How to Learn Coptic.....

edited December 1969 in Coptic Orthodox Church
Hi[center]Learning Coptic[/center]
Coptic language is composed of 32 letters:
7 Demotiqes (the last 7) and 25 Greek.
Also it has 7 vowels and 24 constant plus no. 6.
All the Letters are:

[coptic]A B G D E ^ Z Y: I K L M N X O P R C T U V < W S F Q H J {}[/coptic]
sry one letter i can't show

THEIR NAMES:
Alfa, beta, gamma, delta, ee, soo, Zita, Eita, Thita, Youta, Kaba, lolla, mi, ni, Exy, O (Omicron), pi, Ro, sima, tav, ebselon, ve, ke, ebsi, omega, shay, Fay, khay, Hori, Ganja, Tchima, ti.
[right]To be continued[/right]

Comments

  • hay
    good work Fadyna33
    i learnt sumfing new keep it up ;)
  • THE LETTERS
    Aa Alfa =A as in Bar. Ex: Anok = I (Subject) spells Anok.

    [coptic]Ran[/coptic] = name [coptic]R[/coptic] = R [coptic]n[/coptic] =N

    Can u tell me words u know contain ALFA [coptic]A[/coptic] (used in the church) ???
    [center]To be continued[/center]
  • :) it is very easy amen starts with alfa.
  • [tt]Abba, Bashois, arshiangelos, Markos, Alleluia[/tt]
  • so i would say Anok Ran SMS?
    also, i beleive theres some websites in the link section of this website where u can see the letters that Fadyna33 is talking about
    BTW... GREAT JOB! lol
  • the extent of my coptic linguistics.
    "ash pe pekran?" what is your name?
  • yep..and side note on that one.

    [coptic]Pe[/coptic] is femenine for "your"

    [coptic]Pek[/coptic] is masculine for "your"

    [coptic]As[/coptic] goes for both male and female, and it simply means "what?" or "what is.."

    [coptic]Ran[/coptic] simply means "name".

    The sentence that mary wrote is

    [coptic]As pe pekran[/coptic]

    In this case, she is talking to a male. Your probably wondering why its a male since the first [coptic]pe[/coptic] is femenine. actually, the first [coptic]pe[/coptic] is not a prefix, its simply a copula, or a linking verb, in simple nominal sentences.

    So if your speaking to a woman, you would say

    [coptic]As pe peran[/coptic].

    The prefixes are usually what decide if your talking to a male or female.


    side note: i'm sorry if this is a little confusing. um, i no its really hard to try to learn how to read and how to understand the meaning of coptic words all at the same time. Do you guys want to just stick to learning how to read coptic first, and then after that's accomplished, you can go into understanding the meanings. its just an idea if you guys think that this is hard at all. anyway, God bless you guys, and I think that this is a great service, keep it up.
  • by the way, here is the link for the coptic alphabet on the site with pronounciations for each letter.

    Try some practice with yourself and take any book that has coptic words in it, and substiture the letters using the list on this link, and see if you can pronounce a few of them.

    http://www.copticchurch.net/coptic_fonts/alphabet.html

    anyway, sorry bout wasting a post. take care
  • Fadyna33 I do think that you missed the letter epsi, wich comes after "key" and before the light "o"

    George Mekhaiel
  • Also Paulh,

    As far as the whole pekran example goes....well,

    These are called Definite Articles:

    There is for male [coptic]pi `p `v[/coptic]
    and for female [coptic]] `t `;[/coptic]
    [coptic]pi[/coptic] and [coptic]][/coptic] can be used in any case.
    [coptic]`v[/coptic] and [coptic]`;[/coptic] can only be used before the 7 letters of [coptic]n o r l a m b i[/coptic]
    and [coptic]`t[/coptic] and [coptic]`p[/coptic] can be used before any leters but the 7 letters of [coptic] n o r l a m b i[/coptic]

    I hope that also helps.
    George Mekhaiel

    Also, please correct me if I may be a little off, it's been a while since I have used the good old grammer.
  • [quote author=George Mekhaiel link=board=4;threadid=320;start=0#msg3291 date=1086758834]
    [coptic]`v[/coptic] and [coptic]`;[/coptic] can only be used before the 7 letters of [coptic]n o r l a m b i[/coptic]
    and [coptic]`t[/coptic] and [coptic]`p[/coptic] can be used before any leters but the 7 letters of [coptic] n o r l a m b i[/coptic]


    Hey George,

    well, what about a word like [coptic]Polic[/coptic] (which means city by the way). The [coptic]P[/coptic] comes before an [coptic]O[/coptic].

    and also, you said that [coptic]V[/coptic] and [coptic]P[/coptic] can only be used before those 7 letters, but what about a word like [coptic]`Tve[/coptic], (which means Heaven) or [coptic]Veq [/coptic] (which means watermelon).

    how do those rules apply to this or is there an exception?
    and sorry to bug you about this, but i'm really interested to know what source you got this from. Thanks a lot, and God bless,
  • There are two letter exeptions to this rule, and I will find out what they are and post them on Saturday or Sunday.

    Sorry for the confussion :-\
  • [quote author=Paulh link=board=4;threadid=320;start=0#msg3288 date=1086756796]
    [coptic]Pe[/coptic] is femenine for "your"

    [coptic]Pek[/coptic] is masculine for "your"


    hi
    I'm sorry Paulh but i've read that

    [coptic]Pe[/coptic] is like verb (to be) it's equal to ( Is ) it's for masculine

    [coptic]Te[/coptic] is the same but for femenine

    [coptic]Ne[/coptic] equals ( are )

    [coptic]Pek[/coptic] is equal to ( your )

    so the sentence is "What is your name?"


    Sorry i'm late i'll continue tomorrow
    Pray 4 me.
  • hi

    [coptic]Bb[/coptic] Beta (Veta)
    1. [coptic]B[/coptic]=V if it is put before a vowel
    Ex. [coptic]Bw [/coptic] ; Voo =Tree [coptic]Bwk [/coptic] ; Vook =servant
    [coptic]Bal[/coptic] ; Val =Eye [coptic]Beri[/coptic] ;Veri =new

    2. [coptic]B[/coptic]=B in any other case
    Ex. [coptic]Hwb[/coptic] ;hoob = job (work)
    [coptic]Ouyb[/coptic] ; ’oiib =priest [coptic]Noub[/coptic] ; no’ob =gold
    [coptic]Iakwb[/coptic] ; yakoob =Jakob

    To be continued

    Pray 4 me .
  • fadyna,
    your absolutely correct, i just checked my "sources" [;D] and ur 100% right. Sorry about the mistake, and i'll be sure to make sure i know what i'm sayin before i say it next time.

    ps. something tells me that we both have the same coptic-english dictionary.

    Take care,
  • hi

    Gg Ghamma ( Gamma)
    1. [coptic]G[/coptic]=G as in (Goal - Gun)not as in (George)
    if put before on of ([coptic]e y I u[/coptic])
    Ex. [coptic]Agioc[/coptic] =Saint [coptic]Gy[/coptic] =earth
    2. [coptic]G[/coptic] =N if it is put before one of ( [coptic]g k , x[/coptic] )
    Ex. [coptic]Aggeloc [/coptic] => Angelos = Angel
    [coptic]Cvigx[/coptic] => Sphinx
    3. [coptic]G[/coptic] =Gh any other case
    Ex. [coptic]Agapy[/coptic] => Aghapi = Love
    [coptic]Logoc[/coptic] => Loghos = Word
    To be continued

    ps. i'm sry i have no coptic dictionary but i have i book named [coptic]Caji Neman[/coptic]
  • Thanks for your effort fadyna33 ;D, I'm learning COPTIC! AWSOME!

  • hi
    the next letter is :
    [coptic]Dd [/coptic] Delta (Thelta)
    1. [coptic]D[/coptic] =D in names
    Ex. [coptic]Dauid[/coptic] = David
    [coptic]Adam[/coptic] = Adam
    2. [coptic]D[/coptic]= Th ( as in THE not THEATRE)
    in any other word
    Ex. [coptic]Dwron[/coptic] => Thooron = Gift
    [coptic]Diakwn[/coptic] = Diakon
    To be continued

    I'm really sorry i'm doing it soooo slowly but REALLY i'm tooooo Busy.

    Pray for me
  • hi all

    [coptic]Ee[/coptic] Ai
    Pronounces as Ai
    Ex.[coptic] E;ouab[/coptic] => ethoab = Saint

    [coptic]^[/coptic] soo
    it’s only means no. 6 in coptic.

    [coptic]Zz[/coptic] Zita
    [coptic]Z [/coptic] = Z
    Ex. [coptic]Anzyb[/coptic] => anzib = school

    [coptic]Yy [/coptic] Eita
    [coptic]Y[/coptic] = ee
    Ex. [coptic]Pinyb[/coptic] => Pineeb = the master
    [coptic]Pi`slyl[/coptic] => Pieshleel = the prayer

    [coptic]:;[/coptic] Thita
    1.[coptic] : [/coptic] = T if it came after ([coptic]c[/coptic] , [coptic]s[/coptic])
    Ex. [coptic]`S;yn[/coptic] => EshTeen = Shirt
    2.[coptic] : [/coptic] = Th ( as in theatre) in any other case
    Ex. [coptic]Dia;yky[/coptic] => thiatheekee = Promis

    [coptic]Ii [/coptic] Youta
    [coptic]I[/coptic] = I
    Ex. [coptic]`Viwt[/coptic] => Efiwt = the father
    [coptic]Iycouc [/coptic] => Ieesoos = Jesus

    [coptic]Kk [/coptic] Kab
    [coptic]K [/coptic] = K
    Ex. [coptic]Kac[/coptic] => Kas = bones
    [coptic]Kas[/coptic] => Kash = Pen

    [coptic]Ll [/coptic] lolla
    [coptic]L [/coptic] = L
    Ex. [coptic]Lac[/coptic] => Las = tongue
    [coptic]`Slyl[/coptic] => shleel = prayer

    [coptic]Mm [/coptic] Mi
    [coptic]M[/coptic] = M
    Ex. [coptic]Mwit[/coptic] => Moit = Way
    [coptic]Masj[/coptic] => Mashg = Ear

    [coptic]Nn[/coptic] Ni
    [coptic]N [/coptic] = N
    Ex. [coptic]Nis] [/coptic] => Nishti = Great
    [coptic]Nobi [/coptic] => Novi = Sin

    [coptic]Xx[/coptic] Exy
    [coptic]X [/coptic] = X
    Ex.[coptic] Carx [/coptic] => Sarx = Body
    [coptic]Nehci [/coptic] => Nehsi = Wakes up

    [right]To be continued[/right]
    Pray for me.
  • This is very good. I really wish that fadnya and paulh, you guys can orginize this into lessons it would be very helpful and i am grateful for ur help
  • Hi Everyone, I know this thread has not been read in a couple of months but I know of a good website for learning the basics of the Coptic Language!

    here is the link:
    http://www.avarewase.org/copt_rd/coptic/cop_all.htm

    I hope that will help someone .. :)
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