .J"; n eeilcp o M N x 1 C or |3 : |3 “ Tliese ( n e e i - ) three [masc., the general gender 46]” ; T eilcpoM Te M -nA yrH Rev 9:18 “ These ( T e i - ) three plagues [nAHPH. fem .]”

(c) Expanded by a genderless common noun: the article signals a gender appro­ priate to the sense of the passage o f text, e.g. with cross-reference to another item E.g. n jjM e p iT M ark 1 :1 1 “ My (n A -) beloved [i.e. cpH pe ]” ; T lM ep ix R o m 16:12 “ My beloved [in apposition to fem. personal name n e p c i c ) ”

(d) In an inverted attributive construction of the noun 102 whose initial term is genderless, the article signals the gender of the modified noun. E.g. n N o 6 N -a jc u c Heb 13:20 “ The greai shepherd” ; great power”

t n o

6

n

- 6

om

Acts 8 :10 “ The

In cross-reference, K e -, and nim sometimes signal their assumed potential gender and sometimes arbitrarily signal masc. or pi. 48, 51, 60.

42

s u r v i :y

o f

i J i n i; r

m in a i ors

Determiiiaior pronouns signal a gender appropriate to the sense o f the p as­ sage, e.g. w ith cross-reference to another item. T he general gender, w hich is used to express generalizations, etc., is form ally the m asculine 46. SU R V E Y O F D E T E R M IN A T O R S

50 The indefinite article and pronoun Article

Pronoun

sing,

o y - , var. - y -

pi.

z e N -( a b n o r m a l var. 2 N -)

sing. m asc. oyA sing. fem . o y e i pi. 2 0 'fNe, var. z o e iN e

- Y - o c c u rs o ften (in som e n ianuscrlpis, reg u larly ) a fier a - , e - . and a fter som e m o n o ­ sy llab ic n o n -lerm in al b ou n d m o rp h s ending in i o r e (e.g. N e -).

A rticle (cf. 43, 45): A; one specimen o f the le.xical class o f ; one specimen having the quality o f the lexical class o f . . . ; and pi. (The sing, o y - can also express the cardinal num ber ‘o n e ’, 70.) ? e N - is ofien translated in English by the absence o f article before a plural or singular fonn o f the English noun: A C - 6 o o A - e q N -^ e N T O e ic Luke 2:7 “ She wrapped Him in .sivaddliit)’ clolhs. ”

Pronoun: Someone!-thing, anyonel-thing, a certain person/thing; one o f those (aforementioned), such, so\ and pi. (some). (The sing, o y ji/o y e i can also express the cardinal num ber ‘o n e ’, 70; as such, it can expand k g - o r any def. sing, article.) Exam ples: a n - n a y e - o \ x eq-Nejc-®JLAiMONiON e e o A M ark 9 :38 “ W e saw ■someone casting out dem ons"; o y a m bn . . . K eY i Jte . . . (textual var. ^ o m e MeN . . . ? eN K o o Y e j t e . . . ) M ark 4:4—5 “ One . . Another . . . (var. Som e o f them . . . Others . . , OYei N -M n o A ic Luke 5:12 “ One o f the cities” ; pcuMe c n a y N e N x a y - b c u k e^pAT e - n e p n e e-**ApicAioc n e nK eO Y ^ Jte OYTCAtUNHC n e Luke 18; 10 “ There were two m en w ho w ent up inio the tem ple to pray, onp being a Pharisee and the other a tax collector” ; ^ e N ^ e e p A io c Ne I a n ? - o y a 2 C or 11:22 "A re ihey Hebrews? So am I ” ; x e c ^ m e eT®-jccu m JC e-A N r-O Y nA peeN O C e - o y e i a n r e ShAmel II 6 2 :3 -4 “ The wom an who says I am a virgin, even though she isn’t o n e"; n a i eT®-JCcu m m o -c jc e -A N O N ^eNiOYJk^Ai e - N - ^ o 'N e a n Ne Rev 3:9 “ W ho say that they are Jews and are no t.’’ The def. correspondeni to indef. o y a n e “ He is one o f those, such” is N T o q n e “T hat’s what he is” (nominal senience Pattern 10, cf, 282).

51 ‘Another’ (cf. 55) Article

sing.

pi.

K e - (var. 6 e ~)

Pronoun

sing. m asc. 6 e (var. Ke); vars. k 6 t , k g g t fem. 6 e (var. Ke); vars. K e r e , k h t g (var. 2 e N K e y -) plzeN K O o y e 4J

m o-c

IJi: 1 l i K M I N A T O K S I he sing, pronoun is nomially 6 e (or K e), wliich does not distinguish gender. Sing, niasc. K e(e)T and fern, k g t g (or k h t g ) are rare.

A rticle: Another (contrasting) . . , , a n alien . . . ,a dijf'erent . . . ; another (sec­ an a d d itio n a l. . . ; and pi.

ond)

P ronoun: Same m eanings (one that is different, another one, etc.)

52

T he s im p le d e fin ite a rtic le n - , alt. n e - ; v ar. n T - , alt. r e - ; v ar.

t-

N -, alts. N e - , M -; v a rs . n - , n n - . b - , K - , p T -

normally combines with a following /i/, e.g. -f-pHNH (t + “Judaea.”

(t

+ eipHNH) “ The peace”;

n - or N - sometimes combines with a following /i/ ( e i) as ni or n i ; e.g. nicuT “The father ( gicdt)” ; n ie p o “The river ( e i e p o ) ”; N ie p c u o y “The rivers ( e ie p c u o y ) ”; but normally the longer spelling occurs; neicuT, n e i e p o . n - sometimes combines with a following /h / as (J>: e.g. <}>cub A cts 25:14 Tho. (same a.s n ^ c u B ); T - o f t e n combines with a following ^ a s e : e.g. e e “The m anner” (regularly, sam easT ^e); e e A n i c “ The hope” Acts 16: l9Tho. (sa m e as T^eA-nic); handmaid" Luke 1:38Q ue. (but masc. usually Luke 12:43 Que. “The manser­ vant” ).

M eanings (cf. 43 , 4 5 ): The; the item belonging to the lexical class o item having the quality o f the lexical class o f . . . ; and pi.

f ; the

Alternants and variants o f n —, t - , n (a) The lo n g form n e - , r e - , N e - is norm ally required before a m orph beginning with a consonant cluster in w hich th e second phonem e is n o t syllabic (could not b ea r a superlinear stroke in that particular w ritten m orph): n e l c B o y T “ The student” ; relnAANH “T he d e c e it” ; N eb p o o y “ T he cries.” Alternant. A special case occurs if the first of these consonants Is basically syllabic (would bear a superlinear stroke). Normally the first consonant loses its superlinear stroke (and syllabicity): nelMTO e b o a “The presence” (m to c b o a ); NelNKai^ “The things” (nkji); n e lp n e “The temple” (p n e ). But in some manuscripts, the short form n - , t - , n occurs and the .superlinear stroke is maintained: hImka.^, textual var. nelMKjk.^ Acts 7:34 “ The suffering” ; t I m n o o t g , textual var. xelMNOOTe John 18:16 “The maid”; n Im k oo2, textual var. NelMK0 0 2 2C or 1:7 “The sufferings.”

W hen the initial cluster co n tain s j or (o )y , both th e long an d short form s o f the article can occur (some nouns elicit m o re fluctuation than others): nely-XAi and nloyjcA .1 “ T he salvation” ; n e l 2 o y o “ T h e ab u n d an ce” ; Tel 2 iH “ The w ay.” N ote that th e letters e <}) x f each represent tw o nonsyllabic consonant phonem es 13. T hus n e l e i B i o /p eth b b y o / “T he lo w lin ess” ; re lx A p ic “ The

44

S U K V I

Y

()l

1) 1

I I KM I N A I O K S

gi l t ” ; nel< l)iA o co < l)o c “ 'F hc p h ilo s o p h e r” ; r el ^ ' YXM " r h c s o u l.” H o w ev er, w hen o c c u rrin g b e fo re i th e le tte r x o fte n function.s as th o u g h it e x p re s s e d a sin g le p h o n e m e : n lx iA iA .p x o c A cts 2 1 :3 I “T h e c h ilia rc h .”

Limitations: (i) r p e - , r p e * the causative infinitive 359 as a verbal n o u n does not take the long fo rm ( n lrp e q - c c D T n “ The ac t o f him choosing. H is act of ch o o sin g ” ), (ii) p p o ‘king, em peror’ norm ally has sing, n lp p o “T h e k in g ,” rarely n e p o ; but pi. both N elppcuoy an d N lppcuoy- (Hi) W ith m o rp h s in w hich the first o f th e consonants is c , both th e lo n g and sh o rt form s occur: N e l c p e q p i q e and N lc p e q p iq e M ark 7 :2 8 “T he cru m b s.”

(b) n e - , r e - , n 6 - is norm ally required b efo re three w ords d en o tin g tim e: 2 0 o y ‘d a y ’ ( n e l e o o y ) ; o y o e i c ^ ‘tim e’ ( n e ly o e ic ^ ) ; a n d p o M n e ‘y e a r’ (T e lp o M n e ). (oyqpH ‘n ig h t’ an d o y N o y ‘hour’, w hich also m ight b e classi­ fied here, can be explained by [a], above.) Alternant. (c)

n e - , T e - , N e - optionally occurs before noun phrases formed from e s c A ^ n - 124 (e.g. T ele e o A Jas 3 :1 7 “ The one from above” ; ic n e lee cA . (textual var. n le e o M Matt 21:11 “ Jesus, the One from N azareth” ). Variant.

(d)

n - , T - , for n - , t - , optionally occurs before nouns beginning with n , t . if conditions (a) and (h) are not m et: Mark 14:12, T lrjinpo Luke 1:70. Variant.

(e)

N - (article), without superlinear stroke, often (but optionally) occurs before w ords of E gyptian or Greek origin that begin with an unstressed vow el. Nie ph t “The p ro m ises” ; N U n o cT O A o c “ The apostles.” Variant.

(f)

N N -, for hj- and n —, optionally occurs before a vow el: NNla^pxH (for N U pxH and NUpXH) Luke 1 2 :1 1 “ The ru lers.” Variant.

(g) M - fo r N -. Before non-syllabic /m / o r /p / (i.e. m o r n w ith o u t su p erlin ear stroke) m - norm ally occurs as an assim ilated form o f n - , provided th at co n ­ ditions (a) anA(h) are not m e t: mImapoc “ The M a g i” ; n ln H y e “ T h e h eav ­ ens.” Alternant. (h)

Sim ilarly, in some early m anuscripts i - , X -, p - o ccur as assim ilated form s o f n before non-syllabic m anifestation o f the /b /, /I/, /r/ respectively (i.e. b, a , p without superlinear strokes): bIbaag Luke 4:18 “ T he blind (p i.)” ; AlAai^KM Mark 8 :8 “ The pieces” ; plpcune M a r lt^ ^ 8 “ Humankind (pi ). ” Variant.

O therw ise, the basic form n - , t - , n - occurs: n l c i s e “T h e circ u m cisio n ” ; rlM N T -e p o “ The k in g d o m ” ; fil 2 p
53 The nexus pronoun (a) V ariable n e /r e /N e sing. m asc. n e sing. fem . re pi. Ne

45

D K T r; R M 1 N A T () R S

expresses determination, number, gender, and nexus 248 of subject and pred­ icate. (b) Invariable n e expresses determination and nexus but not number or gender. In term s o f adjacent dependency n e in all its form s is an enclitic 28(6), a class of morphs that by nature cannot occur first in their clause.

n e (both variable and invariable) is a nexus morph in nominal sentence Patterns 3-11, where it is an essential pattern component 252; and in the cleft sentence (chapter 20). In nominal sentence Patterns 3-9, it has subject func­ tion (‘he is . . . ’ etc.); in Pattern 10, anaphoric predicate function (‘is he, is such’ etc. 282). Variable n e is also an element in existential cleft sentences 462, in which n e there is asserts existence and introduces some person or thing into the actual line of discourse. Invariable n e also occurs in some other types of sentence 285, especially those in preterit conversion, but not as an essential pattern constituent. Its function is such sentences is unknown. 54 T he possessive article an d th e possessed pronoun Possessive Article n=,

Possessed Pronoun nA -,

T=. N=

T A -, N A -

20 the one related to . . = (N N )’s, mine, yours, etc. n o ) * , TO)=, N o y =

the-related-to-{me, you etc.) = my, your. etc.

M eaning: Both article and pronoun express a general, logically ambiguous relationship (related to, helonging to), exactly like the mark o f relation.ship ig ~ 147. The pronoun occurs only in prenominal and prepersonal states. The pos­ sessive article consists of the simple def. article followed by personal inter­ mediates 84: n - A - , n - e K - , n - o y - - etc. Possessive Article nA.“ ncK T io y neqnecncN neTN ney-

n*, t= ,

TA-

NA-

TCK-

NCKN oy-

T oy-

Teq-

Ncq-

re c-

N ec-

TBN-

NCN-

TCTN-

NGTN-

TBY-

N ey-

my . your your h is . h e r. o u r. your their

Examples with h i house: n A H i My house, n c N H i O ur house. N e N H i ' Our houses. n e cH 'i Her house. O r with maay mother: ta m a a y My mother, TeNMAAy O ur mother, NeNMAiY O ur m others, TeqMAAy His m other, t e c m x a y Her m other

46

S U R V I . Y

( >l

l)i; I I - . R M I N M

Possessed I’roiloilll

O R S

IIA -, T A -, N A -

iiA -iip cu M e

T A -n p o iM e

nA-Tec^iMe nA-NecNHY

TA-TCC^iMe Ti-NeCNHY

N A -upa>M e

N i-rec^iM c Ni-NecNHy

(the) one(s) relating to the man/the man's (the) one(s) relating to the woman/the woman’s (the) one(s) relating to the brethren/the brethren’s For invariable (?) n i - forming composite common nouns, cf. 111.

Thus nApcoMe means “ My m an” ( n - A - possessive article), while nAnpcoMe means “The one relating to the man. The m an’s ” (n A - possessed pronoun). Examples; n x -O Y M e e y e n e e - N A N o y -q Prov 24:28 “It is the part of a sound under­ standing” ; Ni-^eNeKKAHCiA Constantine of Assiut, First Encomium on St. Claudius of Antioch (Drescher 7 3/;;3 l-7 4 a ; I) “Church property” ; nM ecixH C A e M - n i - o y A AN n e n N o y T e A e oyA n e Gal 3:20 “Now, an intermediary is not just related to one individual; whereas. God is one” ; T A -^ ofN e rxp N-reTM iN e r e TM N T-epo M -n N o y r e Mark 10:14 “For to such belongs the kingdom o f God” ; N A -^ eN K o o y e Celestine I of Rome, Encomium on St. Victor the General (BMar 77:3) “The property of other people” ; nepH T M -ncuNz nA -neiM A M N -n A -n K eoyA 1 Tim 4:8 “Promise for life— that which belongs to this place and also that which belongs to the other one” ; T ey M N T -A T -co o y N . . . T A -N iK o o y e 2 Tim 3:9 “Their folly . . . that of those other people” ; t a - n a i pap N - r e iM iN e r e TM N T-epo N -M nH ye Matt 19:14 “For to such belongs the kingdom of the heavens” ; n e q e o o y N M -n A -n e q T o iT N M -n A -N eq ArreAOC eT®-oyAAB Luke 9:26 “ His glory and that of His father and that of His holy angels” ; n e q B io c e iN e an M -n A -o y o N nim Wis 2:15 “His manner of life is unlike that o f everyone (else)” ; a n o k m cn A N r - n A -n A y A o c 1 Cor 1:12 “ I belong to Paul” ; e c -N A -p -T A -N iM John 19:24 “Whose shall it be?” Possessed Pronoun ntu=, nw i no)K n to-*’ n o jq n o )c nCDN

t o )Y TO)K

nO JTN

TU>TN

noJO Y

t

tcu=.

Noyi NOyK N oy-®

T O )q

N o y q

TO )C

N oyc NOyN

U

NOyTN N oyoy

jo y

N oy* mine yours yours his hers ours yours theirs

Examples; n c u -K n e n N o y 6 I n c u -K n e n?AT I t c u - k x e T oiK O yneN H M N-N-eT®- N^H T-c T H p - o y S h lll 90 :1 9 -2 0 “Yours is the gold. Yours is the silver. Yours is the inhabited world and all who are in it” ; N o y -N N M M A - q Ne ShChass 6 3 :6 -7 “They belong to us and to him ’’

55 ‘T he o th e r’ (cf. 51)

sing, niasc. sing. fern. pl.

Article

Pronoun

nK e-

nK e, var. h k e t TK6T, var. TKeTe N K ooye

t k e

-

N K e-

47

D C T I i K M I N A T O R S

Article: Also the . . . . the other (second): the other (contrasting) .. ., the alien . . . . the d ijfe re n t. . . ; even the . . . Pronoun: Same meanings (the other one, etc.). 56 T h e n e a re r dem on strativ e

sing. masc. sing. fem .

pi.

Article

Pronoun

r r e i - , var. r r e e i TeV-, var. r e e l N e i-, var. n e e i -

rrAi. var. iTAei t a i , var. t a c i n a i. var. n a e i

N otes; (a) In m anuscripts that have the longer spelling variant n e e i - etc., the form n e i - (without iota trema) is the affective article 58 (otherwi.se spelled n i - ) . {hj 3n some norm alized m odem works (H om er’s New Te.stament, C rum ’s dictionary) trem as are typographically om itted, leading to confusion o f n e r - arri n e i - .

Article: T h is . . . (nearer to me); the just-previously-m entioned. . . , th a t. . . ; the just-about-to-be-m entioned. , , , the following . . . ; and pi. Pronoun: Same meanings (this one, etc.). riAi refers to either a preceding or a following referent, e.g. H 3 .p e-n n i 6 e n e e y e b - t t a Y x e - . . . 2 Cor 10:11 “ Let that person understand the follow ing thing, namely that . . . ” It also forms the articulated attributive 411 and appositive attributive 408 clause con­ structions. 57 T he fa rth e r d em o n strativ e

sing. masc. sing. fetn. pi.

A rticle

Pronoun

n - . . . eT^-MMAy t - .. , eT**-MMAy N- . . . eT**-MMAy

neTMMAy reTMMAy NETNiMAY

n - etc. is the simple def. article with alts, and vars. 52 and eT**-MMAy is a rel­ ative clause 405. The pronoun n-eT®-i^MAy is an articulated attributive con­ struction 411. Article; That (over there, farther fro m me}; the previously mentioned . and pi. Pronoun; Same meanings {that one, etc.). 58 T he affective d em o n strativ e Article

sing, masc. - sing. fem. pi. 48

n i - , var. n e i "J"-, var. r e i H i-, var. n e i -

Pronoun

nH th hh

S U R V | ; Y

()I-

D i r i H R M I N

a i o r s

Notes; (a) lit manuscripts that have the longer spelling variant n r .i - etc. (witlnnit iota trenia), the nearer tlem onstrativc article 'th is' 56 is iionnally spcflet! n e e i - . (h j In sonic norm alized m odem works (H om er’s New T estainent, C rum ’s dictionary) treiiias are typographically om itted, leading to confusion o f n e i - and n e T -.

Article: The . . . . th a t. . . . this . . . . and pi., exptessmg emotional apprecia­ tion or involvement; or, tn a few adverbial expressions, literal remoteness from the speaker, in time or place. (а) Expressing deprecation, awe. foreboding, adm iration, etc.; o \ \ fT-N iK O Y ei Malt 25:45 “ One of these little ones” ; ■f'l'YXH c i ^ - o e i eMATe ShChass 9 5 :5 8 -9 6 :1 “T his soul, which is so valuable"; n i n o 6 fJ-u ^ T o p -i^ e T ® - ^ - N in o A ic mn —Ni-f-Me M N -N iT ou; ShChass 9 6 :2 9 -3 3 “ The great troubles in the cities and the villages and the nom es” ; niu^bu) A e n - z a a c u eT*-BHT 3 Tim 4 :7 “ Abom inable old w om en's tales” (xoiig pepi^Xoug Kui Tpaw8eii; jsiiOoug); c i N o v e i o c nieAAxiCTOC n e x ^ -c z A i M -n e q M e p iT n - i c u t n -e eo < IjiA e C T A T o c S h lll 13:19-20 “The most hum ble Shenoute. writing to his dear father who is beloved o f G od” (б ) Untranslatable, in generalizations S e e n - n i . . . “ L ike . . . ” (iT e e N -M ie c o o Y M att 9 :3 6 raaei jip o p a ta “ Like sheep” ) (c) Insisting upon id entification ( n i . . . n —o y i o t ) : 2 M - n i2 HT n —o y tO T MN--fTNa)MH N -oY cuT I C or 1:10 “ In the sam e m ind and the same judgem ent” (d) In adverbial phrases o f rem ote past: M nioY oei
Pronoun; This one, that one, he, she, it, and pi., often with contrast between two entities or groups (ol jiEv . . . ol 5e . . . ): n h m c n . . . n^T jv.e . . . Heb 7 ;2 0 -2 J “ Those . . . This one . . . n t - a y - t a a - c n h - t n . . . n h Ae hTnoy-TA A -c n a - y Matt 13:11 “ To you it has been given . . . To them it has not been given.” 59 T he z e ro article a n d p ro n o u n Article

®

Pronoun

oyoN

Article: For typical uses, cf. 47; for cross-reference to

cf. 48.

Proiumii: Untranslatable and empty o f any sem antic content. Like the zero article, oyoN does not express determitiation, number, or gender. Like the other pronouns, it does not express any lexical content. It fills positions in which a tenninal bound/unbound morph 28(5) is syntactically compatible.

49

D E T E R M I N A T O R S

E.g.

‘find’, i.e. perform the act of finding (versu.s 2 e ‘fall’), u j a a t ‘suffer lack’ (versus u j a a t ‘be cut short, be cut off’); o y t J - o y o N e p o - tj M att 23; 16 “ He must. He is bound by his oath” 6(pe!Xei {Uterally He owes. There exists against him); M N - n - e T * * - e i p e N - o y M N T - x p H C T O c M N-oyoN u»A2 PVi e - o y ji Rom 3; 12 “ N o one does good, not even one” litera/ly “The one doing good does not exist; does not exist (m n -), even to the extent of one.” See also 60, o y o N n i m ‘any one’. 26 e -o y o N

N -oyoN

60 ‘Any, every, a ll’ Article . . . NlM

Pronoun O y O N NlM

NIM forms an article phrase by following the noun that it determinates. It is antonomous (c^iM e A e nim 1 Cor 11:5).

Article; (i) any . . . , eveiy . . . (discontinuous, distributive totality; quantifi­ cation); (ii) a l l . . . (universal totality). Although logically distinct, these two meanings are not consistently distinguished by differences of syntax. A ll (of) the . t h p

. ,

.

. all (integral totality) is expressed by the inflected modifier

= 152.

Pronoun; Same meanings {any one, etc.). Syntactically, . . . n i m and oyoN n i m display an unstable mixture of features associated with the indef., def., and zero article; (a) In cross-reference, these determinators are both sing, and pi. indiscriminately. A simple attributive clause 403 modifying an article phrase of . . . n i m can be in either circumstantial or relative conversion, but the pronoun o y o N n i m takes the relative. Examples; nim e q - ^ o o y (textual var. ^cub nim e e o o y ) Matt 5:11 “All kinds o f e v il” ; gtuB nim e T o y -N A -A iT e i M M o-oy Matt 18:19 “Anything they ask": u^HN 6 e NIM E T e - N - q - N i - e i p e an N -o y K A p n o c e - N i N o y - q Matt 3:10 “Every tree therefore lhal does not bear good fruit” ; ^ n aj ^y nim e - j .- N e K e i o T e K ii-y e z p i i g i - N E N T p i n e Z i ShlV 5 5 :9 -1 0 “ Every dish that our fathers put upon our tables” ; o y o N nim e N T - iq - K i- ^ H i fTccu-q h "c o n Matt 19:29 “ Everyone who has left houses or brothers” ; o y o N r ip nim c e -N i-J C O K p -o y ^ N - T c ix e Mark 9:49 “Everyone will be salted with fire” (b )

A fem. noun + nim is treated as sing, fem., sing, ma.sc., or pi. indiscriminately. Examples: m n t—e p o nim e c u ^ iN -n tu u ; e^F^' e jc c u -c Matt 12:25 “Every king­ dom divided ( - C - ) against it s e lf ; cyM eiA H C ic nim e - N j .N o y - q Acts 23:1 “All good ( - q ) conscience” ; ^yxH nim e T e - N - c e - N i - c c u T M a n Acts 3:23 “ Every soul that ( c e - ) does not listen”

50

C O M I M N A T I O N S

O F

T H E S E

G R A M M A T I C A L

(c) As subject, in the durative sentence, . . . Pattern 1 317 and Pattern 3 322.

n im

C A T E G O R I E S

and oyoN

n im

occur in both

Exam ples;

n k a n i m c ir c u T M att 22:4 “ Everything is ready” ; o y o N n i m John 3 :2 6 "A ll are going to him ” ; but M N - o y o N n i m N i - u Z i - n e i u ^ i J t e Matt 19:11 “N o t a ll can bear this saying” ou tovxeq X“ POi)tnv

c p iT -q

nhy

;-q i

(d) As direct object in the durative sentence, . . . nim and oyoN nim are mostly introduced by n - 171(b). Exam ples: e y - o y c u N ? e b o a M - n i c T i c n i m e - N A N o y - q Titus 2 :10 “ Show ing all true fidelity” ; ■f'-cun 6 e n - 2 0 j b n i m J t e - z e N o c e N e Phil 3:8 “ So [ consider all things to be a loss” ; n e q - c o o y N N - o y o N n i m John 2:24 “ He knew all people” ; e T E T N - c o o y N - N K i NIM Jude 5 “ Although you are fully informed (know all things)”

(e) Coordination ( ‘and’) before . . . NiM andoyoN ni m is sometimes expressed by 21- and sometimes by m n-. Exam ples: e q - p - ^ n i ^ p e e - ty c u N e n im nim M all 9 :3 5 “ H ealing every disease and every in fin n ity ” ; r e q c e m e M N -N e q ^ H p e m n - n k a nim c T '*-^)oon N j . - q Matt 18:25 “ H is wife and his children and all that he h a d ” ; n o b e nim 2 i - o y A NIM Matt 12:31 “ Every sin and every blasphem y” ; t e k k a h c i a T n p - c M N -o y o N NIM eT®-co)TM e -N iV Acts 5 : 11 “ The whole church and all w ho heard o f these th in g s” ; k ^ k i a nim ? i - K p o q nim e i - e y n o K p i c i c nim m n - a a nim M N -K iT iA iA ii NIM (textual var. mTj- . . . m n - . . . m n - . . . ) 1 Pet 2:1 “ All m alice and all guile and all insincerity and all envy and all slander”

a d d i t i o n a l c o m b in a t io n s o f t h e s e g r a m m a t ic a l

CATEGORIES 61

(a) ludefiniteness com bined with the follow ing: Restrictive relationship 146: e e N K i r i - ^ c i p s N T i - y ShIV 61:11 “ R elatives of theirs. Some o f their relatives” ; oyKiN CU N . . . e - M - n c u - N a n iie 2 Cor 10; 16 “ A field that is not ours” ‘(A n)other' + restricti\>e relationship 146; 2eNKeKJ>Tj.-®cj.p5 MTj>-y ShIV 81:5 "Som e other relatives of theirs” ; KeJtoicuM e e - n j i - n c u N ^ n e Rev 20:12 “ A nother book, which is the book ofllife” literally A nother book, which is the one related to life ‘Another’; K e o y ji M att'21:35 “ Another” N earer dem onstration: i N - e e w T e e i M i N e o n 2 C or 10;1[ “ TTiat is how we a re"; c - N H y N6 i - o y o y N o y e r e - T i r r e John 4:23 “ TTie hour is coming, and now is” lit­ erally “ An hour is coming, nam ely this one” ‘A ny’ + restrictive expansion 146: o y e o o y r nim male o f him ” a 6xoO t o v dpcreviKov

N T ooT -q

Exod 12:48 “ E very

(h) D efiniteness com bined with the following: N earer demonstration + ‘another’: M neT K eco n Judg 16:18 “ Y et this o nce” ; netK G T ApophPatr 181 (ChaTne 43:30) “ This other one” ; N e lK o o y e 2 T im 3:8 “ These others”

51

1)1 I t.R MI N A rOK S Nearer dem onstration + nearer dem onstration: T e N o y ^ N - r e i p o M n e 219:4 “ Now, in this very year”

tai

Shill

Nearer dem onstration + farther dem onstration: n i l eT^-MMiy S h ill 121:19 (and often) “TTiat person” Nearer dem onstration + restrictive expansion 146: T e l e s o y c i i N T e-T H yT N 1 Cor 8:9 “This liberty of yours” Affective dem onstration + nearer dem onstration; ^ - n i K i i p o c 4 4 :2 9 -3 0 “ In precisely this (awesome) time, m oreover”

on

n i l ShChass

Possessive (general 147) relationship + ‘another’: NeYK.eci.p5 S h lll 115:15 “ Also their flesh"; N iK e cc u T n Matt 24:24 “ E ven m y elect” Possessive relationship + nearer dem onstration; N i u ^ i x e e T e - N i i Ne M att 7 :24 “ TTiese words of M ine” Possessive relationship + possessive relationship: T ieipH N H e r e - T a i - e i r e John I4 :2 7 “ My peace (M y own peace, M y peace that belongs to m e)” {c) Zero com bined with the follow ing: General 147/Appurtenant 148 relationship: "e p o o Y N T i- q S h lll 203;20 “ A ny voice from H im ” ; ®cm h N T i - q John 5:37 “ His voice” . . . NiM com bined with the follow ing: General 147/Appurtenant 148 relationship: N ici n im eT®-NTji-q Matt 13:44 “ All that he has” ; M i nim N T i - y n m m a - n 1 Cor l;2 “ Every place of theirs and of ours (sic)”

Sttll other combinations contain two expressions of determtnation, often with an additional grammatical category or categories, e.g. (e) Particularity (an element o f determ ination 45[b]) com bined with the follow ing: Indefiniteness: n o y i Matt 20:9 “ Each one o f them " ‘A nother’ + indefiniteness: n k e o y i M att 6 :2 4 “ The other one” Nearer dem onstration + ‘other’ + indefm iteness: p - n i i this or that"

h

n e i K e o y i Jas 4 :15 “ Do

Affective dem onstration + indefiniteness: n i o y i Luke 15:4 “The one (sheep what was previously mentioned) ' Affective dem onstration + ‘another’ + indefm iteness; n i K e o y i Luke 20:11 “ That other one" Possessive (general 147) relationship + ‘another’ + indefm iteness; T e K K e o y e i Luke 6 :29 “ Y our other one also” ; cf. also 54, n i - ‘(the) one belonging to . . ’

REITERATION OF THE ARTICLE PHRASE 62 ia) Def. article phrase reiterated; “ Each . . . , Every . . . , Each and every . . . ” E.g. nptU M e npcuM e eT*’-2 M -nH i 2 iT H -N T o y e i T o y e i e-r'’-2 M -nH i 2 iTN-THYTN S h iv 7 3 :1 9 -2 0 “ Every man in the house am ong us, and eveiy female in the house am ong you” ; ^cu e - n e ^ o o y n e ^ o o y e - r e q K i K i i Matt 6 :34 “ Sufficient

52

Ri;i r i ; R A I I O N

oi-

a r t u

i . i;

im irasi

;

for each and every day is its (ow n) evil” ; M -iiM e p o c riM epoc; Hph 4 ; Ift “ A ccording to the measure of every individual piirt"; e-u^3iY~<^oYN-nu;MN r* p no;H N e e o A 2 M - n e q K i p n o c Luke 6 :44 “ For by its fruit each tree is know n” ; n o y * noY^i “ Each one”

(b) Zero article phrase reiterated: “ O ne . . . after another, . . . by

”

i. after n - o f incidental predication 179; e.g. ay - nojc - oy e y - o n -®a y h t ®aYHt Mark 6:40 “They sat down in groups” literally They sat down being group by group; oyJcoi e q - o n-®6 u j t 2 ShIV 172:10 “ A ship that is full of holes” ii. in compound verb form ed by p-® 180, e.g. NKa^TAneTACMA c n t ®n;\6 e ShAmel I 108:11-12 “ The curtains that have grown old or those that will grow old or ragged"-, poiMe j ^ Y - p - ® A C H N - e T ® - N A - p - ‘*AC H

N tM

N -A T -N o y re

n t-a -n c c u b ^

M - n e y e K J ^ T n A iA B O A .o c p -* * o y A n e

® o\A ne 21CD-OY ShAmel II 26; 12-13 “ Every godless person on whom the leprosy o f their father the devil has turned spotty" iii. forming an adverb expressing successive distribution 228, e.g. ®2 o o y ®2o o y “ One day after another, day by day, daily” ; “ One place after another” ; **u; hm ®u; hm “ Little by little” iv. after a distributive preposition, KATA-®?ooy ®2 o o y ShAmel T 150:3 “Day by day” (c)

[ndef. article phrase reiterated (rare, m eaning uncertain): o y p c u M e o y p c u M e e c u ^ i N - n i p i B i N fii-T e q c ^ i'M e Num 5:12 ed. M aspero dvSpo^ dv6p6? ^av napaP fi I'l yuvi'i m’lToC “ W hosesoever wife shall transgress” ; e y -T A A o e 2 p i i n z ji? a n n - c o h MMATe M -7 eN 9 o o y 9f.m7 o o y e y - T 3iAo egp^ii m m h n e m m h n c N o y o c iu ; NiM Shiv 6 6 :1 3 -1 6 “ Not only celebrating the eucharist frequently, on various days {?), but celebrating absolutely every day 198 for all tim e”

{(j)

Reiterated pair o f nouns or pronouns expanding a single article (rare, meaning uncer­ tain); N io y N o y o y N o y ShChass 156:48-9 “ Those various hours” (? [trans. ShishaH alevyl); 2 eN N o y M ec N o y w e c ShChass 157:2-4 “ Various (A few) num m us c o in s" {?); z e N o y a o y i ShAmel II 26:7 “ Various people” (? ); 2 e N c o n c o n ShY oung N o.8 ciT a:36 “ Various tim es” (?) Reiteration of noun in an attributive construction, 97(iii).

53

3

Specifiers: Cardinal Numbers and Other Specifiers The Nature of Coptic Specifiers 63 Definition and List of Specifiers The Specifier Phrase 64 Determination Status 65

63

Cardinal Numbers 66 Expression o f Determination, Number, and Gender Formation 67 ‘Approxim ately’ 68 Simple Fractions 69 Constructions of ‘O ne’ and ‘T w o’ 70 The Numerical Affixes 71

66

Non-numerical Specifiers 72 oyHp, NIM, AU;, oy, 72 Generic, Non-interrogative Meanings of au;, nim, oy, and oyHp 73 Expanding an Article 74

THE NATURE OP COPTIC SPECITIERS 63 Definition and list o f specifiers. The ‘specifier’ is a class comprising i. cardinal numbers (except tba ‘ten thousand’) 67(e), which express quantity ii. six non-numerical specifiers 72, mostly interrogative, which express quantity (oyH p ‘how m any? how m u ch ?’;

‘many, m uch’)

selection particular ( nim ‘who? which?’) generic ( o y ‘what? what kind o f? ’) within a group (A
54

THI;

NATURI-:

O I-

C O P T I C

S I M ^ C l M n R S

64 T he specifier p h rase Specifiers can be expanded by lexical content in a 'specifier phrase’ Specifier n - Common Noun ujoMNT N-ptUMe “ Three m en” (Acts 10:19) lyoM Te N-CK.HNH “ Three booths’ (M alt 17:4) NiM N—C2 IM6 “ W hat w om an?” (Luke 15:8) 2^2 N-AAiMONiON “ Many dem ons” (M ark 6:13) 2^2 A e N -
OY--aJiiMONiON " A dem on” 2^2 n - a a i m o n i o n “ Many dem ons” Specifier I n - Com m on Noun

Zi-Z I N- A2.1M0N10N nucleus I expansion (gram m atical information) 1 (lexical content)

The lexical expansion of the specifier is mediated by the morph n - 203 and follows the specifier; two bound grtxips are formed, which can be separated by an autonomous morph (o y r^ p M - n e e o o y M att 27:23 “W hy, what ev il? ” ). Plural forms o f the common ncwn apparently do n rt occur as the lexical expansion. If the specifier has formal marking for gender, it expresses the gender o f the common noun that it actualizes ( < ^ o m n t , . . p tu n e , upoM re . . . CKHN h). (The numerical specifiers ‘one’ and ‘tw o’ normally occur in a dif­ ferent construction 70.) T o a limited extent, specifier pronouns and specifier phrases are compatible with articles, cf. 65. Further examples', m n t - c n o o y c m n - c e N - ^ o o y Rev ] l ; 3 “ Twelve hun­ dred and sixty days"; M N T -A qre N -r C N e iM a tt 1:17 “ Fourteen generations” ; CAU^q n - g; o N -pcuM e Rom l l ; 4 “ Seven thousand people” ; N - e ^ o y c iA M att 21:23 “ W hich authority?” ; m m n - axay n - a t -<3om M att 19:26 “ There is n « any im possi­ ble th in g "; x x x y N-x.rx.©ON R om 7 :1 8 “ Any good thing” ; o y n - ^ iub h n - t id o j S h iv 9 4 :1 0 “ W hat kind of deed or ordinance?” ; o Y u p H-JCAT-®BeKe L uke 15:17 “ How many hired servants”

Elaborations of the specifier phrase: nTiTpe c n a y h u ;o m n t Matt 18:16 “ Two or three w itnesses” ; a - x o y t h n - c t a a i o n h maab John 6:19 “ About twenty-five or thirty stadia” ; a -u ^ m o y n a b h m h t ig-2ooY Acts 25:6 “ About eight or ten days.” 65 Determination status o f specifiers as expressed in syntax, (a) The syntax o f ‘bare’ specifier pronouns and .specifier phrases (i.e. those withixit article) is in most ways like a zero article phrase or an indefinite.

55

S l> K C I I- 11: R s

t. In the durative senience, the bare specifier as direct object o f a mutable infinitive is suffixed to the infinitive 171(a), a ^ a tu r e shared with the zero arti­ cle phrase. E.g. t n - j c k - ^ a ^ Mark 5 :9 “ We are m any” ; N--f--xe-A.AAY a n (i.e. e -N --f—Jce-AAAY a n ) Acts 26:22 “ W ithout me saying anything"; a n a y J c e - e Y - p - o Y 2 n - n c a b b a t o n Mark 2:24 “ Look what they are doing on the sabbath” ; Nev-Me^-MNT-CNOOYC N-pcuMe Acts 19:7 “They amounted to twelve people.” An exception is the expression e i p e n - ‘am ount to’ ( e y - e i p e N--f-OY Acts 19:19 “ A m ounting to 50,000 silver pieces” ).

n - tba

N -e ^ T

ii. The coordinating preposition ( ‘and’) is m n - before all bare specifiers except 2^Z ^nd a a a y - which take 21- . (Interrogative specifiers are typically linked by h ‘o r’.) Examples: u j o m n t J J - ^ o o y MM-u^OMTe fi-OYu^H Matt 12:40 “ Three days and three nights” ; nim m n -n im “So-and-so” and o y M w -o y “ This and th at” 73; T N - N i - p - i u ; (T n-Jiu; n - 2 0 )B A thanasius, On the Blessed Virgin Mary Mottier of God (Rossi 11 1 93[47]a.-11-13) “ W e shall do .such-and-such things” ; m n n c a - o y h p M N -oyH p N -p o M n e ShAm61 1 190:6 “ A fter so-and-so many years” ; z ^ Z N-NOYTe Z '-Z ^ Z N --X o e ic 1 Cor 8:5 “ M any gods and many lords” ; " z o i r e z i - a a a y n - n k a e - n T H p - q N r e - n K i ? ShlJJ 205:24 “ Clothing and any thing whatsoever from the earth”

iii. In the durative sentence, a hare specifier as subject is preceded by o y n or M N - , a feature shared with both the zero article phrase and indefinites 322. E.g. OYN-CNAY N A -u;a)ne ^N-TCcuu^e Matt 24:40 “ Two (people) will be in the field” ; g - m n - a a a y n - j c c u 2 m n 2 h t - E h t c u a . F i h a a a y n - ^ i u b N -T e e i^ e Eph 5:27 “ W ithout any spot (literally There not being any uncleanness in it) or stain or any .such thing.” iv. Simple attributive clauses 403 modifying a bare specifier are mostly cir­ cumstantial and sometimes relative. Examples: if-T C iB c u -T N n - 2