Coptic language

Coptic is the last stage of the Egyptian language, the language of ancient Egypt. It is no longer anyone's everyday language, and it remains in use in church.

Writing

Coptic is written in the Coptic alphabet, which is the Greek alphabet with extra letters taken from Demotic, an earlier Egyptian script, for sounds that Greek does not have. Seven extra letters is the usual count. The Coptic Encyclopedia puts the number at six to ten, depending on the dialect.

Dialects

There were several dialects. The Coptic Encyclopedia treats two as the main ones: Sahidic, the common language of the Nile valley above the Delta, and Bohairic, the language of the Delta.

From daily speech to church use

Arabic replaced Coptic as the spoken language of Egypt over the centuries after the Arab conquest. The Coptic Encyclopedia dates the end of Coptic as a living language among Egyptians to about the eleventh century. The Patriarchate's account says that the church made Bohairic its official language in the same century.

Bohairic is still used in the liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church, alongside Arabic. The Coptic Catholic Church also uses Coptic in its liturgy.

The Coptic Encyclopedia records efforts by Copts, for more than a century, to teach Bohairic and to revive it.