The term copte qualifies at the same time a language, people (at least in Egypt), a rite and a Church. It comes from the Greek word / Aigúptios which means Égyptien , deformed (after phonetic syncope) by Coptes in Kuptios then, following the Arab conquests of 641, in قِبط Qibṭ , pronounced Hipt in Low-Egypt and Gibt in High-Egypt and with the Cairo. It is this last form which, borrowed by French, gives the ethnonyme Copte , which is also used to indicate the language.

The historians admit that the conversion of the temple of Isis to Philaé (towards 550) mark the end of Egyptian civilization and the beginning of the history copte.

In spite of the etymology of the word copte , the coptes do not live only in Egypt. In fact, the majority of the coptes live abroad, it is what one calls the diaspora copte.

Language

Sources available

The language copte is the only descent of the old Egyptian . It is thus a Afro-Asian Langue, chamitic though this theory is refuted by certain linguists like Theophilus Obenga. Several dialects are counted:

  • bohairic;
  • sahidic;
  • fayoumic;
  • oxyrhynchite (or means-Egyptian);
  • akhmimic;
  • lycopolitain (or subakhmimic).

Only the bohaïrique one is still used and only in the liturgy. It replaced, as a liturgical language, the sahidique one at the 11th century. It is starting from this choice that the emergence of a contemporary identity copte probably could be done.

To note that the documents of Nag-Hammadi are into sahidic old.

In addition, the word sa' id comes from an Egyptian word copte/indicating the flower of the Egyptian desert flowering in a few hours under the effect of a momentary rain, and fading also quickly.

Lastly, the semantic value of some hiéroglyphes is based on the knowledge which the Egyptians of nature had, which would let suppose that diachronic linguistics should be multidisciplinary.

The study of grammar copte is based on two linguistic steps, diachronic and synchronic, whose choice remains prone to controversy. The two steps leave the principle which the study of the dialects allows of " remonter" with original grammar copte. In the absence of this investigation, the researchers are reduced by it to focus itself only on the liturgical copte, which would be a more or less arbitrary standardization of the ancient language copte.

One finds this case of figure in other disciplines, such as for example:

  • the study of the Sanskrit where the standardization of grammar dates from the time of Panini ,
  • the study of Hebrew where standardization takes the name of Massora ,
  • the study of Latin standardized at the 10th century,
  • the study of Arabic standardized by Koranic grammar.

The first step is synchronic linguistics : the dialects are initially located geographically, then studied compared to the local historical context. Thus one will speak about copte " subakhmimique" , of copte " mésokémite" or " crypto-méso-kémite".

Diachronic analysis of the copte

The second step is diachronic linguistics . It is that which Champollion used to decipher the hiéroglyphes. It consists in studying the genealogy of the languages, in particular of their grammatical structures. In this step, research made it possible to establish remarkable grammatical invariants between the hieroglyphic texts of the pyramids and the grammatical structures of the dialects coptes.

In fact, the list of these invariants is scindable in two types:

  • the invariants which one uniformly finds in all the dialects of the copte, called pandialectaux ;
  • the invariants which one finds in a dialect more than another: dialectal invariants. For this reason, the bohaïrique one returns more to archaisms.

An not-exhaustive list of invariants:

  • the conjunctive participle: the structure is similar to " idaafa" into Arabic, and would be translated into French by words made up of the " type; carry-monnaie" or " assemble-charge". A part nominal and a verbal part are found there;
  • infinitive with value of requirement (used for " baliser" the beginning of the verses of the texts of the pyramids);
  • the duplicate one postfixed;
  • the " effect; sandhi" , or lexical modification of the prefixes and suffixes before agglutination. It is an effect identified being studied of the Sanskrit;
  • the always male kind of infinitive in copte, although the female kind exists.

Writing and pronunciation

The language copte is written by means of the Copt alphabet, similar to the Greek and supplemented by seven characters Démotique S which are used to note Phonème S that the Greek alphabet could not return. Naturally, it is logical to study the pronunciation of the alphabet by study of the démotique one. However, this step is disputed. For more information, to consult the various works of grammar copte.

Church

Currently, the term copte indicates the Churches autochtones Egypt (as well orthodoxe largely majority, as catholic uniate, of Copte rite but attached to Rome) and the associated liturgical language; but also communities so much catholic and Protestant (heiresses of the missions), that melkite, all three of size more limited much (: 200000 people in all). The language copte is used only in the orthodoxe liturgy. The tradition makes go up teaching copte with Saint Marc, one of the four evangelist S.

Lastly, from a doctrinal point of view, the Church copte is précalcédonienne or miaphysite. The rupture between Rome and Byzance on a side and the Church copte on other side intervene after the Concile of Chalcédoine in 451, without to have however had doctrinal, but rather political reasons.

The Church copte as all the Eastern churches is directed by a patriarch also called Pape because it throne on one of the papal seats of the universal church. It carries the title of pope and patriarch of Alexandria, city where the patriarchate was located a long time, this one is in Cairo in the district of Abbaseya. The current patriarch is Chenouda {{III}}.

The Christians of Ethiopia are also Christians coptes, but with specificities in the ritual. Until 1959, they were officially attached, although in a rather remote way, with the patriarch or pope copte of Egypt.

Population

In Egypt

In Egypt, the Christian coptes are a minority. Their exact number is prone to polemic. If the coptes sources advance seven figures going to fifteen million (10% to 20% of the population), the figures of the last official census (1996) counted 3,5 million Christians is a little less than 6% of the population.

Even this less low figure turns into to coptes the most important Christian population of the Middle East, in spite of the perpetual brimades and persecutions whose coptes were victims in their countries all during their history and until today with a least degree. The Capitation for example was officially removed only with the last revolution.

In Ethiopia

The coptes are the largely dominant Christian confession in Ethiopia. They are autocéphales (independent), since 1959. They count 35 to 40% almost 80 million Ethiopian listed in 2006. They are thus the copte group most in the world gathered in the same country. The coptes of Egypt plus the diaspora distributed throughout the world exceed certainly this figure although that is difficult to check.

See also: orthodoxe Ethiopian Church

In the rest of the world

The Egyptian emigration copte, started about 1965 and directed mainly towards the the United States, the Canada and the Australia, plays a rather important part in the renewal of this rather traditional Church. One speaks in this respect true diaspora copte.

In France, the Church copte account two Egyptian dioceses: for Coptes Arabic-speaking people, the other for the French-speaking people.

See also: Churches of the three councils

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