Peust, Carsten: Egyptian phonology: an introduction to the phonology of a dead language (Göttingen, 1999)

wmt (w[V]'matV) "to become thick" t s'bWC/\OT /'wmat/

wmt.w ('wamVtwV) (stative of the same verb) > KWO.A^fljT /'wDmt/, bO?T0AT

mr ('mVrV) "to bind" t **>JHOVp /'mur/

mr.w ('murwV) (stative of the same verb) > s-1>AHp /'mer/

Xra£ (sanlV) (> "snt) "to quarrel" * s.bUJ(DNT/'Jont/

srat.w (sanVlwV) (> snt.w) (stative of the same verb) > s>bU[ONT /'J^ni/

/sr C'asrV) "to roast" t HOpUJ /'orf/ "to be scorched; to be cold" (with metathesis)
>sr.w C'sVrwV) (stative of the same verb) > sopttf /'or// (with metathesis)

or they were irregularly eliminated in all forms:

hpr ('haprV) "to become" > ^COne /'fopa/, kpuni

hpr.w ('hapVrwV) (stative of the same verb) * sUJOOFI /'J"3:p/, bUJOn

•zwr (zawrV) "to drink" > ^CO/'so/
zw>r-/"('zawVrfV) "to drink it" t K;004 /'s3:f/, H$<\

The Coptic dialects sometimes disagree in their choice of development:

sht (sahtV) "to weave" > bCu)3l, settle (regular) vs. HiO^J (by analogy)

sht.w (sahVtwV) (stative of the same verb) > bCHSl (by analogy) vs. SC&°,T (regular)

In the verb mwt "to die, (late also:) to kill", both alternatives came to split into two

distinct Coptic verbs:

1) s^OW /'mu/ "to die", and 2) sMKSWT /'mu:t/ "to kill".

This is easy to understand: Transitive verbs frequently make use of the status pronomi-

nalis of the infinitive (infinitive before pronominal object suffixes) in which final -t had

to be retained regularly, and thus analogy favored the preservation of -t in the base form

of the infinitive as well where it should have been otherwise lost. This analogy is less

evident for an intransitive verb.1^

Similarly, the verb rht "to wash, to mill textiles" (since MK) split into two verbs spCu°,e

(stative sp&§.e) "to wash" vs. spC02T (stative sp&2T) "to pound". The regular phonetic

developments should have produced a verb * sp(l)°,£ (stative sp&.°,T).

Just as for verbs, there can be morphophonological alternation in nouns, e.g.:

• dr.t ('dartV) "hand" > sT(0pe /'tore/, ^(Opt

• dr.«-/('darWV) "his hand" > sTOOT<f /'tD:tf/, kTOTq

• ntr (nalrV) "god" > srfOTSTe /'nuta/, bNO?Tt

• ntr.w (n[V]'turwV) "gods" > ^MTHp /n'ter/

or analogical levelling as in:

• sr.t "nose" * HIJ& /'Ja/, bUJdd

• sr.t-/"his nose" > S'kuj&NTM /'Jantf/ (with irregular intrusive -M-)

192 On the development of mwt see Till (1987: i33f.) and Vycichl (1957b: nf.).

154