# Coptic-Arabic Lexicography

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/coptic-arabic-lexicography — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

Coptic-Arabic glossaries preserved knowledge of Coptic through Arabic translations, helping readers understand biblical and liturgical texts and providing resources for later linguistic scholarship.[^1][^2]

## Purpose and terminology

Coptic-Arabic lexicography developed as Arabic gradually superseded Coptic in everyday speech, literature, and business. Bilingual word lists and grammatical summaries were prepared to preserve knowledge of Coptic, including Bohairic as the language of the church.[^1]

The Arabic name for a Coptic-Arabic dictionary is *sullam*, meaning “ladder,” with the plural *salalim*. Its Latin equivalent is *scala*. The name refers to the arrangement of Coptic words on the left and their Arabic equivalents on the right, producing the appearance of a ladder.[^2]

## Medieval compilers and methods

Anba Yuhanna al-Samannudi, bishop of Samannud in the western Delta in the middle of the thirteenth century, compiled *Al-Sullam al-Kana’isi*, also known as *Scala Ecclesiastica*. The work survives in Sahidic and Bohairic versions, both represented in numerous manuscripts.[^3]

Rather than a dictionary in the modern sense, this work is a glossary intended to help readers understand religious texts. It supplies Arabic translations of words from the New Testament, part of the Old Testament, and liturgical texts, following their order of occurrence while omitting repetitions. It begins with the Gospel of Saint John because of its easy style.[^3]

Al-Mu’taman Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn al-‘Assal employed a different arrangement in *al-Sullam al-Muqaffa wa-l-Dhahab al-Musaffa*, translated as “The Rhymed Dictionary and the Purified Gold.” Following a method used in Arabic dictionaries, he classified words first by their final letter, then by their first and second letters.[^4]

These medieval works belonged to a longer history of bilingual vocabulary collection. Earlier Coptic glossaries included Greek-Coptic and Latin-Greek-Coptic materials; the oldest surviving Coptic glossary is a Mesokemic manuscript apparently dating to the second half of the third century.[^5]

## Scholarly value and limitations

Coptic glossaries were valued in the Middle Ages and later because they enabled readers to understand the Scriptures in Coptic. Modern scholars have preferred original texts for documenting religious vocabulary, while continuing to consult ordered lexicons containing everyday words, particularly for natural history, geography, and dictionary compilation.[^6]

The lexicons also require care as evidence for linguistic contact. They were compiled when Sahidic and Bohairic had undergone substantial phonetic and lexical changes, yet the *scalae* appear to contain relatively few Arabic-derived words despite the extensive Arabic vocabulary found in other late Coptic material.[^6]

## Later reception

Athanasius Kircher’s *Lingua Aegyptiaca Restituta* appeared in 1643 and was later used by Champollion in deciphering hieroglyphs. It is important for early European Coptic studies but does not meet modern scholarly standards.[^7]

Later Coptic efforts to revive Bohairic continued the tradition of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century grammarians. Works by Barsum, published in 1882, and Labib, cited under 1915, are among the principal lexicons associated with this activity.[^8]

## Sources
[^1]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 732)
[^2]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 450)
[^3]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 450)
[^4]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 450)
[^5]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 228)
[^6]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 455)
[^7]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 455)
[^8]: The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8, Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 230)