Sahidic Coptic
Sahidic is a dialect of Coptic attested in biblical manuscripts, monastic literature, romances, inscriptions, and medieval grammatical studies.[^1][^4][^5][^6][^7]
Also known as: Sahidic · S
Language and linguistic features
Sahidic is a dialect of Coptic discussed alongside Bohairic in medieval grammatical works.1 In linguistic notation it is designated S; classical Sahidic lost the phoneme /x/, which Akhmimic and Bohairic retained from earlier Egyptian.2
One example of distinctive vocabulary is apa, the Sahidic counterpart of Bohairic abba. These forms are cognate with the Greek monastic titles abbas or abba, associated with the meaning “father” and used for monks recognized as spiritual fathers.3
Manuscripts and literature
Sahidic is represented in biblical manuscript collections. The Crosby Schøyen Codex, a single-quire papyrus codex in Sahidic, preserves works including On the Pascha, a translation of 2 Maccabees 5:27–7:41, 1 Peter, Jonah, and an unidentified text.4
Monastic libraries also preserved Sahidic hagiography. At least four Sahidic codices from the White Monastery contained material concerning John of Lycopolis, although only about thirty damaged leaves survived from their several hundred original leaves. The surviving material includes lives and an encomium, or formal work of praise.5
Sahidic literature also includes romances. A fragmentary Sahidic version of the Alexander Romance came from a manuscript of the White Monastery near Suhaj. The Cambyses Romance survives in six damaged parchment leaves written in Sahidic, probably dating to the eighth or ninth century.6
Ecclesiastical and devotional use
The Sahidic version of the Apostolic Canons contains seventy-one canons. There are two complete manuscripts, one dated to 1005–1006 and another to the eighteenth or nineteenth century; the Bohairic translation was made from Sahidic.8
Sahidic also appears in devotional inscriptions. Graffiti at Wadi Shaykh ‘Ali include personal names and appeals such as “Pray for me in love” and “Jesus Christ, help me.”7
Medieval preservation and study
The Mysteries of Greek Letters, translated into Sahidic from Greek, survives in a bilingual Sahidic-Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian Library. Its copyist recorded completing his work on 9 May 1393.9
Medieval scholars studied Sahidic grammar alongside Bohairic. The fourteenth-century Triadon, a didactic poem in Sahidic by an anonymous author, originally comprised 734 verses, of which 428 survived with an Arabic translation. In the fifteenth century, women and children in Upper Egypt knew almost no language for communication other than Sahidic Coptic.1
References
Sources
- 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 711)
Anba Athanasius, bishop of Qus, wrote a work entitled Qiladat al-Tahrir fi ‘Ilm al-Tafsir (The Art of Interpretation), another introduction to the Bohairic and Sahidic grammars. In the fourteenth century, a remarkable work entitled Triadon, a didactic poem in Sahidic Coptic, appeared by an anonymous writer, possibly an Upper Egyptian monk. The original poem was in 734 verses, of which only 428 survived, with an Arabic translation that is somewhat artificial and not always clear. It was an attempt to glorify the moribund Coptic language and eulogize biblical personalities and Coptic saints. In
- 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 8 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 421)
At most, by comparing the idioms of Coptic with each other, one finds that some, particularly Akhmimic (A) and Bohairic (B), have a phonemic inventory slightly richer than certain others, such as Sahidic (S), Lyco(Dios)politan (L), Mesokemic (M), crypto-Mesokemic (W), South Fayyumic (V), and Fayyumic (F). For example, A and B have retained phonemes such as /x/ from pharaonic Egyptian, which classical S and L have lost.
- 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 6)
In the ancient monastic sources (APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM, HISTORIA MONACHORUM IN AEGYPTO, PALLADIUS Historia Lausiaca, etc.), the name of a monk is generally preceded by the Greek word abbas or abba, the cognate of the Coptic apa (Sahidic) or abba (Bohairic), the Arabic aba or anba. This is clearly the Aramaic and Syriac ab in its emphatic state, abba, "father." (It is also attested, less frequently, in the feminine, in the form ammas or amma, corresponding to the Syriac ‘em, ‘emma, "mother.") The term is applied to the monk considered as a spiritual father, because endowed with charismata, as is
- 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 835)
CROSBY SCHØYEN CODEX (earlier names: Crosby Codex, Mississippi Coptic Codex I, and Savery Codex), a single-quire papyrus codex in Sahidic Coptic ... The surviving pages of the codex preserve five distinct tractates. These include MELITIUS OF SARDIS's On the Pascha (pp. 7-51; pp. 23-51 extant), The Jewish Martyrs, a translation of 2 Maccabees 5:27-7:41 (pp. 52-74), 1 Peter (pp. 75-107), Jonah (pp. 107-124), and an unidentified text (pp. 124-26).
- 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 30)
With Poemenia it is possible to move from the Greco-Latin tradition about John to Coptic tradition, which, in fact, tells about the woman visitor to Lycopolis, who had the benefit of a cure and a prophecy from John, then left for Jerusalem. There did exist at least four Sahidic codices from the White Monastery (DAYR ANBA SHINUDAH) with abundant material on John. Unfortunately, only thirty or so damaged leaves survive out of the several hundreds they contained. However, there are enough for us to be able to make out two types of hagiographic literature: a life or series of lives, beginning with
- 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 64)
The fragmentary Coptic (Sahidic) version was taken from a book in the White Monastery (DAYR ANBA SHINUDAH) of Apa Shenute the Great near Suhaj in Upper Egypt.
- 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 65)
Of the Cambyses Romance there remains only a fragmentary version of six parchment leaves in poor condition at the Staatliches Museum in Berlin (P9009; probably eighth or ninth century). The text is written in Sahidic Coptic, and undoubtedly formed part of a larger manuscript of unknown origin.
- 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 675)
A multitude of graffiti in Sahidic Coptic contain the names of Phoibammon, Pekin, Fakire, Solomon, David, Philotheus son of David, Chael, and Stauros. Their inscriptions are similar in content. "Pray for me in love" is customary. "Jesus Christ, help me" also occurs.
- 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 348)
The Sahidic Coptic version counts seventy-one canons ... This is preserved in two complete manuscripts, one in the British Library (Or. 1320, cf. Crum, 1905, no. 162), dating from A.M. 722 (A.D. 1005-1006), and an unnumbered manuscript in the Coptic Patriarchate in Cairo, dating from the eighteenth or nineteenth century. ... According to the colophon, this translation was made from the Sahidic.
- 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 6 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 133)
This text is known from a bilingual Sahidic Coptic and Arabic manuscript preserved in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Huntington 396). ... The Sahidic text is certainly translated from the Greek. ... This Arabic version was made by the copyist of the manuscript himself, who does not give his name but who records that he completed his work on 14 Bashans 1109 A.M./9 May 1393.
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