Contents
Introduction
20
/p/ and /b/, this distinction best conforms with the evidence that is presently available
…
into consideration would allow for p and b to be analysed as mere allophones of a single
…
it are simply wrong. For example, the statement that the Coptic successors of p and b
…
/b/, if instead the tonal system was analysed as allophonic.
Basic information about Egyptian
36
Coptic. Sahidic is encoded as S, Bohairic as B, certain subvarieties of Bohairic as B4, Bg
…
left: s Sahidic, b Bohairic, a Akhmimic,' Lycopolitan, f Fayyumic, m Mesokemic.
Consonants
79
<b>
…
least for <b> and <c> there is evidence that they were originally stops. The assignment
…
It is disputed at which time stops of class 3 developed into spirants. I argue that both <b>
84
nants other than stops, such as rhbw "fire" > SA9,(I)B, mhw.t "family" > mA2,e'S"7o, nhr
…
seOOtfT /'thowt/, beC0O3T and hw.t-hrw > soAOGOp /hat'hor/, b&e(i)p (both are originally
85
<b>, cases of confusion can already be observed in the New (or perhaps even Middle)
…
(b),(%d,d,g,q
86
(stative) > b©02- On these cf. Fecht (i960: note 505 on p. i8of.), Osing (1976a: notes 611
…
/n/, ^ HI, p hi, B /p/, (1)1, OV /vff). Thus, the aspirate sign may not only be a representative
…
of the following sonorant (thus XN&.'B' would be spoken something like knnaw). Vycichl
…
• p}i (demonstrative pronoun) > b<j>dJ /'phaj/ in autonomous position but bn<M- /paj-/
92
whether the contrasts /b/ — /p/ and /g/ — /k/ did develop in Late Coptic and were
…
b
…
/b/ in European loan words.
93
b
…
vs. non-aspirate. Arabic voiced d is represented as A; Arabic b is rendered as FT because
…
b
106
• %c.w "treasuries" (since OK) > *ihr.w^ > s&20Xl)p, b^o.(l)p
…
• 'hmw ~ csmw ~ 'hmw "twigs" > b^&Se.A\ (for the Egyptian word see von Deines &
109
• qhqh "to hammer (metal)" > H5dJieq,~s&b&sq,, bA&2Ae9,
…
well as to the Sahidic noun B^TG of indeterminable gender. Both these words are
110
Sethe 1899-1902: I, § 227a), just as it often does preceding <m>, <p>, or <b> (Kg* § 3.16.1):
…
Kingdom, with the Greek name ©npai^ which appears as te-qa- in linear-B texts. The
111
b&©0&f ~d^AOAf, from Semitic *'agalt-, Hoch 1994: no. 100).
…
or one of the consonants <b> or <w>; it seems plausible that these sounds have evoked an
115
b/j/
123
hnd "to tread" > ^(ONT /'hont/, b£)CuNT /'xont/ "to approach"
…
ih r-k "what is to you?; why do you (...)?" > sd,2pO-K /ah'rak/, b&£)0-K (with
133
<b> ibi (> m
…
<b> /p/ ~ [bi
…
<b>/p/
…
There are five Egyptian graphemes for labial consonants: <f>, <b>, <p>, <m>, and <w>. For the
134
(prVpurtV) and b€ITHIT /a'pep/ (month name) < Egyptian ipip (i[V]p'iupV). This IT can in
…
<p> is often not tolerated in direct contact with a dental stop and shifts to Coptic B /fV or
…
B^ITTei "to harm", Bohlig 1954: 47), there is a Bohairic rendering ?veBTON for ^CITTOM
135
For rare cases of a development p > b outside this condition see Osing (1976a: note 461
…
<b> in Egyptian
…
• w'b (w[V]'cabV) "to be pure" (infinitive) > sOTOn /"wop/
…
• w'b.w (wa'VbwV) "to be pure" (stative) > "OTdAB /'wa:p7, 'W&B
…
after single consonants but were retained after consonant clusters. Any /b/ which
…
Traces of the sound shift /b/ > /pi can be found in writing from the New Kingdom on (cf.
136
3.12.5 B 'n Coptic
…
Bohairic seems to have had the peculiarity that 6 was realized as a stop [b] in word-final
…
• qlb "to double" > sKCOB /'kop/, *>KCl)B~Ka>n /'kop/ f'kob]
…
I assume that Bohairic [b] is a phonetic archaism: /b/ usually shifted to /p/ but was
…
consonants: b (= /b/, for IT, <l>, and word-final B), b' (probably = /p/, for word-initial and
…
The bilabial nature of B seems to be confirmed by a sound rule of Sahidic according to
143
Ub.fi (j[V]'JVbVtjV) "east" > sei(e)BT/3]pt/ ~ /'jpt/, b(e)feBT
…
• itp C?atpV) "to load" > sCOTF! /'otp/, b(l)6T
145
bho "hill" (b[V]'kwV) (since MK) > 600V /'p3w/*74
…
3 "big" ("a>V) > s'b-0 fof (in Coptic found in compounds only)
149
• ink (ia'nakV) independent personal pronoun 1st pers. sg. > s'b&NOK /a'nok/
…
1) itrw "river, Nile" > ^lOOp fp:r/, bIOp "canal" and 2) 'i "big" > s>b-0 hi
…
• di.t-w'b- "to cleanse" (with following pronominal suffix) > sTBfiO- /tB'o/, bTO'S'60-
151
• miwt ('mi?VwtV) "to think" (since MK) > s-a^e€?re /'me:w3/, b>\e?TI
…
• snw.t "granary" > bUJ£'B'NI /'Jewni/ (with metathesis)
…
• th.t ('tihtV) "to be drunk" > ^e /'tihe/, b©l3l
158
• htr "span of horses; couple" > ^dvTpe vs. b&0pe
…
• soeiAe, o&eiAe, b(2)(0IAI "hook", a derivation from him "to catch fish"201
159
• hw.t-hrw "Hathor (divine name)" > ^d^etflp, b&e(!)p (name of the 3rd month of the
…
• pr-b'st.t "house of Bastet (goddess)", a place name > 'TiO'ff'BdXf
165
Sonorants in this sense are <m>, <n>, <r> (/r/ and /l/), <b> /p/, but not 1)1 and /w/. In the
…
• ibnw "alum" > soBN /'apn/, b(06eN
…
• inhmn (a fruit) >(?) ^pA&N /hr'man/, b(2)epA&N "pomegranate". The words for
167
and as 2ePewoto<; in Greek, > sAeAN03T /com'nut/, b£6>\N0,S,t. The modern Arabic
…
nb) "spindle" > a<\B£l /J'Pej/; but without dissimilation bAB<M and, with irregular It,
…
nsb "to lick" (since OK) > b^&nCI /'lapsi/ "to bite" (cf. also Arabic v_a~J lasaba "to
…
• mrkbt "chariot" (from Semitic, B®5 appendix 5) > ^epeeCOOTTT ~ BpeOOTT,
Syllable structure and phonotactis
193
etymologically, e.g. mini "to land" > sAO0N£, b(&).M)NI; on this cf. Osing (1976a: note
…
metathesis in fC€B"°.l /'sewhi/ as opposed to SC&.2,0'8' /'sahu/ (or /'sahw/) < shwr
Vowels
240
• mwt "to die, to kill" > VMMSWT /'muwt/, b.M0OTT /'mowt/
…
• pr "house" (since OK) > sAeNe-JT(0p /cang'por/, b£eNe-(£top "roof
241
• iyr "stag" (since NK) > ^(CjfOTfX /a'jul/, b£I(W?V, probably from Semitic *?ajjal-,
…
• Demotic mil "onion" > *AZMK /m'col/, b(e)*AQ)?i~*S(W?v, cf. Arabic J-=j basal
244
HiOS, b(0Otf
245
The nominal plural suffix s-00?re, b-(0O'S"l is irregular. I assume that its form has been
…
Bohairic form -C0OTTI was influenced by the plurals in s>b-CuO?T (e.g. s>bp0)O?T
251
b,ne
255
• b& ('baJkV) "servant" > tfiCOK /'Bok/
…
• w'b (WbV) "priest" > sOTTHHB /'we:p7, bO-JTHB, <WieiB€ /'wi:p[a]/
…
lost (f£S" § 3.14.3), but the final vowel is usually preserved as s-6, b-l (vowel of class 2 as
…
mtr.t ('mVtVrtV) "noon" (>? 'mVtVrrV) > sA6ep€ /'me:ra/, b*epi
…
• hbsw.t (h[V]b'sawtV) "clothing" > ^BCO) /hg'so/, ^eBOl) (instead of *2[e]BC(0€)
256
• mri.t ('mirVjtV) "to love" > a^ei£ /'meja/ (or /'me:ja/?), b^ei /'mej/ or /'mei/ (for
…
preserved as s-a-€, b-0 (vowel class 3 as defined in § 5.8.5):
…
• msdr ('masVdrV) "ear" > ms4c (OS* § 3.6.4.4) > s/\dAA6, b^d.«JA
257
s-€, b-0 in this case (US* § 5.8.6.5):
…
• bibi (bfVl'JubJV) "hole" (> b[V]'}ubV) > »J*HB /'BeB/
258
4b' "to seal" > sTQXfl6e, bTCl)B~TCl)n.
…
feminine gender marker -t > s-€, b-f (e.g. sn.fi "two [fem.]" + -t > sCNT-e /'sntg/,
261
is in contact with them (b&Q'ifCuT /'t[h]wot/ "statue" < twtw written with the aspirate
…
• The opinion that Coptic has no glides at all, thus (6)1 and (O)B" always express
Prosody
278
occurrence, and b) the fact that the elements occurred in syntagmatic combination does
…
(stressed s'b&. before M is impossible morpheme-internally, E5° § 5.10).
289
9) nominal prefix s'b&T + (nominal or verbal) stem. This prefix forms nouns of negative
…
11) relative clause marker s'b€T + verb
…
The columns refer to the following graphical features of Coptic (S = Sahidic, B -
…
b) use of the complex grapheme f for the sequence /ti/ (as opposed to TI or T£l)
Appendix 1-10
296
b
299
d + b
…
p + b
…
t + b
…
t + b
…
k + b
…
b + b
…
b + d
…
b + z
…
b+f
…
b + s
…
b+h
…
b + q
…
b+b
…
b+g
304
B(0Te
306
B®* § 4.8.6.
310
s.b©On /'kiap/
311
?dbi:b
315
yws?b
320
h?b[hab]
322
b
…
/fait/ "to jump, to run" < sn(l)T, b$(DT "to
…
^Aecop, b&ecop
…
/han'du:s/ "lizard" < b&M0O?rC "lizard"
327
word B in
328
B.CDK
Selective index, Bibliography, Abbreviations of journals
332
'b
336
B, Nr. 50)
…
Bishai, Wilson B. i960: Notes on the Coptic substratum in Egyptian Arabic, in JAOS 80: 225-
…
Bongenaar, A.C.V.M. & Haring, B.J.J. 1994: Egyptians in Neo-Babylonian Sippar, in JCS 46:
339
----- 1967: Grammaire elementaire du Moyen Egyptien, traduite par B. van de Walle et J.
…
im Text, Tubingen: J.C.B. Mohr
352
Berlin par B. van der Walle, Bruxelles
…
und iibersetzt. Zweite, verbesserte Auflage, 2 volumes, Stuttgart: B.G. Teubner
ssm "to guide"
sjh "to release"
s'h "to glorify"
shr "to throw down"
shd "to illumine"
143 occurrences
58 occurrences
38 occurrences
34 occurrences
24 occurrences
srd "to cause to grow" 12 occurrences
smn "to make firm"
sd> "to travel"
sjp "to examine"
srs "to awaken"
s'q "to cause to enter"
sgr "to make silent"
107 occurrences
40 occurrences
35 occurrences
20 occurrences
15 occurrences
10 occurrences
Causative verbs of lower frequency have been left in the list as they are. For many
of these, the decision as to whether initial 5- is a causative morpheme or not would
have been difficult to make.
In the following, each of the 24 transcription symbols which we distinguished are listed
together with their token-frequency (number of occurrences of the relevant letter in the
database) and its type-frequency (number of different lexical entries in the database
which contain the letter). If a letter appears more than once in a word, this only affects
the counting of tokens (e.g. each occurrence of the word m>> is counted as two tokens with
respect to the consonant >, but this is still only one type). We counted separately how
often each consonant occurs as the first, the second, and the third consonant in a word.
cons.
sum
token type
1st
token
type
2nd
token
type
3rd
token
type
i
0751
446
2493
±33
567
47
6691
279
n
g6o6
517
3S5°
166
4782
342
1274
146
r
7695
244
1800
41
2431
107
3464
110
w
7363
524
a&S
i3o
1719
117
3l29
295
1
5506
480
232
38
3oi7
271
2257
187
m
5007
3oi
19l8
105
1391
107
1698
92
s
4520
454
3oo3
307
1072
99
445
77
h
3633
273
1916
A5
895
^S
822
84
h
343a
2tj3
1820
100
787
67
825
43
C
33o8
189
i3o2
89
9o3
61
no3
52
d
3165
155
.«7
52
*9S&
53
6^3
55
P
2890
*59
1245
59
1011
52
634
50
L
2679
n3
668
54
1790
34
221
3o
t
2400
195
238
42
1298
92
864
76
k
2359
90
297
3i
423
43
1639
21
b
1978
248
363
54
1099
119
616
76
d
1782
186
424
56
997
72
36i
65
z
l379
85
743
44
501
3i
i3s
±2
f
1201
95
307
16
462
42
432
38
s
1102
i63
749
81
226
52
127
34
h
976
75
870
34
106
42
0
O
1
728
98
388
48
187
26
i.tf
34
h
512
3,5
192
25
121
6
199
4
z
464
70
322
3a
72
»5
70
23
1
83436
27812
27812
27812
296
sjh "to release"
s'h "to glorify"
shr "to throw down"
shd "to illumine"
143 occurrences
58 occurrences
38 occurrences
34 occurrences
24 occurrences
srd "to cause to grow" 12 occurrences
smn "to make firm"
sd> "to travel"
sjp "to examine"
srs "to awaken"
s'q "to cause to enter"
sgr "to make silent"
107 occurrences
40 occurrences
35 occurrences
20 occurrences
15 occurrences
10 occurrences
Causative verbs of lower frequency have been left in the list as they are. For many
of these, the decision as to whether initial 5- is a causative morpheme or not would
have been difficult to make.
In the following, each of the 24 transcription symbols which we distinguished are listed
together with their token-frequency (number of occurrences of the relevant letter in the
database) and its type-frequency (number of different lexical entries in the database
which contain the letter). If a letter appears more than once in a word, this only affects
the counting of tokens (e.g. each occurrence of the word m>> is counted as two tokens with
respect to the consonant >, but this is still only one type). We counted separately how
often each consonant occurs as the first, the second, and the third consonant in a word.
cons.
sum
token type
1st
token
type
2nd
token
type
3rd
token
type
i
0751
446
2493
±33
567
47
6691
279
n
g6o6
517
3S5°
166
4782
342
1274
146
r
7695
244
1800
41
2431
107
3464
110
w
7363
524
a&S
i3o
1719
117
3l29
295
1
5506
480
232
38
3oi7
271
2257
187
m
5007
3oi
19l8
105
1391
107
1698
92
s
4520
454
3oo3
307
1072
99
445
77
h
3633
273
1916
A5
895
^S
822
84
h
343a
2tj3
1820
100
787
67
825
43
C
33o8
189
i3o2
89
9o3
61
no3
52
d
3165
155
.«7
52
*9S&
53
6^3
55
P
2890
*59
1245
59
1011
52
634
50
L
2679
n3
668
54
1790
34
221
3o
t
2400
195
238
42
1298
92
864
76
k
2359
90
297
3i
423
43
1639
21
b
1978
248
363
54
1099
119
616
76
d
1782
186
424
56
997
72
36i
65
z
l379
85
743
44
501
3i
i3s
±2
f
1201
95
307
16
462
42
432
38
s
1102
i63
749
81
226
52
127
34
h
976
75
870
34
106
42
0
O
1
728
98
388
48
187
26
i.tf
34
h
512
3,5
192
25
121
6
199
4
z
464
70
322
3a
72
»5
70
23
1
83436
27812
27812
27812
296