DOI article:
Crum, Walter E.: Progress of Egyptology: christian Egypt
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12052#0073
60
Progress of Egyptology.
Abutig, for use in his own diocese, where Protestant propaganda is
particularly obtrusive. The other book,4'b of almost twice the size, is by
a native of Erment and purports to be the outcome of discussions with a
Protestant priest upon selected features of the " orthodox" faith.
4. Philology. Benigni's ecclesiastical lexicon (v. Report 1901-2, 54)
has been completed and provided with a Latin index.4S
Spiegelberg suggests49 that the title Insane, which is now assumed to
= heathen Aeo-ww?, is a Mid. Egyptian form, and that a lost Sa'id.
lewue is to be presumed. But it should be observed that it is in Sa'idic
texts, and only there, that lasaue has as yet been met with.
Lacau has made studies of certain plural forms, which he would explain
as results of phonetic decay.50
Littman, following the lead of Praetorius, points out51 apparent results
of Coptic influence on Egyptian Arabic, in regard to the expression of
the comparative degree, and of emphasis by means of extra pronouns.
It may appear doubtful whether much of value is to be obtained by
studying the pronunciation of a language so "dead" as Coptic, in the
mouths of those who use it merely as a ceremonial idiom, with (generally)
a but imperfect apprehension of its meaning. The study was, some years
ago, undertaken by de Bochemonteix, and has now been repeated by
J. Dyneley Prince.52 He has transcribed readings by priests or teachers
at five points between the Delta and First Cataract. He believes the
pronunciation in this class to have been carefully handed down, uncon-
taminated by Arabic. Yet some of his principal evidence was obtained
from persons whose unusually thorough knowledge of the language cer-
tainly rests, to a great extent, on the study of European grammars, by
which any native traditions would almost inevitably be modified. Certain
of the facts observed are, however, of much interest, e.g. the still persistent
tendency in Upper Egypt to fuse two short into a long vowel, to pronounce
8 as /, and (for less evident reasons) ?; as a. The prosthetic vowel with an
initial consonant, in the northern provinces, can be exemplified by several
Bohairic texts, as Amelineau's Voyage d'uu moine (Eectwil vi.). It may
be remarked that no " Dutch traveller Van Sleb" is known, and that
Pelulc is not Bulak but Philae.
5. Non-literary Texts, Inscriptions. The remaining fifty-three numbers
in de Bock's texts published by Turaief (v. above)^ fall under this
heading. They consist of (1) papyri, with an interesting legal document
from Eshmunein, and a fragment showing the name Sbeht=~E,dfu, (2) a
Copto-Arabie medical receipt on paper, (3) ostraca, among which a series
from Achmim with new formulae, and one from Luxor bearing the Syriac
Progress of Egyptology.
Abutig, for use in his own diocese, where Protestant propaganda is
particularly obtrusive. The other book,4'b of almost twice the size, is by
a native of Erment and purports to be the outcome of discussions with a
Protestant priest upon selected features of the " orthodox" faith.
4. Philology. Benigni's ecclesiastical lexicon (v. Report 1901-2, 54)
has been completed and provided with a Latin index.4S
Spiegelberg suggests49 that the title Insane, which is now assumed to
= heathen Aeo-ww?, is a Mid. Egyptian form, and that a lost Sa'id.
lewue is to be presumed. But it should be observed that it is in Sa'idic
texts, and only there, that lasaue has as yet been met with.
Lacau has made studies of certain plural forms, which he would explain
as results of phonetic decay.50
Littman, following the lead of Praetorius, points out51 apparent results
of Coptic influence on Egyptian Arabic, in regard to the expression of
the comparative degree, and of emphasis by means of extra pronouns.
It may appear doubtful whether much of value is to be obtained by
studying the pronunciation of a language so "dead" as Coptic, in the
mouths of those who use it merely as a ceremonial idiom, with (generally)
a but imperfect apprehension of its meaning. The study was, some years
ago, undertaken by de Bochemonteix, and has now been repeated by
J. Dyneley Prince.52 He has transcribed readings by priests or teachers
at five points between the Delta and First Cataract. He believes the
pronunciation in this class to have been carefully handed down, uncon-
taminated by Arabic. Yet some of his principal evidence was obtained
from persons whose unusually thorough knowledge of the language cer-
tainly rests, to a great extent, on the study of European grammars, by
which any native traditions would almost inevitably be modified. Certain
of the facts observed are, however, of much interest, e.g. the still persistent
tendency in Upper Egypt to fuse two short into a long vowel, to pronounce
8 as /, and (for less evident reasons) ?; as a. The prosthetic vowel with an
initial consonant, in the northern provinces, can be exemplified by several
Bohairic texts, as Amelineau's Voyage d'uu moine (Eectwil vi.). It may
be remarked that no " Dutch traveller Van Sleb" is known, and that
Pelulc is not Bulak but Philae.
5. Non-literary Texts, Inscriptions. The remaining fifty-three numbers
in de Bock's texts published by Turaief (v. above)^ fall under this
heading. They consist of (1) papyri, with an interesting legal document
from Eshmunein, and a fragment showing the name Sbeht=~E,dfu, (2) a
Copto-Arabie medical receipt on paper, (3) ostraca, among which a series
from Achmim with new formulae, and one from Luxor bearing the Syriac