Annotation
Coptik, the last phase of the Egyptian language and spoke and written language of Egypt in Late Antiquity and the
Byzantine period, has created a rich translated literature. Among texts translated into Coptic, biblical ones played an important role, especially with respect to standardisation of Coptic. On the basisi of reading of the Gospel of
Mark, this course is designated to provide an introduction to classical (Sahidic) Coptic as we meet in the forementioned Gospel. Because every texts is making a selection of the (syntactical, grammatical, lexical) richness of a language, emphasis will be placed (with resepct to corresponding rules of the Coptic Grammar) on frequency occuring elements of Coptic in the Gospel of Mark.
Suggested literature:
The Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. by A.S. Atiya. 8 vols. New York 1991.
Emmel, S.: ´Coptic Language´, in: The Anchor Bible Distionary, vol. 4. New York 1992, 180-188.
LAyton, B.: Coptic in 20 Lessons: Introduction to Sahidic Coptic with Excercises and Vocabularies, Leuven/Louvain 2007.