Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/333

COPTIC LANGUAGE 329 The hieroglyphic genitive is N, NT, M; dat., N, K, L, HR (Copt, haro, to) ; ace., N ; abl., M, out from, EM, by, for, MT (Copt. mut, to join). Adjectives become names of origin or of quality by means of en ; thus : r em-en- Kemi (man of Egypt), Egyptian ; rem-en-nuti (man of God), pious. To form the feminine adjec- tives, add i (e) to the masculines, or lengthen the final vowel. The plural of adjectives is formed like that of substantives. Some adjec- tives receive personal suffixes, as ter-~k, whole- thou ; naa-s, great-she. The comparative de- gree is denoted by huo, corresponding to the Gr. iakov ; the superlative by khen, in, ute, between, ebol-ute, before, emate (emastro), very, much, and by the Gr. -irof. In ancient Egyp- tian, the genitive plural (as king of kings), and enhme, estrate, and ehote, indicated plurality. The numerals are: 1, ua, masc., uei, fern, (uai, ui, M.) ; 2, snay, sente (snuti) ; 3, shoment, shomte ; 4, ftou, fto 7 5, tiu, tie ; 6, sou, so ; 7, sashsf; 8, shmune ; 9, psit / 10, met; 20, juot; 30, maa'k; 40, lime; 50, taiu ; 60, se ; 70, shbe; 80, hmene ; 90-, pestaiu ,- 100, she ; 1,000, sho, &c. Ordinals: 1st, ti-aphe (beginning), shorp, &c. ; the others are formed by prefixing mah (MH) to the cardinals. Distributives are made by doubling the cardinal*; multiples by adding sop (times); fractions by prefixing re (R) with/rd, part. The personal pronouns are : anok, I ; entok, ento (masc. and fern.), thou ; entof, he ; entos, she ; anen, we ; entoten, you; entou, they. Possessive demonstrative pronouns consist of the article with o (to be) and personal suffixes-; thus: poi (the-is-me), my ; pole, po (masc. and fern.), they ; pdf, pds, his, her; pon, our; poter, your; pou, their. The demonstratives pe, te, ne correspond to the Lat. ille, ilia, illi. The relative et, who, which, what, is indeclinable. The interroga- tives nim, eut, correspond to Lat. qualis ; uer, to Lat. quantus, quot ; and u, to Lat. quid. Verbs indicate persons either by suffixes, as i, I ; k, e (masc. and fern.), thou ; /, s, he, she ; n, we ; ten, you ; sen, they ; or by the prefixes ti, Ic, te, f, s, ten, teten, se. Particles of tenses are, for the present, ei, Lat. sum ; ek, ere (masc. and fern.), Lat. es ; ef, es, Lat. est ; en, sumus ; ereten, estis ; ey, u, ere, sunt. The perfect in- definite is ai (have-I), Lat. fui ; ah. fuisti, &c. The imperfect, ne (venit), like the Fr. venir de, is inflected thus : nai, naTc, nere, nef, nes, &c. Pe following denotes simultaneity, as nai-ke- kahey pe, I was at the same time naked. The future is indicated by e-, -e, eie, eke, &c. ; the second future (soon) by na, to go, or ei, to- ward, as ekna, thou wilt be soon ; and the pluperfect by naina, Fr. fallais. Ska denotes habit ; thus : sJiai, soleo ; shak, soles, &c. The subjunctive is distinguished by en-, that, as en- tirashi, Lat. gaudeam ; the optative by marei (oelle), I wish, by ma, grant, or by pe, to be, as marekonh, utinam, vivas; the imperative is the root alone, or with the prefix a, be it, or ma, give, as ajas, say ; the infinitive is the root and used as a substantive ; the present partici- ple has the prefix e or et, who, as pilaos ethem- si, the people sitting. Particles are joined to tenses ; thus : entcrei-tom, when I close ; shan- tei-enjoos, as long as you say. Other particles are enei, if, shan, if so that, and empati, before that. Negation is indicated by prefixing en, empe, empate, or by affixing an, or by inserting the verb between en and an. Endings of the sacred dialect are -I, I; -K, -T (masc. and fern.), thou; -F, he; -S, she; -N, we; -TN, you; and -SN, they. Its auxiliary verbs are E-, A-, O-, UON-, to be, and ER-, to do, to make. The prepositions are : e, in, of, from ; elol, ebolhi- ten, out, through ; ehote, before, above, on ; nem, with ; enten, of; sha, till, to ; kha, under, against ; ha, under, to ; haten, near by, with ; hi, in, on, &c. ; which are lengthened by such suffixes as rat, tot, ro, ma, fet^ d, &c. Adverbs are made by prefixing e to nouns ; thus : ephleu, in vain, epehou (on the day), daily ; or by prep- ositions, as khen u rashi (in a joy), gladly. The most frequent conjunction is je (saying), that, because, whereas. Others are shantei, while; enei, eishan, if; empati, before that; and many Greek ones with their own significa- tion, as de, te, alia, an, eti, ana, kata, hina, &c. The hieroglyphic prepositions are N, Copt, en; NT, ente; HR, haro, to; HT, hahte, near; RM, erem, with, near, by. The construction is strictly logical, the subject being followed by the verb and this by the regimen. Specimen : Pen idt, et khen (noster pater qui in) ni (article) pheul (ccelis) : Maref-tubo (utinam sanctum) enje (ar- ticle) pek ran (tuum nomen). Maresl (veniat) enje pek meturo (tuum regnum), &c. Trans- lations of portions of the Coptic Scriptures, of Gnostic odes, and inscriptions have been made by Huntington, Pococke, David "VVilkins, Tuki, Giorgi, 0. G. Woide, F. Mtinter, Min- garelli, Zoega, Quatremere, Engelbrecht, H. Tattam, L. Ideler, G. Seyffarth, Schwartze, P. Botticher, Champollion-Figeac, Mariette, Brugsch, and others. Peiresc was the first European student of Coptic. Saumaise and Scaliger made little progress in it. Athanasius Kircher (1636-'44) devoted some attention to it, but fell into many errors. Waldoni (1653), E. Vinding (1660), Bonjour (1699), Blumberg (1716), Tuki (1778), Scholtz (1778), and Didy- mus Taurinensis or Valperga (1783) wrote on the grammar and lexicography. The Opuscula of Jablonski contain an excellent glossary. Im- portant contributions are furnished by the Ee- cherches critiques et historiques sur la langue et la litterature de Vfigypte, by Quatremere (Paris, 1808); the "Grammar of the Egyp- tian Language," by Tattam (London, 1830), with an appended dictionary by Young ; and the grammar and dictionary of Champollion the younger. Rosellini's treatise on the Coptic language (Rome, 1837) was to a large extent copied from Champollion. An excellent sur- vey of the history of the study of Coptic is given by Felix Ndve, Des travaux de I 'erudi- tion chretienne sur les monuments de la langue copte (Louvain, 1860). Among the latest and