The Coptic CLDR is a project that I would like to highlight the work done in it and the progress done.
First what is CLDR?
CLDR (Common Locale Data & Rules) supplies key information and structures critical for programs and operating systems around the world to ensure that they feel natural, no matter which language users speak or where they live.
What is Coptic CLDR?
CLDR (Common Locale Data & Rules) supplies key information and structures critical for programs and operating systems around the world to ensure that they feel natural, no matter which language users speak or where they live.
The Unicode CLDR Charts for Coptic provide the official locale data summary for the Coptic language (cop), which includes core locale support, calendars, and sorting order (ducet).
Details of the work
The work in the Coptic CLDR started in 2025, it was predominantly done by one person within a period of 6 weeks. After the project was submitted. It was noticed that there is room for improvement. This is not a critique of CLDR 2025. This post is more to explain the methodology of the CLDR 2026 project.
A team was formed of those with Masters from Oxford in Coptic language, as well as people who are specialised in toponyms, and other academic scholars doing Masters in Coptic language. The teams also consisted of people with technical knowledge of the CLDR and others who are interested in Coptic language and have programming expertise.
There were entries that were straight forward eg Coptic months names, Hijri months names, and Gregorian months names, these were all based on available evidence and Scala Magna by Ibn Kabar. There are other entries where was a discussion for example, the names of the week ϯϩⲉⲃⲇⲟⲙⲁⲥ eg
ϯⲕⲩⲣⲓⲁⲕⲏ
ⲡⲓⲥⲛⲁⲩ
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲙⲧ
ⲡⲓϥⲧⲱⲟⲩ
ⲡⲓⲧⲓⲟⲩ
ϯⲡⲁⲣⲁⲥⲕⲉⲩⲏ
ⲡⲓⲥⲁⲃⲃⲁⲧⲟⲛ
There were arguments for using ⲡⲓⲁⲛϣⲁϣϥ, ⲡⲓⲟⲩⲁⲓ, ⲡⲓⲥⲟⲟⲩ, ⲡⲓϣⲁϣϥ however, it turned out the the term ⲡⲓⲁⲛϣⲁϣϥ was used only in the festival of the weeks in the Pentateuch and was mentioned about 8 times only in relationship to this term. On the other hand, the term ϯϩⲉⲃⲇⲟⲙⲁⲥ was mentioned over 40 times in various Coptic texts from the Bible till the late works eg the martyrology of St John Phanidjoit in the 10th century CE, and later in Scala Magna by Ibn Kabar in the 13th century. It was found that ⲡⲓⲁⲛϣⲁϣϥ was added in one late 19th century manuscript, but does not represent was Ibn Kabar wrote.
The rest of the weekday names, were rarely if ever used and only in liturgical context to mean the first day, the sixth day, the seventh day rather than Sunday, Friday and Saturday. eg the first day of the weeks would be used as ⲫⲟⲩⲁⲓ ⲛ̀ⲛⲓⲥⲁⲃⲃⲁⲧⲟⲛ but does not mean Sunday.
For other words where there were more than one Coptic word to be used, the methodology devised was based on searching for attestations. Each word frequency was counted using ANNIS database for Coptic Scriptorium, texts on Marcion - Revelator of True Gnosis (software exploring original Gnostic scriptures), as well as Scala Magna by Ibn Kabar and other Scalae, as well as The Bibliothèque nationale de France - Copte. The word that had the highest frequency of occurrences was selected. This ensured that the words were as close as possible to the words that were commonly used in Coptic manuscripts. This matches with CLDR criteria of selecting words that represent what people use (in living languages).
The team did not discriminate against words based on their etymology, for example if the word that has been most prevalent was of Greek, or Aramaic etymology this was used without discrimination. For example, if there was a need to translate a word like week the most commonly used was ϯϩⲉⲃⲇⲟⲙⲁⲥ (Copto-Greek word of Greek etymology) this was used. In other instances for example the word for month ⲁⲃⲟⲧ (Demotic etymology) was used not ⲙⲉⲛⲟⲥ (Greek etymology) as the word from Demotic etymology was the one that was most commonly used. This ensured that the outcome had an outcome that is representative of the Coptic texts that we received and that it is not ideologically driven eg favouring words of Demotic etymology in an attempt of linguistic purism.
This is an important principle in dealing with the language. It is to deal with the language as it is, not as one would want to re-imagine it or would have wanted it to be. This ensures that the learner of any languages is able to read Coptic texts with ease and to understand the historical context of the language as well as appreciate the philosophy, and concepts underlying word choices for example, there are subtle linguistic differences in meaning and usage between
ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ, ⲙⲉⲓ
ⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥⲩⲛⲏ, ⲙⲉⲑⲙⲏⲓ
ⲁⲛⲟⲙⲓⲁ, ⲛⲟⲃⲓ
ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ, ⲛⲓϥⲓ
ⲡⲁⲣⲑⲉⲛⲟⲥ, ⲣⲱⲟⲩⲛⲓ
Understanding this makes sure that the lexical diversity and richness as well as the lexical nuances of Coptic language.
For words that are not in the Coptic dictionary eg names of countries, the name etymology was traced via experts in toponyms, and the name was compared between endonym, the meaning of the name and exonyms in major languages as well as Greek. There were considerable discussions and voting on naming, spelling, and even typography including usage of capitalisation or lack of thereof. The discussion for capitalisation on its own took about 72 hours + voting time. The link for the CLDR database was open to public where they could add their comments and discussions on the names chosen. These were made sure that a response was given.
The work done was exemplar in rigorous methodology, examination of evidence and civil discussion among members.
