Dear George, Lilian and all,
Thank you very much for the information. This -I think-might end the
debate. To my knowledge, Claudius bek Labib is one of the most
influential figures, of the re-education of Coptic language in the
Greco-Bohairic pronounciation. He wrote some educational books, wrote a
modern lexicon (of which the etymology of saome words are ambigious,
sometimes, controversial e.g. asilon = blue, BHLLA = letter etc.). His
educational books also had new combinations, new words, to match the
needs of his time, e.g. envelope. The introductory passage of his
lexicon, which he died before completing the last four letters of it
(hori, djandja, shima, di), was full of grammatical mistakes 'quoting
Dr.Shafick Demian professor of coptic language at the institute of
Coptic language, old bohairic pronounciation'.
It's generally accepted that he had no previous knowledge of Coptic as a
tradition or a mother tongue, it was only personal efforts. He educated
himself, taught his daughter, and assisted Mr.Pisenty Rizkalla, to learn
Greco-Bohairic coptic. Mr.Pisenty is primary member of Fr.Demetrios,
Mme. Isy, H.H.Bishop Demetrios, Vert , Nofer, & Rano Bassili. Maurice
AbdelMessih
Though, on an academic level his contributions are mostly disregarded,
esp. due to the inventions of new words, the lack of grammatical syntax
that's sound coptic and the adoption of Greco-Bohairic. Amongst, copts,
his contributions are very important namely
1.The publishing of Psalmodies (annual, Kiahki), liturgies, and other
important ecclesiastical books
2.The Claudius Labib dictionary, probably the first, moedrn lexicon in
Coptic prior to W.E.Crum
3.The teaching books, that attempted to teach the language on day-today
basis
4.The implementation of teaching coptic as a spoken language and
inspiring many copts to re-use coptic as a day-to-day language
Sincerely
Bashandy
On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 07:33:11 -0700 (PDT)
George Fouad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Dear All
I know this lady personally, Dr. Mona Zaki is a Dr. in the AUC (American
Unversity in Cairo), she is the grandchild of Ekladios Bek Labib who
made the Coptic/Arabic dictionary. As she told me recently, she raised
in a Coptic-speaking family
Rgrds
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
here is the link to the story.It is shameful that a lot of foreign
people believed that the Egyptian language must still be alive while the
copts do no think except in a very negative way.
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=106#
languageâs last survivors
**
By Joseph Mayton
First Published: December 10, 2005
Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic,
Hieroglyphic and Hieratic.
CAIRO: Considered an extinct language, the Coptic language is believed
to exist only in the liturgical language of the Coptic Church in Egypt.
The ancient language that lost in prominence thanks largely to the Arab
incursion into Egypt over 1300 years ago remains the spoken language of
the church and only two families in Egypt.
Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages Demotic,
Hieroglyphic and Hieratic, and was the language used by the Ptolemaic
rulers of Egypt following the spread of Greek culture throughout much of
the Near East. In essence, it is the language of the ancient Egyptians
themselves.
Mona Zaki is one of only a handful of people that continue to use the
language in everyday conversation. She speaks a colloquial form of
Coptic with her parents and a few relatives that dates back 2,000 years.
âIn many ways it helps strengthen my faith,â Zaki said. âIt has
really helped when I go to church because they still use a form of
Coptic for many services.â Her dialect, however, differs slightly from
the standard Coptic that is used for study and church services.
She does not speak Coptic with her children.
âI felt that Coptic was a worthless language to have my children
speak, therefore I did not do so when they were young,â said Zaki.
Coptic is the language of the first Christian church in history, and
when the members of the two families that speak the colloquial form of
Coptic die, it will be the first language of the early Christian
churches to become extinct.
Among those early languages, Aramaic was thought to be extinct until
recent history proved otherwise. The language is still spoken in parts
of southern Turkey and northwest Syria. Zaki feels it would be a great
loss to Coptic Christianity and the world if the Coptic language is
totally lost.
âI hope that the world will come to realize the importance of Coptic
in Christian doctrine,â Zaki said. âEgypt is the first home for a
Christian church and that makes Coptic truly the first language of
Christianity in a sense.â
âIt is sad to think that the language will truly be dead in the next
100 years. They are already classifying Coptic as a dead language in
most encyclopedias,â Zaki said. Neither parents used Coptic with their
children.
This is similar to the historical decline of the Coptic language. With
the Arab conquest, Arabic began to be the language spoken in everyday
life. After a period of religious turmoil in Egypt, Coptic leaders
decided to use Arabic as their main means of conversation in order to
show the Arab rulers that they were not conspirators of the European
Crusaders.
It is a sad fact that the language will soon go the way of Latin.
Copt itself means Egypt. The word Egypt comes from the Greek aiguptios
and the Arabic qupt â both of those words were derived from the Coptic
language that was spoken when each community ascended upon Egypt.
Coptic is the closest descendant to the spoken language of the ancient
Egyptians. Combining the Greek alphabet with Demotic, Coptic is a unique
conglomeration of languages. Despite this fact, Coptic has no official
status in Egypt. The form spoken in church services differs from
Zakiâs. Coptic is a combination of the ancient Egyptian languages
Demotic, Hieratic and Hieroglyphic. It was the latest evolution of the
Egyptian language.
âMy parents passed the language down to me like their parents did
before them.
Unfortunately for Copts throughout Egypt, this process was broken over
the years,â she said. âI guess I have continued the destruction of
the language in many ways by me not passing it along to my children
âMy parents felt it was an important part of our heritage and spoke to
me in Coptic since I can remember,â
Zaki revealed. âWhy I didnât pass on the language to my children, I
donât know.â Zaki says that she often receives strange looks when
she is overheard speaking Coptic on her mobile phone. âPeople look at
me as if I am an alien and I donât belong. I guess that is what my
ancestors had to deal with,although violently in some instances,â she
said,which is the main reason that Zaki chose not to speak Coptic with
her children.
âI didnât want my kids to have to experience the exclusion that
Coptic had with me when I was younger,â she revealed. âI can
remember my friends making fun of me when I talked to my parents
But it is vital to her cultural understanding of being a Copt in a
country dominated by Islam. âIt gives me the strength to practice my
faith despite all the hardship that being Christian in an Islamic
country has,â Zaki said.
Some scholars have theorized that some remote villagers in the Delta
region of Egypt or in the south of the country may still speak forms of
the Coptic language. Because many Egyptians live in small villages away
from government control and active study by anthropologists, it is
theorized that Coptic will persist despite official numbers.
âIt would be nice to have more people speaking Coptic,â Zaki
admitted. âIt would mean that our culture and way of life will
continue in the years to come.â
That is unlikely considering the evidence. As it is already considered a
dead language akin to Latin, it seems implausible that undiscovered
speakers of Coptic will be discovered.
Hundreds of languages are lost each year as the remaining speakers pass
away.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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