The ancient Egyptian language has a written record spanning more than four millennia. In this post, I trace the evolution of ancient Egyptian from the earliest hieroglyphs to Coptic, its final and arguably most accessible stage. I explore how learning Coptic can be a journey into history, linguistics and faith.
In the beginning: the hieroglyphic scripts
Hieroglyphs
The story of Coptic begins with hieroglyphs, the best-known way of writing the ancient Egyptian language. Attested from before 3000 BCE, hieroglyphs use pictorial signs to convey sounds and ideas. Hieroglyphs continued in use until the fourth century CE.
Over this vast timespan, hieroglyphs evolved through several stages. Old Egyptian was used from about 2600 to 2100 BCE and is the stage represented in the Pyramid Texts. Middle Egyptian, often considered the classical stage, emerged from Old Egyptian and became the standard literary language for centuries. Late Egyptian appears in texts from around 1350 BCE and reflects the evolution of the spoken language, with significant grammatical changes. The latest recorded hieroglyphic inscription dates to 394 CE.
Hieratic
Writing in hieroglyphs was fine if you were carving a formal inscription. However, if you wanted to compose something more quickly on papyrus, it would have been very time consuming to draw all the details of each hieroglyphic sign. The Egyptians therefore developed simplified or cursive versions of hieroglyphs that they could write quickly. This developed into hieratic, a flowing script that could be written more rapidly than hieroglyphs and so could be used for more extensive and less formal texts.
The evidence for the emergence of hieratic is almost as ancient as for hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs and hieratic were used alongside one another for millennia – the difference between them is in some ways comparable to the difference between typeset and handwritten English.
Demotic
Like hieratic, demotic is a handwritten script. However, the signs in demotic are more streamlined and - although they do derive from hieroglyphs or groups of hieroglyphs - it can be very difficult to recognise which hieroglyphs each sign stands for. Learning to read hieratic doesn't enable you to read demotic (or vice versa).
Demotic started to be used around 650 BCE, alongside hieroglyphs, which were still used for inscriptions on monuments, and hieratic, which was used for religious texts. Initially demotic was developed for administrative and legal purposes, but later on it was also used for literature. Demotic continued to be written right into the fifth century CE, although it declined after the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE.
Coptic
Following Alexander the Great’s conquest in 332 BCE, Greek became the dominant administrative language in Egypt, and this continued even after the Roman conquest. The influence of Greek on the Egyptian language is particularly apparent in the high volume of Greek loanwords used in Coptic, the final stage of the Egyptian language.
Coptic represents the same language recorded in hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic, but while those scripts were derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs, Coptic uses the Greek script, plus a few extra signs from demotic. Coptic gives us a better idea of what Egyptian sounded like, because all the sounds of the language – consonants and vowels – are written down. In the older scripts, most vowels are left out.
Coptic flourished for centuries as both a spoken and written language. However, from the seventh century CE, Arabic gradually replaced Coptic as the spoken vernacular. Coptic remained the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church, a tradition that continues to this day.
Learning Coptic Today
Coptic preserves a wealth of texts that range from the spiritual to the secular. You can explore the traditions of early Christianity by reading religious texts, including biblical texts and theological works such as the writings of Shenoute. Coptic also gives you access to gnostic writings, in particular those preserved in the famous Nag Hammadi Codices. Magical texts blend Egyptian, Greek, and Christian influences, while letters, contracts, and receipts reflect everyday life.
For those interested in linguistics, studying Coptic gives insights into how Egyptian roots evolved and how the language incorporated Greek elements while preserving its connection to its ancient origins. Coptic also played a pivotal role in the decipherment of hieroglyphs.
Coptic remains the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the oldest Christian traditions in the world.
Summary
Students of Coptic include linguists, historians, Egyptologists, theologians, philosophers and members of the Coptic community. The journey from hieroglyphs to Coptic is a testament to the resilience of language and culture. By learning Coptic, you can access and better understand one of the world’s oldest linguistic traditions.