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Old Bohairic Pronounciation
Admin:
Since the Bohairic Dialect is the language of the Coptic Church
a big attention was given to it and its pronunciation amongst modern Copts
Sahidic on the other hand was ignored since it is neither spoken language (not any more), nor used for prayers
most scientists also didn't give attention to how the language was pronounced
therefore my knowledge of Sahidic is very limited
all of the differences in pronunciations i know, were written in my previous reply to you
and most of this informations already exists in the book you told me about
(like Ⲑ is pronounced t+h or Ⲧ+Ϩ)
crum is also another source
I am sorry for not having more details to give about Sahidic, Maybe some one else can
Anaksunamun:
--- Quote from: Admin on 02 January , 2008, 09:16:39 PM ---Since the Bohairic Dialect is the language of the Coptic Church
a big attention was given to it and its pronunciation amongst modern Copts
Sahidic on the other hand was ignored since it is neither spoken language (not any more), nor used for prayers
most scientists also didn't give attention to how the language was pronounced
therefore my knowledge of Sahidic is very limited
all of the differences in pronunciations i know, were written in my previous reply to you
and most of this informations already exists in the book you told me about
(like Ⲑ is pronounced t+h or Ⲧ+Ϩ)
crum is also another source
I am sorry for not having more details to give about Sahidic, Maybe some one else can
--- End quote ---
Thank you for all your insightful knowledge and for resources to Old Bohairic! We all greatly appreciate it.
In reference to Sahidic, it's truly not that much more different than Bohairic. It is said Sahidic is older but represents a more modern spelling for that time and Bohairic was a newer version yet kept some originalities from the older language. Sahidic is probably a better representation of the vowels and Bohairic a better representation of consonants.
Admin:
You are welcome,
Although most of the research was done by Emil Maher, I am just copying it
Regarding the claim Sahidic is older than Bohairic:
This claim is based on the true fact that there are many Sahidic manuscripts that is much older than the oldest known Bohairic manuscript.
That however doesn't necessarily means Sahidic is much older. Bohairic dialect was spoken by people living near the cost where humidity is high and so its much easier for a Sahdic manuscript to survive in the dry climate than a Bohairic one.
There is also the fact that most Pharaos came from South Egypt which makes hieroglyphics more biased to the Southern - aka Sahidic - Dialect.
Just my opinion, shouldn't be taken for a fact though
Canis Majoris:
--- Quote from: Anaksunamun on 31 January , 2015, 02:37:22 AM ---
Thank you for all your insightful knowledge and for resources to Old Bohairic! We all greatly appreciate it.
In reference to Sahidic, it's truly not that much more different than Bohairic. It is said Sahidic is older but represents a more modern spelling for that time and Bohairic was a newer version yet kept some originalities from the older language. Sahidic is probably a better representation of the vowels and Bohairic a better representation of consonants.
--- End quote ---
No scholar can claim that a dialect is older than another, there simply is not enough surviving written evidence to indicate which is indeed more antique.
In any case, the amount of time that one dialect began to be written would be relatively very little. The oldest extant Bohairic manuscripts are from 300 A.D., and spoken Sahidic became standardised in 300 A.D. with the help of Abba Shenoute.
Keep in mind that Coptic only began to flourish as a script of Kemetic communication after around 100 A.D., mostly replacing the Demotic script which fossilized the archaic Late Egyptian pronunciation, syntax, and grammar from 700 B.C.
All of the Coptic dialects are ancient languages that have been written for nearly 2000 years. It suffices to say that the spoken form of any Kemetic dialect would have evolved considerably within that time period, especially with marginalization by the Arabic conquest of Egypt and its supplanting the Egyptian culture.
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