Coptic of Luke 1:10-35 with Greek interlinear Translated and Grammatically Considered (Afrikaans)

koot van wyk Seoul South Korea 19 February 2009

The Coptic language is a mixture of Egyptian in Greek letters with loanwords entering in late periods. To study Egyptian is valuable in two ways: it helps one to understand the Egyptian loanwords and loan phrases in the works of Moses (Job and Psalm 90 included) but also helps one to read the New Testament in Coptic.

Someone who knows Greek and who has an elementary knowledge of Egyptian should really also venture into Coptic.

Selected here is a pericope from Luke parallel with the Greek text and then translated by this researcher with Grammatical notes and Dictionary assistance.

Is the Coptic a better reading than the Greek. No. It is derivative and thus a lesser "Word of God" situation. That lesser is usually no more than 1-3% for the New Testament in all ancient languages: Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Ethiopian, Armenian, Georgian.

For this translation a number of Dictionaries and Grammars of the Coptic language were used. The translation is in Afrikaans.

Grammars:

Lambdin, Thomas O. 1983 Introduction to Sahidic Coptic (Macon: Mercer University Press)

Till, Walter C. 1961a Koptische Dialektgrammatik mit Lesestücken und Wörterbuch 2ed (Munich: Beck; 1ed 1931)

Dictionary:

Crum, W. E. (Walter Ewing), 1865-1944. A Coptic dictionary, compiled with the help of many scholars. Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1939.

Westendorf, Wolfhart. Koptisches Handworterbuch. Bearb. auf Grund des Koptischen Handworterbuchs. Heidelberg, C. Winter Universitatsverlag, 1965-1977.

The following grammar is online available:

Tattam, Henry 1863 A Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian Language 2ed rev (London: Arch; 1ed 1830).

Crum is also online available.

Coptic Grammars and Coptic Dictionaries

For a good source on the latest grammars and dictionaries in Coptic see the following source:

Source:

http://sites.google.com/site/pisakho/bibliography

"The most recent and widely used Coptic grammars of the Sahidic dialect are those of Lambdin (1983), Layton (2004), Reintges (2004) and the newest grammar by Layton (2007). Another Sahidic grammar, now sixty years old but freely available on the internet is that of Plumley (1948). The newest Bohairic grammars are those of Horrocks (1985), which is not widely available, Mattar (1990) and Younan (2005)."

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