Newberry, Percy E.: The Amherst papyri: being an account of the Egyptian papyri in the collection of Lord Amherst of Hackney (London, 1899)

( 59 )

COPTIC PAPYRUS.

Composed of eight selides, in all 43f in. long
by 6\ in. wide. The text is written upon the
horizontal fibres in a clumsy, ligatureless hand,
probably of the eighth century. It consists of
one of those numerous legal documents—over a
hundred are at present known,—once deposited
in the monastery of St. Phoebamon at 'Abd
el-kurnah, the Jeme of the Copts and their
ancestors, the Castrum Memnonium of the
Byzantines,—and now dispersed among the
European museums. These documents fall
for the most part into two groups; they are
either dedications of children by their parents
to the service of the monastery, or wills, sales
and other declarations regarding ownership or
inheritance. The present papyrus belongs to
the latter group. It is written, like all the
similar texts, in the Sa'idic dialect, with a
heavy proportion of words drawn from the
Greek documents upon which the Coptic legal
terminology was modelled. The orthography
of the whole is remarkably inaccurate.

The very unsystematic pointing of the original
has been omitted in the following transcript;
the spelling has not been corrected, and "sic"
has been added at only a few points.

£ g,ju.npi.n nneiurr ju.nnajHpe junnenrti.
exoTi.i.& gj.iu.nooT rt&ooT execoTxoTxnne

tic 1

njutecoTpn nxenxepoju.ne nxtoxeKixcc
5 nxeKXii.noc ru.£,pn nxumejioxixoc | Xeon-
xioc ju.ruui.Hrti. rtXi-umiT nnKi.cxpon XHJU_e
i.noK xci&Xe2 TctjHpe eriVi.iu.Tioc3 xeenixe
i.igjHe i.g,pi.i i/rajoone eqg,oce i.ipg,oxe
xejunnoxe nxennoTxe cyme nccoi nxi.ei
io i.&oX g,nne | fiioc nxi.Ko nni.gjU5.ft eqao

ill

ni.nHexon jutnxi.npu5cc£>opi. * i.i[-f-]ni.oTi.i

sic

i.2iii.xji.©HKe eni.xni.pi.fte hjuloc rux-
aji.Xec e.ftoX enepg,ooTo xe x<^xpo itjuloc
g,ixn ^n-sus-ertxpH eni.|;ionicxoc | i/rtu is
Ju.noTpeqcgji.1 expeqcg,i.i gji.pooT epe-
ni.gjHX cju.onx eigjjutooc gjixrtni.JULi.rten-
KOTe epeni.noc cjuxmex epeni.Xovecju.oc
xi.xpeT ijp&oxe xeju.HnoXH nxexi.no-
$i.cic xi.g,oi g,tox nee | npcujute niJUL Kixi. ao
on nxi.nnoTxe nXovoc gjU5pi.^e nJu.oc
i.xrtneneicox xnpen i.2ii.ju. xenxKOTKi-g,

sic

eKni.KoxeK i.nKi.g, i.jxmi.oTi.1 2uxii.eHKe
eftoXxei-igjKe eni.g,i.i eqnpocexH ^-P01
g,nni.g,ice XHpeq | i.TU3 eq$oXoKi.pe i.poi 25
gjruu.nxKi.Ti.5 nut*. eq©i.Xne iuu.01 g,nxeq-
cTojul XHpec i.ixooc xeju.nnoTxe enxen-
noTxe xnoi gjineqft.HJU.i. exg,i.g,oxe ex-
fteneqg,ice Ju.nxi.npoc$opi. xenoTVH 'fKH-
Xere nxeg,H | exfieneqxooT nxepju-Hceion6 30
epeni.gji.1 ni.fi.ixoT neqxi.i.T nnpoc^opi.
g,i.poi i.ifU3 on ni.ju.epoc enHi nxi.qei ixtui
£,i.ni.eiu)x JU.nni.Ju.Hpoc neicogjftepfiujxe7
epeni.g,i.! ni-cyume quo nxoeic epooT eqni.-
xixeT |-f julh nxoxq nni.cnHi8 neqxi.C35
nnopoc$opi. g,i-poi i-Tto on exftenecKeTe
nxi-^ei i.[xcui g,]i.ni.eio3x eicupeK nnnoTx[e9
ni.nxj0TKpi.xu5p xeJU.ei-fXi.Te nni.g,i.i
ng,HX0T nneXi.Te npcojuie ecucTju-cToju. enei
i.|ftoX i.poK aji.i.ne£, eg.i-Xi.Te nnpo$i.ciC4o
nxiju.eme oTxe con otxb cume oTxe
puojuLe gjCuXec emoine oTxe nxoK oTxe