Coptic writes Egyptian in a version of the Greek alphabet. Most letters are the 24 letters of Greek, in their rounded book forms, in Greek order, from alpha to omega. Here is how they are read in Coptic.
Key idea
Coptic uses all 24 Greek letters, from ⲁ (alpha) to ⲱ (ō), for Egyptian sounds, and adds letters from Demotic for sounds Greek lacked. Some Greek letters, such as ⲅ, ⲇ, ⲍ and ⲝ, appear mostly in words borrowed from Greek.
Why it works
Greek had letters for sounds Egyptian did not use, like d and g; Egyptian had sounds Greek did not write, like sh and f. So the Greek letters for d and g stay mainly in Greek loanwords, while native words need the borrowed Demotic letters. The vowels are the great gain: Greek letters write a, e, ē, i, o, ō and u, which hieroglyphs never showed.
| Letter | Sound | Letter | Sound |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⲁ | a | ⲛ | n |
| ⲃ | b or v | ⲟ | o (ⲟⲩ = ou, or w) |
| ⲉ | e | ⲡ | p |
| ⲏ | ē (a long e) | ⲣ | r |
| ⲑ | th (t + h) | ⲥ | s |
| ⲓ | i, or y before a vowel | ⲧ | t |
| ⲕ | k | ⲫ | ph (p + h) |
| ⲗ | l | ⲭ | kh (k + h) |
| ⲙ | m | ⲱ | ō (a long o) |
Worked example: Reading a word
Read the Coptic word ⲣⲱⲙⲉ letter by letter.
- ⲣ = r, ⲱ = ō, ⲙ = m, ⲉ = e.
- Together: rōme, "person, man", from Egyptian rmṯ.
Answer: rōme.
Worked example: A two-letter vowel
Read ⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ("god").
- ⲛ = n.
- ⲟⲩ together = ou (as in "you"): Coptic, like Greek, writes this vowel with two letters.
- ⲧ = t, ⲉ = e. So: noute.
Answer: noute.
Coptic letters also served as numbers, marked with a line above, as in Greek: ⲁ 1, ⲃ 2, … ⲓ 10, ⲕ 20, … ⲣ 100, ⲥ 200, and so on to ⲱ 800. So ⲣⲕⲉ is 100 + 20 + 5 = 125.
Coptic manuscripts usually write all letters in the same rounded book hand, without separate small letters; the small and capital forms shown above are a modern printing convention.
Common mistake
Reading Coptic with Greek sounds for every letter. Some letters are mostly used in Greek loanwords, and a few have their own Coptic values, like ⲟⲩ for ou. Learn the Coptic values, not the Greek ones.