DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1167#0134
However, a marginal opposition between aspirate <i> /ph/ and non-aspirate IT /p/ has begun
to develop by Bohairic. First, the stop is written n even before a stressed vowel if a
morpheme boundary intervenes. Thus, virtual phonological contrasts arise such as IT-HI
"the house" — <I?HI "leap", or IT-COOff "the glory" — $a>0?T "theirs". Furthermore, the
stop is written IT before the stressed vowel if a consonant once intervened which was lost
in Bohairic. I know only two such cases: bITHpi /'peri/ "quail" < Egyptian p'r.t
(prVpurtV) and b€ITHIT /a'pep/ (month name) < Egyptian ipip (i[V]p'iupV). This IT can in
theory contrast with cf> (I can only offer a near-minimal pair bITHpi /'peri/ "quail" — bcj>ipi
/'phiri/ "to come forth"). Based on these examples, one could posit a phonological
contrast IT /p/ — 4> /ph/ for Bohairic, which would however be of a very marginal
nature.1^2 If we take Greek loans into consideration, where % and <j> are usually preserved
as in the source language, the contrast will be much more evident.
<p> is often not tolerated in direct contact with a dental stop and shifts to Coptic B /fV or
OV /w/, or is lost completely.1^ This sound shift is almost obligatory for <p> preceding T:
ipd "bird" > KOBT /'opt/
Itp "to load" > sain /'otp/ but in Bohairic (DfiT /'opt/ with metathesis (attested only
once)
ptr-s "look at it!" > Demotic ts (djs) (presentative particle) (etymology by Shisha-
Halevy 1989: 427)
*sptw.t > sCTCO /'sto/ "river bank" (Fecht i960: note 227 on p. 76)
spd.t "Sirius (star)" > s(T&.JT)COT€ /tap'sota/ et var.; aaBic, in Greek transcription
(Cerny 1976: 192)
spdd "to prepare" > HlOBTe /'sapta/, bCOBf
tp-dbn (place name) > TOTTTCCN /tu'ton/, TePfuvii; in Greek transcription (Osing
1976a: note 829 on p. 7i3)
But: pth (divine name) > <)>9a in Greek transcription, snTA°, /'ptah/
This sound shift is attested but not obligatory for <p> following T:
• stp "to choose" > sCCuTIT /'sotp/
• tp-n-tiiv.t "animal" > sTBNH /tp'ne/
While Greek loan words are left unaffected by this development for the most part (cf.
B^ITTei "to harm", Bohlig 1954: 47), there is a Bohairic rendering ?veBTON for ^CITTOM
(a coin) < Xercrov (Crum 1989: 27).
We can place this development into a wider context. According to the rules of consonant
incompatibilities (Eg* §4.11), <p> could not co-occur with <k> and <q> in Earlier Egyptian.
So there were already some restrictions for <p> to be part of a cluster of stops within a
152 Another solution would be to assume that a reflex of Egyptian <l> and <S is still pre-
sent in Bohairic although not expressed in writing. This is Hintze's (1980: 59) solu-
tion who interprets bITHpi as /p?e:ra/ and beiTHn as /?ap?e:p/. On this US5 § 3.4.2.
153 This rule was first formulated by Steindorff (1894: 10), albeit in a somewhat more
restricted form.
134
to develop by Bohairic. First, the stop is written n even before a stressed vowel if a
morpheme boundary intervenes. Thus, virtual phonological contrasts arise such as IT-HI
"the house" — <I?HI "leap", or IT-COOff "the glory" — $a>0?T "theirs". Furthermore, the
stop is written IT before the stressed vowel if a consonant once intervened which was lost
in Bohairic. I know only two such cases: bITHpi /'peri/ "quail" < Egyptian p'r.t
(prVpurtV) and b€ITHIT /a'pep/ (month name) < Egyptian ipip (i[V]p'iupV). This IT can in
theory contrast with cf> (I can only offer a near-minimal pair bITHpi /'peri/ "quail" — bcj>ipi
/'phiri/ "to come forth"). Based on these examples, one could posit a phonological
contrast IT /p/ — 4> /ph/ for Bohairic, which would however be of a very marginal
nature.1^2 If we take Greek loans into consideration, where % and <j> are usually preserved
as in the source language, the contrast will be much more evident.
<p> is often not tolerated in direct contact with a dental stop and shifts to Coptic B /fV or
OV /w/, or is lost completely.1^ This sound shift is almost obligatory for <p> preceding T:
ipd "bird" > KOBT /'opt/
Itp "to load" > sain /'otp/ but in Bohairic (DfiT /'opt/ with metathesis (attested only
once)
ptr-s "look at it!" > Demotic ts (djs) (presentative particle) (etymology by Shisha-
Halevy 1989: 427)
*sptw.t > sCTCO /'sto/ "river bank" (Fecht i960: note 227 on p. 76)
spd.t "Sirius (star)" > s(T&.JT)COT€ /tap'sota/ et var.; aaBic, in Greek transcription
(Cerny 1976: 192)
spdd "to prepare" > HlOBTe /'sapta/, bCOBf
tp-dbn (place name) > TOTTTCCN /tu'ton/, TePfuvii; in Greek transcription (Osing
1976a: note 829 on p. 7i3)
But: pth (divine name) > <)>9a in Greek transcription, snTA°, /'ptah/
This sound shift is attested but not obligatory for <p> following T:
• stp "to choose" > sCCuTIT /'sotp/
• tp-n-tiiv.t "animal" > sTBNH /tp'ne/
While Greek loan words are left unaffected by this development for the most part (cf.
B^ITTei "to harm", Bohlig 1954: 47), there is a Bohairic rendering ?veBTON for ^CITTOM
(a coin) < Xercrov (Crum 1989: 27).
We can place this development into a wider context. According to the rules of consonant
incompatibilities (Eg* §4.11), <p> could not co-occur with <k> and <q> in Earlier Egyptian.
So there were already some restrictions for <p> to be part of a cluster of stops within a
152 Another solution would be to assume that a reflex of Egyptian <l> and <S is still pre-
sent in Bohairic although not expressed in writing. This is Hintze's (1980: 59) solu-
tion who interprets bITHpi as /p?e:ra/ and beiTHn as /?ap?e:p/. On this US5 § 3.4.2.
153 This rule was first formulated by Steindorff (1894: 10), albeit in a somewhat more
restricted form.
134