Coptic Lesson 0.5: Alphabet and Pronunciation

epchois_nai_nan

Lesson 0.5 - Alphabet and Pronunciation

This lesson aims to give an introduction to reading the Coptic Alphabet. It is lesson '0.5' because it is not truly necessary to understand the other lessons, although I would recommend reading over it once. I will be providing transliterations of Coptic words in all the following lessons, so hopefully the alphabet will become natural to you eventually.

Here, I will provide letter values for both GB and OB. What are GB and OB? Here is a brief explanation:

Greco-Bohairic (GB): The pronunciation the Church uses now. It is the result of a reform instituted in the 1850s by Pope Kyrillos IV which replaced the natural values of Coptic letters for those of their modern Greek counterparts.

Old Bohairic (OB): the reconstruction proposed by Fr. Shenouda Maher which purports to restore Coptic to the way it was before the 1850s. It is still controversial.

In these lessons, I will provide English transliterations in both Old and Greco Bohairic - BUT I should point out that I use a slightly different version of Old Bohairic than Fr. Shenouda (sorry in advance Ophadece :)) - the differences are very small however, and I will point them out.

So, let's start with the EASY letters. Most of these resemble their English counterparts, and you will be able to guess their values. The best part is, both OB & GB agree on their pronunciation:

A a= a (as in 'father', 'obama' and 'up')
Z z= z
I i= i, (or 'y' if at the beginning of  a word)
K k= k
L l= l
M m= m
N n= n
O o= o
R r= r
C c= s
< ,= k
W w= o (a long 'o', as in ... well, long)
" ' = ps (as in Pepsi)


The above letters are all Greek in origin (hence their resemblance to English), however, the early Coptic scribes felt it necessary to import seven other letters with purely Egyptian origins:

S s= sh
F f= f
Q q= kh
H h= h, or 'H' like the Arabic letter 'Ha' - a heavy H which comes from the back of the throat
J j= dj (as in porridge or baggage)
{ [= ch (Like 'chuck')
} ]= ti (This letter is something of mystery - why import a whole new letter when you could just write ti?)

All the above letters are pretty much uncontested, the following unfortunately, are not. I will give the GB and OB values for each one, and point out where I have made a deviation from Fr. Shenouda's proposed OB.

B b:
GB - v (except at the end of a word, where it is a 'b')
OB - w (except at the end of a word, where it is a 'b')

G g:
GB: gh
OB: dj

(Note: when doubled, like in aggeloc, the sound formed is: 'ng' (GB) or 'nj' (OB). So aggeloc is pronounced 'angelos' in GB and 'anjelos' in OB.)

D d:
GB: dh (like the 'th' in this - a soft 'th')
OB: d

E e:
GB: e (as in men)
OB: a (as in apple)
My OB transliteration will render this letter as an 'e' mostly because differentiating between the two 'a's can make things unnecessarily complicated. I can also provide sources which suggest that this was the original value. However feel free to pronounce it as an 'a' (as in [b]Abouna, not as in Obama) if you wish - the two sounds are phonetically interchangeable.[/b]

Y y:
GB: ee (like in 'jeep')
OB: a long 'e' (as in air or care)

: ;:
GB: th (hard 'th', as in 'theatre')
OB: t (a strong 't', like the 'ta' in Arabic or the 't' in stop)

P p:
GB: p
OB: b
My OB transliteration will render this letter as a 'P' I can provide articles and other sources which support this - I believe this to be an Arabisation (since Arabic has no 'p') and the letter corresponds to 'p' in Demotic and Hieroglyphic words. This also helps grammatical consistency, as will become clear in future lessons. Feel free to pronounce it as a 'b' if you wish, as the two sounds are very similar when spoken or sung.

T t:
GB: t
OB: d

V v:
GB: f, ph
OB: b
My OB transliteration will render this letter as a 'P' for the same reasons given for p above - again, this difference is barely noticeable verbally, but it makes a lot of sense grammatically as will become clear later.

The final letter is U u. I have left it until last because it is strange in that it only ever appears AFTER an 'a', 'e' or 'o'.

In GB:
au = av
eu = ev
ou = oo (ou)

In OB:
au = aw
eu = ew
ou = oo OR 'w' when before a vowel (e.g. alou = al-oo BUT ouyr = wair/weyr (pronounced like 'where')


If this all seems massively confusing, don't panic - I will provide transliterations of everything in both GB and OB so you will not have to memorise the entire list - eventually, reading these letters will become natural and subconscious.

I will post some examples for you to practice on in a follow up post to this one.

God bless

mabsoota

hey, this is at my level, thanks!
;)

ophadece

I dislike specifying rules for any letters in any language. Please just tell us the ways each letter can be pronounced without specifying rules...
Examples:
cell - cello
give - gin
row - row
allylouia - karicmoc
tekmetagatoc
oujai

ophadece

I am not sure for the references of 'p' vs 'b'. I understand there were only very few words in Demotic language using the former, but they were disused due to connotations with idolatry, and had no place in Coptic anymore.
Note the Sa'idic Besada for the Bohairic Ebsadi - not a new evolution
oujai

epchois_nai_nan

[quote author=ophadece link=topic=10616.msg129448#msg129448 date=1296680500]
I am not sure for the references of 'p' vs 'b'. I understand there were only very few words in Demotic language using the former, but they were disused due to connotations with idolatry, and had no place in Coptic anymore.
Note the Sa'idic Besada for the Bohairic Ebsadi - not a new evolution
oujai


I can send you a copy of the Chicago Demotic dictionary which has many words where the Coptic P corresponds to a 'p' - not a 'b'. And this helps preserve the consistent meaning of 'p+vowel' meaning 'he' or 'belonging to him' etc. in pi pef va vy pe; etc. It's a small difference in the end.

I will post some examples next, as you asked.

[quote author=mabsoota link=topic=10616.msg129407#msg129407 date=1296662534]
hey, this is at my level, thanks!
;)

Glad you enjoyed it :)

God bless

epchois_nai_nan

The Jenkem

I forgot to mention the Jenkem in the first post - this is the tiny dash which appears above some letters:

`p `v `; `t etc. All it does, is put a small 'e' sound before the letter, so `p = ep, `; = eth/et and so on.

Here are some practice words - the first transliteration is GB and the second is OB. If the words are pronounced the same in both (or the difference is barely noticeable - such apostolos vs. aposdolos), I will provide only one. These are all words from the liturgy, so it wouldn't hurt to remember some of them.

(Note: a capital E below represents a long e, as in 'care' or 'air' and a capital H represents an Arabic 'Ha', a 'h' from the back of the throat)

`vnou] (efnouti/epnoudi) = (the) God
(ni)`cnyou (es-ney-ou/es-nEw) = brothers
(pi)iaro (yaro) = river
(pi)mwout (mo-oot) = death
(pi)kahi (kahi/kaHi) = earth
Emmanouyl (Em-ma-noo-eel/Em-man-wel) = Emmanuel
tyrou (tee-roo/dE-rou) = all (of them)
e;ouab (eth-o-wab/et-wab) = holy
nye;ouab (nee-eth-o-wab/nE-et-wab) = those who are holy
vye;ouab (fee-eth-o-wab/pE-et-wab) = He that is holy
]nah] (ti-nahti/di-naHdi) = I believe
`mmon (emmon) = us
slyl (shleel/shlEl) = to pray/prayer
jij (djig/djidj) = hand
`ehryi (e-hree/eH-rEi) = upon
sep`hmot (shep-eH-mot) = give thanks (literally, 'to accept grace')

God bless

abrahamf

There were so many letters i didnt know their correct pronunciation. SO again thank you and may God reward all your efforts.  God Bless

mechaiel

Thanks for the lessons, ephchois_nai_nan. Keep up the good work.

epchois_nai_nan

My pleasure - I'm glad they are being found useful :)

Here are the links to the others, just so that people can go from one to the other more easily:
Lesson 1: http://tasbeha.org/content/community/index.php/topic,10615.0.html
Lesson 2: http://tasbeha.org/content/community/index.php/topic,10625.0.html


God bless and pray for me

yousiegtennis

That's interesting that Coptic has two different "o" sounds...in Modern Greek, both the omega and the omicron are the exact same sound...in Classical Greek, however, the omicron was pronounced like the o in "long" and the omega was pronounced like the o in "sort."  I wonder how the Greco-Bohairic dialect managed to switch those two around...

yousiegtennis

It's also interesting that the eta is pronounced like the "ai" combination in "air" and like the a in "care" because that is exactly how it's pronounced in Classical Greek.

yousiegtennis

[quote author=epchois_nai_nan link=topic=10616.msg129456#msg129456 date=1296685583]
I can send you a copy of the Chicago Demotic dictionary which has many words where the Coptic P corresponds to a 'p' - not a 'b'. And this helps preserve the consistent meaning of 'p+vowel' meaning 'he' or 'belonging to him' etc. in pi pef va vy pe; etc. It's a small difference in the end.


Sweet.  How can I obtain a copy?  And what book did you use to learn Coptic?

epchois_nai_nan

[quote author=GODlovesme link=topic=10616.msg129793#msg129793 date=1296949780]
It's also interesting that the eta is pronounced like the "ai" combination in "air" and like the a in "care" because that is exactly how it's pronounced in Classical Greek.


Exactly! This is because at the time the Coptic alphabet was developed, the Greek spoken was probably Koine, although the pronunciation would probably have been very similar to Classical Greek. This is true of many of the consonants as well.

[quote author=GODlovesme link=topic=10616.msg129794#msg129794 date=1296949864]
Sweet.  How can I obtain a copy?  And what book did you use to learn Coptic?


You can download the dictionary here: http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/cdd/

Unfortunately they haven't quite finished yet and there are still a few letters they haven't filled in. But I was stunned to find so many words whose pronunciation hasn't changed since they were written in Demotic - which means several centuries BC! Words like 'nEb' (lord), kEmi (Egypt), fai (carry), chrompi (dove) are pronounced almost exactly as they were written in ancient times.

The book I used (and still use) to learn is 'So You Want to Learn Coptic?' by Sameh Younan. It is FANTASTICALLY brilliant - I found it very, very useful and incredibly simple. I'm running out of adjectives to describe how wonderful it is. In summary, it is very good.

I've discovered that you can read about 80% of it online on Google Books:
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=-IHe-B480K8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=so+you+want+to+learn+coptic&source=bl&ots=209oLLANQe&sig=BGfkL-DUsuclqrAWXtWLx4gIrbY&hl=en&ei=URlOTYXUIoTQceWgqfsF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAQ


Or you could buy it from any of these places:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/so-you-want-to-learn-coptic-a-guide-to-bohairic-grammar/5570553
https://www.orthodoxbook.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=226?osCsid=3b2tkuqpupin0bve0hedssipd5
http://www.amazon.com/want-learn-Coptic-Guide-Bohairic/dp/0975794914

God bless

yousiegtennis

Yeah...I went into Greek thinking there wasn't going to be any similarities between it and Coptic and came to discover that there are actually a lot of similarities between the two languages.  Hmm...you seem to know a lot of information about the differences between the dialects of Coptic...where did you get all of this?  I am doing research on the Coptic Language and I have not been able to find anything substantial (with regards to dialects...history I have found a lot).

epchois_nai_nan

All my information on Demotic comes from the dictionary I linked to above - I simply pored through the words searching for ones which looked/sounded similar to Coptic ones.

I've been interested in the OB vs. GB debate for a long time now - here are some links to some of the best resources:

http://copticsounds.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/thesoundsofoldbohairic.pdf - this is a REALLY interesting paper, which is really what convinced me about the whole 'p' vs. 'b' thing I was talking about earlier.

http://www.coptic.org/language/pronounciation.html - this is a good summary of OB vs. GB and the research behind it, this is what first alerted me to the fact that we were using the wrong pronunciation.

There's a massive collection of resources here:
http://copticsounds.wordpress.com/resources/

and here:
http://www.coptic.org/language/index4.html

Unfortunately some are in French/German/Arabic only :(

If you're interested I also have a Coptic dictionary in PDF form, which is pretty much the only digitally searchable dictionary which actually contains a good amount of words. It came in the Coptic Orthodox e-Reference Library which I think was only sold in Australia - so I can email that to you (or anyone else who would like it) if you'd like.

God bless your studies!

dzheremi

}]= ti (This letter is something of mystery - why import a whole new letter when you could just write ti?)]} ]= ti (This letter is something of mystery - why import a whole new letter when you could just write ti?)

Hey, language question! Neat! Mind if I share my thoughts as someone who is trained to look at this stuff and has way too much time on his hands? (Well, I'm going to anyway! :P)

This is one of the letters descended from the Demotic, isn't it? That could explain it. It came from a different source than most of the rest of the alphabet, so there will be some overlap if the alphabet as it exists (Greek) already has the individual letters that make up that combination of sounds. This is no different than English having "X" in place of [ks] even though we already have both "k" and "s" and put them together quite regularly in speech with no problems at all (socks, tricks, bikes). It is an accepted fact that no language (or at least no language I've ever heard of!) has a perfect correspondence between sound and writing. Some of my favorite languages have even more difficult combinations, like Russian's ц (tse), which stands for the sound cluster [ts] like at the end of the English word "hats", or щ (shche), which sounds like "sh" in "shop" and "ch" in "chair" combined together with no vowels in between them (like a sneeze, basically. ;D)

So why are these sounds not written as sequences of individual letters, all of which Russian has? Because they act as "unit" of sorts - they are moveable as a single sound, what linguists call a "phoneme" (the smallest unit of sound used by speakers of a language to establish a meaningful contrast between utterances). Sometimes "tse" occurs at the beginning of a word, sometimes at the end...so it's good to have one letter to put wherever you need it for sounds that always occur in a cluster (in Coptic's case, a syllable). And this is the case with Coptic "ti". You sing "ti-Theotokos" or "ti-Ekklesia", right? So you'll find it as a prefix in some places, and where the same sound occurs elsewhere in a word (like in "efnouti"), you've got a letter to deal with it. It's quite handy.

ophadece

Dear ebshoisnainan,
I am not sure of your argument when you were talking about 'p' vs 'b'. According to the link you provided:
http://copticsounds.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/thesoundsofoldbohairic.pdf
the author seems to explain that the 'p' sound expired and was replaced with a 'b' in the case of either weda, or bei, or even the phei. I found it an interesting read, with many deductions, rather than assertions of knowledge or science (following along the lines of other researchers, but this doesn't serve as a research material to me), but I think that is the closest teaching to what I believe in, being a pro-authentic Bohairic dialect...
Oujai