COPTS. The name given to the Christian descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. The Arabic word Qubt is probably nothing but a mutilation of Egypt (not of Koptos, or Ja cobite). The present number of the Copts is estimated as high as 500.000 by some authorities ; other authorities give much lower figures. They are most numerous in the towns of Upper Egypt, south of Assiut. As they usually live in towns and are rarely engaged in agriculture, they pre sent a certain contrast to the Mohammedan peasants. They are as a rule of smaller stature than the latter, and of a lighter complexion. Most of the Copts still wear the black coat and black or blue turban which they were forced to assume in the time of the Mohammedan persecution. They are frequently goldsmiths and money-lend ers, and they are also excellent clerks and ac countants, although few of them attain to the higher governmental positions. Their character is apt to be marked by sullenness, distrust, and avarice. Although the Arabs owed the conquest of Egypt to the assistance of the Copts, they soon began to oppress them cruelly, taxing them to the utmost, hindering their religious worship, and occasionally even branding them. These persecutions reduced the numbers of the Copts very considerably. A few of them are at present. adherents of the Roman Catholic Church; still fewer of the Greek Church. The majority ad here to the old National Church, which originat ed in a schism after the rejection by the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) of the monophysitic doctrine, the Egyptians not accepting the deci sion of the council. A long and bitter struggle against the orthodox Byzantine Government arose, lasting until this was replaced by the Arab invasion. The Coptic sect is also called Jacobite, after a prominent teacher of the fifth century. The highest ecclesiastical dignitary of the .11onophysitic Church is the Patriarch of Alexandria. who at present, however. resides at Cairo. This patriarch is always chosen from the monks of the Convent of Saint Anthony. By him the Metropolitan of Abyssinia is nominated. The rest of the clergy represent orders similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church. They have twelve bishops. The monks and nuns were once very numerous, but they have in the course of time greatly diminished in number. The elaborate rites of the Church present some rather curious features—e.g. the celebration of the Lord's Supper with unleavened bread dipped in wine, and the strict division of the sanctuary or chancel from the body of the church. The Copts practice circumcision and baptize by immersion. The feasts and fasts, which are very strictly observed, are numerous. Owing to the extreme length of the service and the absence of seats, many worshipers lean on crutches which they bring with them. The Copts are very bigoted, and are especially fanatical against other Christian denominations. Of late, however, the American Presbyterian mission has worked among them with success. At Qus it converted the Coptic bishop and his whole con gregation. The Coptic language, which was spoken front the third to the sixteenth century, but has now become extinct as a vernacular, belongs to the Hamitic group of African lan guages. It is of great importance linguistically
as being the descendant of Ancient Egyptian (see EGYPT, paragraph Language), although its own literature is of comparatively small impor tance. In character Coptic was at first almost monosyllabic, like Egyptian, but it developed at a later period into a highly agglutinate language (q.v.). The morphological side of Coptic was, therefore, little developed, but the phonology became the real basis of the grammatical system for variations of meaning. It gained in conse quence a far greater flexibility than Egyptian had possessed, and it also enriched its vocabulary by many Greek loan-words, as well as a smaller number of Latin and Persian terms. Arabic words are significantly lacking in the Coptic vocab ulary. The language was divided into five prin cipal dialects. These were the Sahidic or Thebaic and Aclunimic in Upper Egypt, the Boheiric, and Memphitic in Lower Egypt, and the Fayumic, or so-called Bashmuric, spoken near Lake Men zaleh in Central Egypt. There were also doubt less a number of dialects of much importance of which no record has been presert ed. Of the Coptic dialects the oldest is the Sahidic, whose literature dates from the period extending from the third to the seventh century, comprising annals, translations of the Bible, apocryphal and Gnostic books, legends of the saints, and the like. This oldest literature has been in great part lost. and only fragments remain. The Boheiric dialect, dating from the seventh century, contains by far the greater amount of extant Coptic literature, again in the main translations from the Greek or revisions of the older Sahidic texts, as well as a fcw translations from the Arabic. It is this dialect which is still used in the liturgy of the Coptic Church. The Fay umic dialect has only very scanty literary re mains, which have been discovered lately by ex cavations in Egypt. The Sahidic is the most harmonious and has more Greek loan-words than the Roheirie, while the Fayumic stands midway between the two. The Coptic script has thirty one letters, twenty-four of which are Greek uncials (see UNCIAL LETTERS), while the re maining characters, for g (sh), f, It (German ch). lt, w (French j), c (English ch in child), and ti, are derived from the Egyptian demotic script. After the Mohammedan conquest of Egypt Arabic gradually displaced Coptic, al though Coptic is said to have been spoken as late as 1633 by one old man.
Consult: Kircher, Prodromus Coptus sive .Egyptiacus (Rome. 1636) ; Lingua .,Egyptiaca Rest it ut a (Rome, 1643-44) Tattam. Coin pen dious Grammar of the Egyptian. Language (Lon don, 1830; 2d ed. 1S63) ; RosehImi, Elententa Lingua _Egyptiaew sive Coptiew (Rome, 1S37) ; Peyron. Grammatica Lingua' Copticw (Turin, 1S41) Schwa rtze, Koptisehe Grammatik ( Ber lin, 1850) ; ithlemann, Lingua' Coptiew Grant malice (Leipzig, 1853) ; Stern, Koptische (Leipzig, ISSO) ; Loret. Manuel de In langue egyptienne (Faris, 1S9) : Steindorfr, Koptische Gramm atik (Berlin, 1894 ); Peyron. Lexicon Liolguw Coptiew (Turin. 1835) ; Tattam, Lexicon -Egyptiaeo- Latinum (Oxford, 1835) ; Parthey, Vocabularum Coptieo-Latinum et La tino-Copticum (Berlin, 1844).