Egypt is a thousand kilometers long, and like any language spoken over a long country, Coptic had regional forms. Because Coptic writes vowels, the differences between them show clearly in writing.
Key idea
Coptic had several dialects, chiefly Sahidic, the classical literary dialect of the south (Upper Egypt), and Bohairic, the dialect of the northwest Delta. Bohairic became the language of the Coptic Church's worship, and it is still used in Coptic services today.
Why it works
Dialects follow geography. Sahidic flourished as a literary language from about the 4th to the 9th century AD, when the great monasteries of Upper Egypt were writing and copying books. Bohairic, spoken in the Delta near Alexandria and the important monasteries of Wadi al-Natrun, rose later; by the 11th century it had replaced Sahidic in the liturgy.
| Dialect | Where | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Sahidic | the south (Middle and Upper Egypt); used across Egypt as the literary standard | the classical dialect of literature; the Nag Hammadi codices |
| Bohairic | the western Delta | the liturgy of the Coptic Church; adds ϧ |
| Akhmimic and Lycopolitan | around Akhmim and Asyut | early texts, 4th and 5th centuries |
| Fayyumic | the Faiyum | texts from the 3rd to the 10th centuries |
| Oxyrhynchite (Mesokemic) | around Oxyrhynchus | manuscripts of the 4th and 5th centuries |
Worked example: Why did Coptic fade?
After the Arab conquest of AD 641, how did Coptic lose its place as Egypt's everyday language?
- Arabic became the language of government around AD 700, and slowly the language of daily life.
- Coptic was probably the majority language until somewhere between the 10th and 12th centuries, and survived as a spoken minority language until at least the 17th century.
- It never died completely: it lived on in the Church's worship.
Answer: Slowly, over centuries, as Arabic spread; it survives in the Church.
Worked example: Which dialect?
A Coptic text uses the letter ϧ. Which dialect is it most likely in?
- ϧ (khai) is one of the letters from Demotic.
- Sahidic uses six such letters; Bohairic adds ϧ.
- So the text is most likely Bohairic.
Answer: Bohairic.
Common mistake
Thinking Coptic died out completely. It survives in the worship of the Coptic Church, where Bohairic is read and sung, and since the 20th century there have been efforts to teach it more widely.