
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 1997 18:21:35 -0500 (EST)
From: Graham <geoffrey.graham@yale.edu>
To: Ancient Egyptian Language List <AEgyptian-L@rostau.demon.co.uk>
Subject: AEL A Coptic Anecdote
Hi, I said before that I might offer something for those
interested in Coptic from time to time. I am not sure exactly how one
could go about teaching Coptic on a listserve like this, so I am going
to experiment with various things. This time, I am offering a brief
anecdote from the Apothegmata Patrum "Tales of the Desert Fathers".
It is very short, and possibly a little simplistic. I will try to explain
what is going on so that people will have a taste of what the last stage
of Egyptian sounded like.
The transcription is based on that system I posted to
the list some time back, and which Mark Wilson has so kindly put up
on the AEL web page for your reference. Remember that {@} represents
nothing more than a supralinear stroke above the following consonant.
You will have to insert more of these "schwa"s in other places
where the scribe did not write them, but it should be obvious where
they go. I will give the entire story and then parse it for you afterwards:
Transliteration:
1 apdiabolosSbtfhnouskEmanaggelosmpouoein
2 afouOnaheouannesnEuauOpecafnafceangpegabriElntautnnooutSarok
3 pecafdenafceanaucentautnnooukSakeouannesnEuanokgarntimpSaan
4 ntofdenteunouafratouOnhebol
(Yes, it's only a four liner! And, Coptic did not put spaces between words.)
Here it goes:
1 a-p-diabolos S@bt-f h@n-ouskhEma @n-aggelos @m-p-ouoein
"The devil transformed himself in an angelic costume of light."
Notes:
a- comes from ancient jrj "make/do". It is the conjugation base for the
past tense and serves much like a helping verb to the main verb.
p- "the" masculine singular.
diabolos a Greek word, the subject of the sentence.
S@bt the pre-prepositional form of the verb "transform/change".
The verb (S@bt-) of this sentence is conjugated with the
conjugation base and the noun {diabolos} as its subject.
(pronounce it "sh@bt")
-f comes from ancient =f. It is the third person singular masculine
suffix pronoun "he/him/his". Here it is the object of the verb.
By the time of Coptic, the sDm=f forms were dead, and the verbs
all came from infinitives, so suffix pronouns are usually their objects.
(pronounce it -@f)
h@n- from the preposition Xnw "in/within/inside".
ou- from w` "one", now it is the indefinite article "a/an".
skhEma a Greek word, the object of the preposition.
@n- from earlier m "in/as". This is the attributive construction. It
is how Coptic made adjectival expressions since all adjectives had become
nouns by this period.
aggelos a Greek word, made into an adjective by the preoposition @n-,
hence "angelic".
@m- from earlier n.y "of". Coptic assimilated the sound of @n- to @m-
in front of bilabial sounds like /p/.
p- the (not translated in the English in this case).
ouoein from earlier wbn "rise/shine", but now it means "light".
(pronounce it "woyn")
2 af-ouOnah e-oua @n-ne-snEu auO peca-f na-f ce an@g pe gabriEl
"He appeared to one of the brothers and he said to him; "I am
Gabriel
@nt-au t@nnoout Saro-k
(and) it is unto you that I have been sent."
Notes:
af- Conjugation base like a- above but with the pronoun =f attached to
it. This means that the verb which is coming will be past tense
and that "he" is the subject.
ouOnah from earlier wnx "dress up/put on clothes or other attributes",
now having the meaning of "reveal/appear". (pronounce "wo:nah")
e- from earlier r "to/toward/at/against". Preposition.
oua from earlier w` "one".
@n- from earlier n.y "of".
ne- from earlier n3- "the" plural.
snEu from earlier sn.w "brothers". "Brothers" here means
Christian "monks".
auO from earlier r-w3H.w (don't ask why. It is weird but true.). It
came to mean and.
peca came from p3y-Dd "this thing which is said", and it came to mean
"said".
-f "he", in this case it is the subject of the secondary clause.
na-f from earlier n=f "to him".
ce from earlier Dd "saying", it is used as a quote mark for what was
said.
an@g from earlier jnk "I/it is I". The main form in Coptic is {anok},
but this is the pre-nominal form.
pe from earlier p3y "this", like pw, it came to represent the verb to
be though it was not a verb but a copula. It does not originate
in pw because there are also {te}and {ne} for feminine and plural
subjects.
gabriEl a name "Gabriel", the angel of the Christian annunciation.
@nt- from earlier nty "who/which/that", but in this case it marks the
verb as a second tense or emphasizing form. The prepositional phrase
is what is emphasized.
au- conjugation base a- plus the third person plural pronoun =u
"they". By using a generic "they" Coptic expressed the passive.
t@nnoou from earlier dj-jnj.w "cause to bring/be brought" which came to
mean "send". (pronounce "t@nnow")
-t from earlier =j "me", but through a phonetic process which is
difficult to explain at this juncture.
Saro- from earlier xr "unto".
-k from earlier =k "you".
3 peca-f de na-f ce anau ce -nt-au-t@nnoou-k Sa-ke-oua @n-ne-snEu
"But he said to him: "Look, you you must have been sent unto
another one of the brothers,
anok gar @n-ti-@mpSa an
for, as for me, I am not worthy."
Notes:
peca-f "he said"
de a Greek particle "but/and".
na-f "to him".
ce quote marker.
anau from earlier j-nw "look/see" in the imperative.
gar a Greek particle "for".
@n- from earlier nj "not". It goes together with {an} at the end of
the expression, kind of like French with "ne" and "pas".
ti- present tense conugation base for "I".
@mpSa from earlier *jm3x(?) "worthy".
an end of the negation, from earlier jwn3.
4 @ntof de n-te-unou af-@r-at-ouOnh ebol
"And, as for him, then he disappeared."
Notes:
@ntof from earlier ntf "he/it is he".
de Greek particle "but/and".
n- from earlier m "in".
te- "the" feminine.
unou from earlier wnw.t "time/moment/hour". The expression {nteunou}
came to mean "then".
af- conjugation base for past with "he" as subject.
@r- from earlier jrj "do/make".
at- from earlier jwty "without/not".
ouOnh from ealrier wnx "appear".
ebol from earlier r-bnr "to the outside". The combination of
{r-at-ouOnh-ebol} came to mean "disappear".