A selected bibliography of Coptic phonology.
Bishai, Wilson B (1960). Notes on the Coptic substratum in Egyptian Arabic. Journal of the American Oriental Society 80(3):225-229. View
Bishai, Wilson B (1961). Nature and extent of Coptic phonological influence on Egyptian Arabic. Journal of Semitic Studies 6(2):175-182. View
Bishai, Wilson B (1964). Coptic lexical influence on Egyptian Arabic. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 23(1):39-47. View
Blau, J (1979). Some observations on a Middle Arabic Egyptian text in Coptic characters. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 1:215-262. View
Burmester, OHE (1965-1966). Further leaves from the Arabic MS. in Coptic script of the Apophthegmata Patrum. Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 18:51-64 [6 plates]. View
Casanova, Paul (1901). Un texte arabe transcrit en caractères coptes. Le Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 1:1-20. View
Chassinat, Émile (1921). Un papyrus médical copte. Mémoires publiés par les membres de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale du Caire, 32. [Selected sections only: introduction, discussion of Coptic phonology, and index of Arabic words transcribed in Coptic.] View
Cramer, Maria (1961). Vat. copt. 18 und die Aussprache des Koptischen. Oriens Christianus 45:78-94. View
Crum, Walter E (1902). A bilingual charm. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 24:329-331. View
Depuydt, Leo (1993). On Coptic sounds. Orientalia (new series) 63:338-375. View
Dyneley Prince, John (1902). The modern pronunciation of Coptic in the Mass. Journal of the American Oriental Society 23:289-306. View
Farag, F Rofail (1976). The usage of the Coptic Language as a constituent element of the literary form of Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa. Bibliotheca Orientalis 33(5/6):275-283. View
Galtier, Émile (1906). Coptica-arabica. Le Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 5:87-164. View
Gaslee, S (1916). The pronunciation of Greek in Christian Egypt. The Classical Review 30(1):6-7. View
Georgacas, Demetrius J (1959). Greek terms for “flax,” “linen,” and their derivatives; and the problem of native Egyptian phonological influence on the Greek of Egypt. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 13:253-269. View
Gignac, Francis Thomas (1970). The pronunciation of the Greek stops in the papyri. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 101:185-202. View
Gignac, Francis Thomas (1991). Phonology of the Greek of Egypt, influence of Coptic on the. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 186-188. View
Girgis WA; in religion, Abba Pachomius Al-Muharraki (1964). Greek loan words in Coptic (Part I). Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 17:63-73. View
Girgis WA; in religion, Abba Pachomius Al-Muharraki (1966). Greek loan words in Coptic (Part II). Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 18:71-96. View
Girgis WA; in religion, Bishop Gregorius (1970). Greek loan words in Coptic (Part III). Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 19:57-87. View
Girgis WA; in religion, Bishop Gregorius (1971). Greek loan words in Coptic (Part IV). Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 20:53-67. View
Greenberg, Joseph H (originally published 1962). The interpretation of the Coptic vowel system. In: On language: selected writings of Joseph H. Greenberg. Eds: K Denning & S Kemmer. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990: 428-438. View
Greenberg, Joseph H (originally published 1986). Were there Egyptian Koines? In: On language: selected writings of Joseph H. Greenberg. Eds: K Denning & S Kemmer. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1990: 428-438. View
Hintze, Fritz (1980). Zur koptischen Phonologie. Enchoria 10:23-91. View
Ishak, Emile Maher (1975). The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic and the survival of Coptic words in the Colloquial and Classical Arabic of Egypt and of Coptic grammatical constructions in Colloquial Arabic. Volumes 1 – 4. (A D.Phil Thesis submitted to the University of Oxford, September 1975). View Volume I (72MB) – Volume II (51 MB) – Volume III (88MB) – Volume IV (111MB) – Contents (97kB).
Ishaq, Emile Maher (1978). Ϯϫⲓⲛⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛ̀Ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀Ⲁⲡⲁⲥ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉ Ⲡⲉⲙϩⲓⲧ [The pronunciation of Old Bohairic Coptic]. [self-published]. View
Ishaq, Emile Maher (1991). Coptic language, spoken. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 2 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 604-607. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Aleph. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 27-30. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Alphabets, Coptic. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 32-41. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Alphabets, Old Coptic. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 41-45. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). ‘Ayin. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 45-47. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Dialects. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 87-97. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Djinkim. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 111-112. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Phonology. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 184-186. View
Kasser, Rodolphe (1991). Syllabication. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 207-214. View
Knudsen, Ebbe E (1962). Sahidic Coptic vowel phonemes. Acta Orientalia 26:29-42. View
Lambdin, Thomas O (1958). The bivalence of Coptic Eta and related problems in the vocalisation of Egyptian. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 17(3):177-193. View
Loprieno, Antonio (1995). Egyptian phonology. In: Ancient Egyptian – a linguistic introduction. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995: pp. 28-50 [including notes and bibliography]. View
Loprieno, Antonio (1997). Egyptian and Coptic phonology. In: Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus). Vol 1 of 2. Ed: Alan S Kaye. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997: pp. 431-460. View
Maspero, Gaston (1888). Le vocabulaire français d’un Copte du XIIIème siècle. Romania 17:481–512. Later republished in: Études de mythologie et d’archéologie égyptiennes (Vol 5). Ed: G Maspero. Paris: E. Leroux, 1911, pp. 175-212. View
Nagal, Peter. Akhmimic. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 19-27. View
Petraeus, Theodorus (1659). Psalmus primus Davidis, coptice, arabice et latine. London, 1659. Reproduced in: Émile Galtier (1906). Coptica-arabica. Le Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 5:110. View
Puest, Carsten (1999). Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language. Monographien zur ägyptischen Sprache; 2. Göttingen: Peust & Gutschmidt, 1999. View
Renouf, le Page (1889). A Coptic transcription of an Arabic text. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 11:155-158. View
Rochemonteix, M (1891/1892). La prononciation moderne du copte dans la Haute Égypte. Mémoires de la Société linguistique de Paris 7:245-276. View
Roquet, Gérard (1973). Vieux français et copte: contacts lexicaux. Le Bulletin de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 73:1-25. View
Satzinger, Helmut (1972). Zur Phonetik des Bohairischen und des Ägyptisch-Arabischen im Mittelalter. Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 63/64:40-65. View
Satzinger, Helmut (1979). Phonologie des koptischen Verbs (Sa’idischer Dialekt). Ägypten und Altes Testament 1:343–368. View
Satzinger, Helmut (1990). On the prehistory of the Coptic dialects. In: Prace na Trzeci Miedzynarodowy Kongres Studiów Koptyjskich. Ed: Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Acts of the Third International Congress of Coptic Studies. Warsaw, 1990. View
Satzinger, Helmut (1991). Bohairic, pronunciation of late. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 60-65. View
Satzinger, Helmut (1999). Koptische Vokalphoneme und ägyptische Pluralformation. In: Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit. Eds: Stephen Emmel et alii. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses, Münster, 20.-26. Juli 1996 (Band 2), (= Sprachen und Kulturen des christlichen Orients, 6,2). Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1999: pp. 365-374. View
Satzinger, Helmut (2006). Scratchy sounds getting smooth: the Egyptian velar fricatives and their palatalization. In: Acts of the 13° Incontro Italiano di Linguistica Camito-Semitica (Afroasiatica). Udine, 2006. View
Satzinger, Helmut (2008). What happened to the voiced consonants of Egyptian? In: Acts of the X International Congress of Egyptologists. Rhodes, 2008. View
Shisha-Halevy, Ariel (1991). Bohairic. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 53-60. View
Shisha-Halevy, Ariel (1991). Sahidic. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 194-202. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1915). The pronunciation of Coptic in the Church of Egypt. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 2(1):15-19. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1918). La prononciation moderne du copte dans l’église. Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale 14:51-56. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1925). The transliteration of the Ancient Egyptian names of towns, villages, etc. into Arabic. In: Comptes Rendu du Congrès International de Géographie. Le Caire, Avril 1925 (Volume 5). Ed: Adolphe Cattaui. Le Caire, 1925: pp. 115-125. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1926). Fragments of an Arabic MS. in Coptic script. In: The Monasteries of the Wadi ‘n Natrun. Part I: New Coptic texts from the Monastery of Saint Macarius. Ed: HG Evelyn-White. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition, 1926: pp. 231-269. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1940). The traditional pronunciation of Coptic in the Church of Egypt. Bulletin de la Société d’archéologie copte 6:109-117 [2 plates]. View
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1950). Common words in the spoken Arabic of Egypt, of Greek or Coptic origin. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale. View
Stern, Ludwig (1885). Fragment eines koptischen Tractates über Alchimie. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 23: 102–119. View
Szelog, Michael (2004). The sounds of Old Bohairic – a short phonological outline [self-published]. View
Vycichl, Werner (1936). Pi-Solsel, ein Dorf mit koptischer Überlieferung. In: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 6:169–175. View
Worrell, William H (1929). The evolution of velar, palatal and dental stops in Coptic. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 15(3):191-193. View
Worrell, William H (1930). The pronunciation of Coptic. Journal of the American Oriental Society 50:144-149. View
Worrell, William H (1933). Syllabic consonants in Sahidic Coptic. Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 69:130-131. View
Worrell, William H (1934). Coptic sounds. University of Michigan Studies Humanistic Series; XXVI. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1934. View
Worrell, William H (1937). Popular traditions of the Coptic language. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 54(1):1-11. View
Worrell, William H & Vycichl, Wener (1942). Popular traditions of the Coptic language. In: Coptic texts in the University of Michigan collection. Ed: William H Worrell. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1942: pp. 297-342. View
Worrell, William H (1942). Texts in phonetic transcription. In: Coptic texts in the University of Michigan collection. Ed: William H Worrell. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1942: pp. 344-354. View
copticsounds 
great stuff
GOD BLESS YOU
Dear Ambrose,
Amazing work, great collection, keep the good work coming, so happy to see this information on Coptic language
NANEF EMASHOOOOOOOOOOOO
I am amazed Ambrose. God bless you dear friend, bless your efforts, and bless all what your hands reach out for. See you soon
Please let us know about any updates to the website. I am sure your research is broad, and may never end (or at least I am hoping). God bless you, and keep us in your prayers please…
Great work. Thanx
Thanks for sharing these articles.
Thankssssssss Do you have any articles about how the Coptic affect the Egyptian Arabic dialect? I mean the inherted words from the ancient Egyptian to the copts and to the Egyptian dialect. Thanks in Advance
Hi Hany,
Thanks for your visit. There are a few articles written on the transmission of Coptic (or broadly native Egyptian) words into the spoken Arabic of Egypt – I have given a short list of references below which you can mostly view from this page.
It is important to remember that it is very difficult to prove a direct connection between native Egyptian words and Egyptian Arabic words. As a result, many proposed connections must be read with caution. There is also a culture among some Copts to try to derive tenuous Egyptian etymologies for many Egyptian Arabic words or expressions. For example, I have read on several websites that that term ‘Nawruz’ or ‘Nayrouz’ (Coptic new year) is derived from a Coptic word ⲛⲓⲓⲁⲣⲱⲟⲩ, meaning ‘the rivers’. There is no evidence for this whatever, and the term is adequately accounted for by its Persian etymology.
Bishai, Wilson B (1960). Notes on the Coptic substratum in Egyptian Arabic. Journal of the American Oriental Society 80(3):225-229.
Bishai, Wilson B (1961). Nature and extent of Coptic phonological influence on Egyptian Arabic. Journal of Semitic Studies 6(2):175-182.
Bishai, Wilson B (1964). Coptic lexical influence on Egyptian Arabic. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 23(1):39-47.
Ishak, Emile Maher (1975). The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic and the survival of Coptic words in the Colloquial and Classical Arabic of Egypt and of Coptic grammatical constructions in Colloquial Arabic. Volumes 1 – 4. (A D.Phil Thesis submitted to the University of Oxford, September 1975).
Sobhy, Georgy PG (1950). Common words in the spoken Arabic of Egypt, of Greek or Coptic origin. Le Caire: Institut français d’archéologie orientale.
Ishaq, Emile Maher (1991). Egyptian Arabic vocabulary, Coptic influences on. In: The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol 8 of 8. Ed: Aziz S Atiya. New York: Macmillan, 1991: pp. 112-118.
There are several other references that I will post on this site when I find some time.
Regards,
Ambrose
Nofri Ambrose
You might remember meeting you in one of our Coptic culture Society meetings in S Yorkshire, I am in the process of printing a book about Coptic, a good part of it is on the Coptic sounds debate. Your efforts to get so many references on Coptic Sounds site has helped a great deal.
Nabil Sabry Isshak
Nofri Dr Isshak,
I remember you very well. I’m glad you’ve found the website helpful. I’d be very interested to read your book when it’s complete. I’ve read quite a lot of authors in support of the Old Bohairic pronunciation, but relatively few in support of Graeco-Bohairic. No doubt your book will be a welcome addition to the debate.
I have just now published Emile Maher Ishak’s 1975 D.Phil Thesis ‘The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic and the survival of Coptic words in the colloquial and Classical Arabic of Egypt and of Coptic grammatical constructions in colloquial Egyptian Arabic’ (Volumes 1-4) on this website. I’m sure that it will prove very useful in your study.
Best Wishes,
Ambrose
Nofri Dear Ambrose
It’s ages since I opened your site, and since my book ‘The Egyptian Coptic Language’ was printed. Unfortunately I wrote it in Arabic اللغة المصرية القبطية , A good part of it deals with what I called Cyrillic pronunciation, rather than Graeco-Bohairic. May be, God willing, I would be able to prepare a summary of my findings in English
Oogaay
Nabil