A N C I E N T EGYPTIAN

A linguistic introduction

A N T O N I OL O P R I E N O
Department ofwar Emtern Languages and Cultures
University of Califarnia, Los Angeh

CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
 vocalized forms. The full phonological or phorletic shape of an Egyptian
word can be reconstructed through a procedure i r ~which three di~ncnsions
are checked against each other and mutually verified: the comparative
Afroasiatic reconstruction,' the information drawn from contelnporary
Egyptian phonology sources in other (mostly Semitic) languages with a better investigated
phonology,2 and the laws of phonological evolution leading from earlier
Egyptian to Coptic.'

3.1 Introduction 32 Heuristic criteria

At the present state of our knowledge, a discussion of Egyptian phonology In spite of these difficulties, the study of Egyptian phonotogy has achieved
must be addressed primarily as an issue of diachronic, rather than synchronic significant progress since its inception in the late nineteenth century both in
linguistics. While it is ~ o s s i b l eto recognize regular patterns of sound change the assessment of sound values and in the reconstruction of prosodic rules.
in the history of the Egyptian language as a whole, including in many cases Scholars mainly rely on four procedures of linguistic r e c o n s t r ~ c t i o n : ~
Afroasiatic antecedents, the synchronic systems of phonological oppositions Comparative Afioasiatic linguistics. Egyptian is a language of the Afro-
at any given time in the four millennia of the productive history of this asiatic phylum, and the presence of established etymological equivalents
language often defy a clear analysis. Furthermore, our models of historical offers a fundamental source for our reconstruction of phonological values.
phonology tend to hide many uncertainties behind the regularity of the For example, since Eg. <qsb> corresponds to Sem, qrb meaning "interior
reconstructed paradigm, conveying the misleading impression that for each part," one can confidently establish that Eg. <q> = /q/ and that <b> = /b/.
of the different phases of the language (Old, Middle, and Late Egyptian, Contemporary transcriptions in foreign lnnguages. Many Akkadian texts,
Demotic, and Coptic) we are able to establish a discrete phonological system. especially from the archive of el-'Amarna (fifteenth-fourteenth century
T h e actual phonetic realities underlying the abstract reconstructions are BCE), contain Egyptian words and phrases in cuneiform transcription.
even more elusive: the traditional pronunciation and transliteration of many Although the phonology and the graphemics of Akkadian are themselves by
Egyptian phonemes rest upon hardly anything more than: scholarly n o means fully decoded, these transcriptions provide a valuable insight into
conventions, and even for the relatively well-known Coptic, in which the contemporary pronunciation of Egyptian. For example Eg. <stpnr6>
Egyptian sounds are rendered in a Greek-based alphabet, it is dificult to "the-one-whom-(the-god)-Re-has-chosen" (royal name of King Ramses 11)
assess reliable phonetic values for some of the Greek signs and the Demotic appears in cuneiform as ~d-te-ep-na-ri/e-a, a form o n the basis of which one
graphemes that were added to the Greek alphabetic set. can both posit the contemporary Egyptian pronunciation as */sa,tepna'riSal
In fact, the main reason for the dificulties in reconstructing the phonol- and observe the correspondence Eg. <s> // Akk. < S > , both of which were
ogy of Ancient Egyptian lies in the nature of the writing system: Hiero- probably realized as [s] or as a sound very close to it (at least in some dialects).5
glyphs, Hieratic and Demotic represent the mere consonantal skeleton of a Egyptian renderings of foreign words, csprcially of Northwest Semitic origin.
word (and sometimes only a portion thereof), followed by indicators of lexical This criterion, the symmetrical counterpart to the preceding one, provides an
classes, the so-called "determinatives." Semivocalic phonemes are rarely insight into the phonology of contemporary Egyptian while at the same
indicated, vowels practically never. As for Coptic, in which vowels are indeed time offering the possibility to verify scholarly assumptions o n Semitic
rendered, one should not downplay the methodological difficulty inherent phonology. For example, Northwest Sem. "s6per "scribe" => Eg. <iu-pa-r>:
in the widespread assumption of a phonological or phonetic identity betwecn o n the one hand, this piece of evidence raises questions about the phono-
a specific Coptic sign and its original value in the Greek system. logical status and the phonetic realization of Eg. / c / , which is the palatal
Therefore, the reconstruction of the phonological inventory and of the phoneme usually transcribed ! by F,gyptologists, while o n the other, i t can
phonetic values in any period of rhr history of Egyptian is bound to remain also he used to shed some l i g h t on the v;al~reof the phoneme Is/ (sdmrkh),
hypothetical, which motivates the c o ~ ~ s r trse . ~ ~of~ ran asrerisk ( * ) t)eSorc which originally must have t~ccria n ;~iiricate in S r r n ~ t i c . ~

28
 /3ir r i / r d r n c r p r o v i d r d by Cbpric. T h e latest stage of L:.gyl>t~anp r o v ~ c l c sthc 3.3 T h e prehistory of Egyptian phonology
broadett basis for the study of the phonology of older l i r ~ ~ t ~ i s periods. ric [:or Bcfore rhc emergence of Egyptian as a written language, a icw adjusrments
example, rhe three Eg. words spelled uniformly < w ' b > , namely "pure," "to be within the srock o f phonemes inherited from " A f r o a s i a ~ i c ~seem
n to have
~ u r e , "and "priest," appear in Coptic in the lexemes o a a a e "holy," o a o n "to taken place. Three major evolutions from the original phonological stock
be pure," O a H H B "priest." T h i s enables us to reconstruct three different characterize the Egyptian domain as it begins its recorded history:
vocalization patterns underlying the same graphic reality of hieroglyphic (a) In the apical and interdental series, voiced 'd, ' z , and '8 develop into
Egyptian: the stative 'wa'baw "he is pure," the infinitive ' w a ' d b "to become the pharyngeal i hone me /T/,9 ~ r o b a b going
l~ through an intermediate stage
pure," and the noun *wilab "priest" (sections 3.4-3.6). At the same time, this with pharyngealized lateral: *d, *z, *d (> *f >) > /f/.'O For example, Eg. 'r.t
piece of evidence raises questions of consonantism, i.e. the fate of the "portal," Sem. 'dalt "door"; Eg. 3" "to speak a foreign language," Sem. ' l y z
phoneme /TI and the reason for the alternance e vs. n in the Coptic forms as (Ar. layaza "to speak enigmatically," Hebr. l'z "to speak a foreign language");
opposed to <b> in both cases in their Egyptian antecedents. Afroas. 'dupp "fly" > Eg. 'ffj */Yuffvj/ > Coptic ay, see Sem. 'dbb (Akk.
In the practice of Egyptian phonological reconstruction, these criteria dubbum, Ar. dubdb, Hebr. wb0b).
appear constantly combined: while each of them, if considered individually, (b) Among the liquids, the original opposition between nasal *n, lateral
proves largely inadequate in order to determine a synchronic stage, together *I, and vibrant *r underwent a ~ r o f o u n dreorganization, not yet fully under-
they convey a relatively homogeneous picture of the fundamental laws of stood in its specific details, in which a role was also played by dialectal variants.
Egyptian phonological development. W h a t follows in sections 3.3-3.6 is a Afroas. *n and Cr were kept as Eg. In/and /R/ - the latter being the phoneme
presentation of the historical phonology o f Egyptian from its Afroasiatic conventionally transcribed 3 by Egyptologists and traditionally taken to be a
roots t o Coptic. Transcriptions from Egyptian and Semitic follow t h e variety of glottal stop /?I,but in earlier Egyptian probably a uvular tri1l;ll Eg.
conventions in the respective disciplines a n d are rendered in italics; translit- jnk8/ja'naW,12 Sem. ''ansku, first person independent pronoun, o r Eg. k s m
erations of graphemes without reference to their phonological status are * / k a ~ m v w / , lSem.
~ 'karm "vineyard." O n the contrary, Afroas. *I does n o t
indicated in angle brackets (<x>); phonemes (1x1) and tentative phonetic display consistent Egyptian correspondences nor is Eg. * A / indicated by an
values ([x]) are represented according to IPA conventions, exceptions being independent grapheme, in spite o f its almost presence in t h e phonological
the use of /S/ for IPA /$Ia n d o f /$/ for IPA /h/. T h e sign /v/ indicates a short inventory of the language: Afroas. *I corresponds to Eg. < n > in Afroas. *lis
vowel whose color cannot b e reconstructed with any reasonable degree o f "tonguen > Eg. ns */lis/, see Coptic aac, Sem. *liS-Sn; to Eg. < nin jzr * / j a m /
accuracy. "tamarisk," see Sem. *'a_tl;to Eg. <3> in 3" "to speak foreign languages," see
At this point, a methodological warning is necessary: in the case of Sem. 'IYz; and to Eg. < j > in Afroas. *lib "heart" > Eg. jb */jib/, see Sem. *libb
Ancient Egyptian and of many other "philological" languages known only or Afroas. *Iwn "color" > Eg. jwn 'lja'winl, 14 see Sem. 'lawn. Presumably,
through written records, the distinction between the phoneme as the distinc- proto-Eg. *I merged with other sonorants in the dialect which eventually led
tive minimal unit of the language (1x4,and the often much larger inventory to the written language, while still being kept in less normative varieties of
of sounds ([x]) representing its physical realizations is less significant than i n the language: in the New Kingdom, when Later Egyptian became t h e
languages with a better known phonology: while scholars can strive for the written form of the language for the domain of administration a n d
reconstruction of the sound units of the language, the technical assessment literature, a specific grapheme <n>+<r> was created in order to express the
of their phonological status, which would require in each case the minimal phoneme 111. In Demotic, /I/ is autonomously indicated by a grapheme < I > , a
pair rest, often proves a very problematic endeavor: on the o n e hand, our only diacritic variety of <r> = hl.
source of information is represented by a complex writing system in which (c) T h e Afroas. velar plosives *k, *g and 'k display two outcomes in Eg.,
phonetic and semantic ~rinciplesare combined; on the other hand, because of probably motivated by the phonetic environment: either (hey are maintained
the restrictiveness in the use of writing in Egyptian society.' our knowledge r
as k lW, g /g/ and q /q/, or they are palatalized into /c/, j (j/ a n d d /j/: see the
o f certain areas of the lexicon, and especially o f their ftri~ctionalevolution sctond pcrson suffix pronoun masc. /kJ< *-ka/-kr~ vs. fcrn /c/ < *-ki15 or the
throughout Egyptian history, is doomed t o remain f a r frorn exhnrlstive. opposition Octween the two Eg. roots wsd (sce wsci '/u.a:n~,f/"grec~l"),whict~
tiisplays palatali7ar~on,and jsq (see jsq.1 * / ~ u ~ q a t"vegerahles"),
/ whrch does
not, both derived from an identical Afroas. root *wrC.
(d) T h e phonemes corresponding to the "empharic" series of other
branches of the Afroas. phylum lost their phonological status in Egyptian,
merging either with the corresponding voiceless fricative, as in the labial
series, in which Afroas. *p develops into Eg. If/: Afroas. *soy "seven" > Eg.
, Sem. *sb', o r with the corresponding voiced plosive: (1) the
s@w * / s a f ~ a w /see
Afroas. emphatic dentals */ and *s merge into Eg. /dl: Eg. dwn "to stretch"
*/da:wad, see Sem. !wl "to be long"; Eg. wdpw "servant," see Ar. wasif; (2) in
specific phonetic environments, the Afroas. emphatic velars *k and ' x merge
into the voiced palatal stop /j/, the phoneme conventionally transcribed d by
Egyptologists: Afroas. * wrk > Eg. w3d * / w a : ~ i j /"green," see Sem. *warq
"leaf'; Afroas. *nxm > Eg, ndm */na:jirn/ "sweet," see Sem. 'n'm. As we saw in
the preceding paragraphs, in absence of palatalization Afroas. *k is kept in
Eg. as /q/, which was probably articulated as ejective [ q ' ] (see section 3.6 below
for the Coptic evidence): from Afroas. *)ub/&Ib> Eg. q s b "interior" (see Akk.
qerbum "inside") and Eg. &b "to turn" (see Ar. qlb "to turn around"). As for
Afroas. *x, when n o t subject t o palatalization it merges i n t o the voiceless
pharyngeal fricative m/: Afroas. *xal> Eg. & *@ad "on," see Sem. * 'al.

3.4 T h e phonological system of earlier Egyptian

A t the beginning of its written history, i.e. during the historical period
known as the "Old Kingdom" (2800-2150 BCE), one can assume that
Egyptian displayed the phonological inventory indicated in table 3.1. Here, x
indicates t h e traditional Egyptological transcription, 1x1 t h e posited
phoneme, [ x ] a tentative phonetic reconstruction (if different from 1x4.

3.4.1 Consonants
Many contemporary scholars, following Rosslerl6 and a long tradition going
back to the nineteenth century, offer a different analysis of voiced plosives:
since Eg. < d > and <d> represent the heirs of Afroas. "emphatics" (Zt/s and *k,lx
respectively), these phonemes, rather than as "voiced" /d/ and / j / , should be
understood as "voiceless emphatic" < d > = /!/ and < d > = / c / , without the
possibility to determine whether the actual phonetic realization of the
feature [ + E M P H A T I C ] was one of pharyngealization or glottalization. Yet,
because of the presence of two, rather than three phonemes in the respective
Egyptian consonantal series, I prefer to analyze them as poles of a simpler
binary opposition "voiceless" vs. "voiced."l7 But an in)porrant fact must be
 borne in rnind and accounted for: or1 the basis of both cornpararive evidcncelP being the plncc where the son rises, 1.c. the east) and of Afroas. ' I (Eg. Jwrl
and diachronic signals,lY I:,gyptian mrdrar appear to have indeed neutral~red "color," see Sern. 'lawn) when subject to palatalization. By the beginning of
the feature [ + v o r c ~ r , ] and to have been realized - together with the uvular the Middle Kingdom, as part of the global reorganization of l i q u ~ d
plosive /q/ - as ejective stops.20 T h e feature [ + F . J ~ c ~ I v E ] whose
, existence can be phonemes which took place in Egyptian, with /RJ > /1/ and the neutralization
inferred through Coptic evidence (section 3.6), brought these phonemes in of the opposition between /I/ and other sonorants, /j/ turned into a laryngeal
the phonetic proximity of Semitic emphatics: most likely /dl = [t'], probably glide /1/ before an unstressed vowel in initial position ( j w n */ja'win/ > *lla'winl
also / j / = [ c ' ] , /g/ = [ k ' ] and /q/ = /q'/. A possible explanation of this "color") and in postvocalic position following the stress (for example, h ~ p w
phenomenon of (especially initial) devoicing21 is that the feature [ + V O I C E D ] */hujpvw/ > /he7p(vw)/ "[the god] Apis").
must have become redundant under the competition of the optional aspira- Among the p t t u r a l fricatives, <h> = /F/ is the heir of Afr,oas. * x (Afroas.
tion which, at least in some varieties of the language and specific environ- 'xanam > Eg. h n m w "[the ram-god] Khnum," Ar. yanam "sheep"), whereas
ments, characterized Egyptian voiceless stops: /p/ = [ph] and It/ = [th], probably <b> = /x/ is the outcome of Afroas. *y (Afroas. 'wsy "wide" > Eg. wsh, Ar.
also/c/ = [ch] and /k/ = [kh].22 This is shown by the fact that Eg. /p/ and It/ are ws'), and <h> = b/ derives from Afroas. *x when not subject to palatalization
rendered in the Greek transcriptions by $ and 0 respectively: pth */pi'tah/ "(the (Afroas. *sulxam "locust" > Eg. z n h w , Hebr. sol'iim). T h e phoneme < h > = /h/
god) Ptah" > @Ba, and Eg. /c/ and /k/ often by a and 2 respectively: _tb-nlr does not display any unequivocal Afroas. cognate.
*/,cabna:car/ > */,cab'nu:ta/ "(the city 00 Sebennytos" > Z ~ p ~ v v u r o qb3k-n-m=f ,
*/,ba:~ak-vn-'ri:nvf/> */bokko8ri:(nv)/ "Bocchorisn (lit. "servant-of-his-name") > 3.4.2 Vowels
B o y ~ o p t <B . o ~ ~ o p Bo~optvtq.
y, This aspiration is exhibited by the Bohairic T h e vocalic system of earlier Egyptian can be reconstructed as follows:
dialect of Coptic (section 3.6).
I n the sibilants, O l d Kingdom Egyptian displays three phonemes, usually Table 3.2 The vocalic phonemes of earlier Egyptian
transcribed z (or s), s (or J3, and S. W h e n subject to palatalization, this last
VOWEL5 SHORT LONG
phoneme corresponds etymologically to Afroas. *x (which, as a rule, evolves to FRONT li/ lid
Eg. b = Id:Eg. m, Srnm "to become hot," see Sem. *hmm. This seems indeed CENTRAL la 1 la:/
to indicate a n articulation X/ for Eg. S, although both Afroas. *S and 8' are BACK /u/ /u:/
continued by Eg. s (a, i.e. by the second phoneme in the series listed above:
see Afroas. 9u: "he" > Eg. s w */suw/,23 Sem. Suwa; Afroas. 'Sapat "lip" > Eg. T h e three vowels posited for earlier Egyptian are inherited directly from its
sp.t * / ~ a : p a t / , 2Sem.
~ 'Sapat. I t is possible, therefore, that Eg. s Is/ was charac- Afroasiatic prehistory. While never spelled out in writing, vocalic phonemes
terized by a supplementary feature [+PALATAL], with an articulation close to can be reconstructed with a suficient degree of systematic reliability o n t h e
[dl. Eg. z,o n the other hand, is the heir of Afroas. ' 8 and 4 , as shown for basis of the four criteria formulated in section 3.2. For the earliest phase of
example by jzr*/jazrvwl "tamarisk," see Sem. *'all or Afroas. *sulxarn "locust" the development of the Egyptian phonological system we d o not assume the
> Eg. z*w */zun'hu:mvw/,25 see Hebr. sol'am. For systematic reasons, and in existence of the vocalic phonemes /el, lo/ and schwa, which o n the contrary
order to keep the symmetry with the ejective articulation of voiced plosives, I play an important role in the phonology of later Egyptian (sections 3.5-3.6).
reconstruct this phoneme as /z/ = [s'];26 the phonological opposition between Unlike stressed vocalic phonemes, unstressed vowels cannot be recon-
/z/ and Is/ was neutralized by the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, at which structed with any degree of reliability. For example, in the word n_tr*/na:car/
time < z > and < s > had become graphic variants of the same phoneme Is/. "god," while the stressed vowel is derived directly from Coptic NOVTE (with
However, the articulation and the phonological status of sibilants in the */na:/ >/nu:/, see section 3.6). the of the unstressed vowel in */-car/ can
whole phylum remains a thorny issue of Afroasiatic linguistics. only be inferred indirectly through the feminine form n1r.1 */na'ca:rat/ >
T h e Eg. phoneme /j/ represents the outcome of Afroas. 3 (Eg. jmn "right Coptic - N T W ~(with
E */ca:/ > /to:/, see section 3.6). T h e extent to which a
side" > "west," the point of reference being represented by the sources of t h e whole paradigmatic class shokiltl be posited o n the basis of analogy is still 3
Nile, i.e. the south, vs. Sem. ' y n l n "right side" > "south," the referent-e I)c,int matter of intense scholarly tlcl)ate.
 3.4.3 Syllabic structures ' l a l ~ l c3.3 summarizes the syllabic paradignls lirc~lscci111 earlier f.;g!,l>~ian.
As a general rule, the opposition between short alld lorlg vowel is not phono- I)oul>ly-closed strcssetl syllables characterize only ;I cert,aln n11mt)er of plilral
logical, but determined by the respective syllabic structure: long vowels appear fOrnis of bisyllabic nouns; open unstressed syllables in final position are only
in open stressed syllables, and short vowels in closed syllables and in open un - found in the endings of specific verbal forrns ant1 personal pronouns - hence
stressed syllables. Major exceptions are represented by the presence of a long the use of parentheses to indicate these patterns.
vowel in a closed stressed syllable in the infinitive of biconsonantal verbal
roots and the possibility of long ($'cv:c#) o r doubly-closed syllables ($'cvcc#) in Table 3.3 The syllabic srrucrures of earller Egyprian
final position. It is known that in many languages word-final position SYI.IAHICSTRUCTURES PRETONIC TONIC I'OS'I'TON IC
-- ~~p
-.
represents an ideal environment for "licensed extrasyllabicity,"27 i.e. for the 0rm Scv$ $cv:$ ($cv#)
presence of a supplementary segment in addition to the standard constitu- (XOSFD $cvc$ S'cvcB $cvc#
tion of a syllabic skeleton: $cv:c# and $'cvcc# are in fact analyzable as a + c], , INUBLY -CLOSED (B,cvcc#)
where a indicates the syllable a n d 1, the word edge. Accordingly, the
following seven patterns of syllabic distribution are licensed in earlier
Egyptian words (v: = stressed long vowel, v = stressed o r unstressed short vowel, Independent of morphological patterns, the stress falls in Egyptian o n
c = consonant, # = word boundary, $ = syllable boundary, ' = syllable affected by either the ultimate (oxytone) or the penultimate (paroxytone) syllable of a
tonic stress): word. The oxytone patterns31 are #cv'cvc# (wbh */watbaX/ "to become white"
> o a f i a ~ )#cvc'cvc#
, (jfdw */jafdaw/ "four" > q ~ o o a ) #cv:c#
, ( d d */ja:d/ "to
1. $'cvc$ jnn */ja8nan/"we"
say'' > am), #cv'cvcc# (mdw.w */rna'duww/ "words" > B-ATAT). T h e paroxytone
2. $cvc$ */ra:mac/ "man"
3. $'cv:$ htp *rba:tipl "pleasing"
patterns are #'cvccvc# (stp. w *Isatpaw/ "is chosen" > c o ~ n ) Wcv:cvc#
, (sp
*/sa:tap/ "to choose" > CUTE),#cv'cvc$cvc# (Dpnv. w */xu8pirwaw/"transforma-
4. #cv$ tpj */ta'pij/ "first"
tions," Akk. transcription (a)b-peh-e/ir),32 #cv'cv:$cvc# ( p s d w */pi'si:jvw/
5. $'cv:c# mn */ma:n/ "to stayn
"nine" > WIT), # c ~ c ' ~ ~ c $ c v c(wpw.tjw
# */wapqwutjvw/"messengers," Akk.
6. $'cvcc# mdw. w */ma'duww/ "words"28
transcription ~j-pu-ri/d-pu-ut), #cvc'cv:$cvc# ( wpw.tj */waplwu:tij/ "messenger,"
7. $cv# stp.k(w) */svt'pa:ku/ "I chose"29
borrowed in Meroitic as apote33).
A type of "contingent," rather than "licensed" extrasyllabicity can be invoked Since the stress can only affect the last two syllables of an Egyptian word.
in order t o explain another feature of the earlier Egyptian the governing rule of syllabic patterns is known with the German term Zwei-
phonological system as posited by current scholarship, namely the presence of silbengesetz ("law of the two syllables"). For the prehistory of the Egyptian
final semiconsonantal glides /j/ and /w/ in bisyllabic and trisyllabic nouns language, some scholars posit a situation in which, as in the related Semitic
much in excess of what is even remotely documented by written hieroglyphic languages, the stress could also affect the antepenultimate syllable (Drk-
or hieratic sources: for example <jt> =: *rja:tvj/ "father," <hrw> =: *rhanvuw/ silbengesetz , i.e. "law of the three syllablesn).34 Following the loss of the short
"day," etc. It is advisable to take these glides to be extrasyllabic additions to vowel in the open posttonic syllable, words displayi~lgthis syllabic pattern
final $cv# syllables were subsequently integrated into the regular patterns with penultimate
(cv), + w/jl stress: **/xupiraw/ > * r ~ u p r a w /"transformation." Generally speaking, tonic
"contingent" upon specific phonetic requirements, such as the presence of a stress played in the history of Egyptian a much more crucial role for the
new syllabic rhyme following it, for example a suffix pronoun added to t h e development of prosodic patterns than is rhr case in related Afroasiatic
basic forrn of the word: */ja:t(v)/ "father," but */jat,jir/ "his father," or an older languages, for example Semitic, for which orlc coultl easily posit a n original
rnorphological marker of subject case: ' / n ~ h /"lord," Out "inibul > */ni:buw/ ' L ~ r e cstress.
n It would be prekrable, thereforc, to posit the "Ii)ot,"'5 rather
"the lordSubj."~0 rh;~nthe individual word as thr basic strcss unit In f:gyl)~ian.
 3.5 I ' h e phonological system o f later f.-gyptian at a later datc, around 1000-800 BCE, short srressed '/el < */ii and
I3\. the end of the New KingJom ( 1 5 5 0 - - 1 0 0 0 13(:k.), thc ~)lioriolog~c;~l * / u / merged inro 'lei: see the roponym d'n.( "Tanib" */ju'inal/, borrowed in
systcln described in the preceding section had untlcrgone a c-ertain number ol klehrew at a time when the original vocalization was still productive ('SU'II >
developments which modified all its componrnt5. '['he phonology of later so'an), but transcribed as se-e'-nulsa-a'-nu in the Neo-Assyrian period.@
F.gyptian is known to us more precisely than the hypothetical reconstruction Unstressed vowels, especially in posttonic position, merged into the mid
of earlier Egyptian thanks primarily to the cunciforni transcriptions of cen tral */a/ (the so-called schwa): r'w "(the god) Re" */ri:Cuw/ > */re:Ca/ (Akk.
Egyptian words and phrases. T h e major changes can bc delineated as follows: transcriptions -rj-ia, -re-e), nfr "good" */na:fir/ > */na:fa/ (Akk. transcription
-na-a-pa), n13'.t "truth" */rnu~Cat/> */rnuXa/ (Akk. transcription - m ~ - a ) . ~ ~
3.5.1 Consonnnts A phonetic evolution which probably did not affect the phonological
From the velar to the dental series, oppositions between voiced and voiceless level is */i:/ > * [ e : ] in proximity of /T/ and /j/: w o w "soldier" */wi:Tiw/ (Akk.
phonemes become gradually neutralized: ts.wj * t t a ~ w v j>/ Akk. transcription transcription li-i-LI) > *['we:Ca] (later transcriptions li-e-eb, li-e-e, li-e-li); @ ~ . t
-fa-a-wa "the Two Lands" vs. dbn */di:ban/ > Akk. transcription ri-ba-an "dbn- "Northwind" */manhi:jvt/> '[ma'he:?] (Akk. transcription -1na-be-e).~6
weight."36 O n e can, therefore, posit for later Egyptian around 1000 BCE the vocalic
While palatal phonemes are regularly kept in a number of lexemes, they system presented in table 3.4. While at the phonetic level the vocalic sounds
often move to the frontal portion of the oral cavity and acquire a dental have indeed evolved from the earlier system presented in section 3.4, the
realization: psdw * 1pi'si:jawl > Akk. transcription pi/e-Xi-i! "nine."'7 number of vocalic phonemes (six) remains unchanged.
T h e dental phonemes It/ and /r/ and the glides /j/ and /w/ undergo a process
Table 3.4 The vocalic phonemes of later Egyptian
of lenition to /?/ at the end o f a stressed syllable, and eventually to /a/at the -- - -

end of a word:38 p4.t */pi:jat/ > Akk. transcription -pi-[a "bow"; hnw */hi:naw/ > VOWELS SHORT LONG

Akk. transcription bi-na "jar"; mrjw */marjiwl > Akk. transcription ma-a'-fa-, FRONT Ie l 1i:l
CENTRAL la1 1e:l
ma-a-j- "beloved."39
BACK la1 lo:/
T h e uvular trill /R/ completes its evolution to glottal stop Dl, merging
with /I/ < ljl (see section 3.4): indirect evidence of this evolution can be drawn
3.5.3 Syllabic stnrcturrs
from the fact- that while in the execration texts of the Middle Kingdom the
Because of the loss of the final dentals and of the semivocalic glides caused by
writings <'ksrn> and <jjjsmt> render the Sem. anthroponym *'akram (Hebrew
a strong tonic stress, the prosodic system underwent a partial reorganization,
'okrifn) and toponym *yamuta (Hebrew yamfit) r e ~ ~ e c t i v e l y ,in
~ Othe syllabic
with the emergence of previously unknown or poorly documented syllabic
writing of the New Kingdom <3> has come to indicate the a-vowel.41
patterns.
T h e syllabic structure $'cv:c# could now occur in plurisyllabic words (in
3.5.2 Vowels
earlier Egyptian, this pattern had a restricted functional yield, see section
Major developments alter the vocalic system of Egyptian during the late
3.4.3): mhj.t "(the goddess) Mehit" */ma'hu:jvt/ > '/rna'hu:?/, Akk. transcription
New Kingdom, after the reign of Ramses 11, i.e. from around 1200 B C E
-ma-bu-li, Greek -FXT< (with */u:/ > q); bmnw "eight" */~a'ma:nvw/> */~a'ma.n/,
onward. Parallel to the so-called "Canaanite vowel shift" in contemporary
Akk. transcription b a - n ~ a - a n T
. ~h~e same development affects the pattern
Northwest Semitic, long stressed */a:/ becomes *lo:/: hrw "(the god) Horus"
$'cvcc#, previously limited to some plurals of the rype 'maduww: Z3;w.G "(the
*/ha:ruw/ > */ho:ra/ (Akk. transcription of the Neo-Assyrian period -hum-).42
city of) Asyut" */zv~'jawtvj/> */sa8jawt/,Neo-Assyrian cuneiform Si-ia-a-u-1~.~8
This sound change provokes other adjustments within the system, notably
T h e fall of final consonants increases the presence of unstressed o p e n
the change of long stressed */u:/ to *le:l: r l ; "tree" '/fu:nvi/ > '/se:na/ (Akk.
syllables of the pattern $cv#, which in earlier Egyptian were limited to the
transcription of the Neo-Assyrian period -sini).J
endings of specific verbal forms and personal pronouns: t~r-j-pd.t"overseer of
I n the early New Kingdom, short strcsscd 'lii li;i(1 Ixc-ornc '/el: sce t h e
the troop" '/I!arijmpi:jat/ > *&arr8pi:da/,see cuneiform cr/i/r1[~-n-~~i-fa.4~
;1nthroponym n~n; "Mencs" 'l~nn'tii.i/> * / ~ ~ I I I c( A' ?k k/ . rran\crior~onma-116-e);
 lablc 3 5 Thc s ~ l l a h ~structures
c of larcr Egypr~an other dialects, especrally Bohairic, whenever such references become necessary
SYL.LARI(: STRII(:TIJRF-5 PRFTON IC TONIC POS1.I ONI(' for the purpose of an historical or a rypological analysis. Dialects are indicated
~- - - - - - ~---
~ - -- --

OPM $cv$ $'cv:$ $cvU by small capitals in superscript preceding the Coptic word: S = Sahidic, 13 =
(IDSF13 Scvcb d'cvcb bcvcr Bohairic, A = Akhmirnic, L = Lycopolitan (alternatively called Subakhrnirnic
DOIJBLY -CLOSED f'cvcc# and abbreviated Az), F = Fayyumic. Where no indication is given, the dialect
is Sahidic.

3.6 1 Consonants
3.6
T h e phonological system of Coptic
During the first millennium B C E and the first centuries C E , Egyptian
Unlike edier stages of the language, Coptic, written in a n alphabetic system
continued to undergo a number of phonological changes.57 I n the consonan-
derived from Greek, is documented in a number of closely related dialects.50
tal system, the tendencies described in section 3.5.1 led to a neutralization of
These dialects, however, d o not necessarily reproduce local varieties of the
voiced plosives in the dental, ~ a l a t a l ,and velar series: the ~ h o n e m e sId/, /g/
language: they represent, t o a large extent, discrete sets of mainly graphic
and /z/ are present only in Greek borrowings, the rare exceptions to this rule
conventions for rendering Egyptian in an inadequate foreign script.51
being the result of sonorization in proximity of /n/ (for example, a n ? vs.
&NOH < jn& "I," WHW VS. ANCHM < '.t n.t sb3.w "school").
Table 3.6 The consonantal phonemes of Coptic
In the labial series, the situation is more complex: the voiced phoneme /W,
CONSONANTS LABIAL DENTAL PALATAL VELAR GLOTTAL which by this time was probably articulated as a fricative [j3],58 is kept in all
initial a n d medial positions (BFO&In "servant," e ~ e o"ibis," ~ ~ e "ten
-
-
a
PLOSIVE
thousandn), and in final position whenever it did not immediately follow the
Palatalized O /k'l
tonic vowel of a closed syllable in the earlier stages of the language, although
~ o i c e l e s s ~ ~n /p/ [pCh)] T N [t(h)] ZI /c/ [c(Y] K kl [kch)] <53> Rl
this may indeed be synchronically the case in Coptic: noae < */na:baw/ "gold."
Ej& T ld [t'] a IJI [c'] K /gl [k'] If/b/ followed the tonic vowel of a n e t y m o l o g i d dosed syllable, whether in
[Voicedl 0 /b/ [B] A I d [dl r 191 [g] monosyllabic o r plurisyllabic words, it became in Coptic voiceless /pi: o s o n <
FRICATIVE */waTab/ "to be pure," T a n < */dib/ "horn."
Voiceless q /f/ C /d FJN <54>!,/ ehl Guttural fricatives of earlier Egyptian (especially 1x1) merge in Sahidic
[Voiced] 3 Id <55> ,TI either into A/ (for example b3 "thousand" * / x a ~ > / *ka?/ > g o ) o r into e /h/
NASAL lml N /n/ (mostly &/ and /q/, sometimes also 1x1: for example h3.t "beginning" * / h u : ~ i t />
VIBRANT p C H , h(w).t "body" *rqu:wat/ > e n , brw "voice" */xibrawl> e p o o a ) . Rut other
LATERAL h /I/ dialects appear more conservative: Bohairic a n d Akhmimic keep a velar
GLIDE (o)a /w/ (€11 IJI fricative 1x1 (written 9 in Rohairic and Q in Akhmirnic, for example B 3 p o o s ,
* ~ p a a"voice"). Finally, the glottal stop /I/,which represents o n the one
hand the regular development of *I?/ and */TI, and o n the other hand the
T h e two major Coptic dialects are Sahidic, normally considered to reflect
result of the fall of final It/, /r/,/jl and /w/ after stressed vowel, is not expressed
the Theban, upper Egyptian variety of the language, documented from the
by an independent grapheme, but rather rendered by <a> at the beginning
fourth century C E and representing the language of classical Coptic liter-
and at the end of a word (for example a n o n /7a3nok/"I" < */jatnak/, TO /to?/
ature, and Bohairic, the dialect of the Nile delta, documented from the fifth
"land" < */ta?/) and, except in Rohairic, by the redr~plicationof the vocalic
century CE and progressively established as the dialect of the l i t ~ ~ r gof
y the
grapheme when i ~ n r n c d i a t e lhllowing
~ the stressed vowel of a word (f;,r
Coptic church. For the basic presentation of Coptic phonology I hnvr chosen
o ~ S~ 1 a o o ~H ~~ O, I I /So?p/ "to be" < 0pr.w * / ~ a p r a w /"has
example A ~ o /x(itp/,
Sahidic, which is the dialect of classical literature. However, I shall refrr to
be corn^'').^^
 Hohairic spelling conveys a traditional feature of Egyprlari p h o r ~ c r ~ c , by the presence o f rnln~rnalp a i r such as U T W ~ I /do:n/ ['l'o:m] "hand" < dr 1 vs.
namely the aspirated realilation of stops, which are expresscd I>y thc corrr- Bewpr "willow" /to:n/ = [ r"o:n] < ! r - I or R A H "dish" /je:7/ [c'c:'?] < d.3.l -- " 6 1 1
sponding aspiratnc of the (;reek alphabet: voiceless stops bccorne asp~rated Ice:?/ [ che:?] ''quince."
when immediately preceding a tonic vowel, semivowels, and sonorant conso- An indirect, but very cogent proof of their actual phonetic articulat~onas
nants (including 8 ) : ejectives is offered by thc fact that these phonemes behave phonologically as a
sequence of "plosive + glottal stopn such as Bnwn "the account" (consisting of
the definite article n followed by the lexeme o n ) , in which n o aspiration of
Examples: Snpn vs. B g p n "the sun," S ~ a vs.
r B e a r "this (fern.)," S a o c ~ vs.
c
the plosive labial is displayed (**on) because /p/ here does n o t immediately
BOWIC "lord," S ~ o a a vs.
a R x o a a e "YOUare holy." This phonetic rule proves
precede the stressed vowel lo:/, but rather the first consonant of the lexeme, 1.e.
that o [ch] represents in Bohairic the aspirated variety of the palatal plosive a
the glottal stop f?/: n u n =: /p?o:p/.64 Indirect evidence of the ejective character
/c/; the value of the sign o in this dialect, therefore, differs from a l l other
of voiceless stops in Bohairic is also provided by a late medieval Arabic version
Coptic conventions, where it indicates the palatalized velar /kj/.
of the A p o p h t h ~ ~ m a tPatrum
a in Coptic ~ c r i ~ t . 6While
5 in Arabic transcrip-
T h e Bohairic rule of aspiration, however, exhibits an interesting property:
tions of Coptic words voiced /d/ and ~ h a r y n ~ e a l i z evoiced d /dl are used as a
when /I/,/c/ and /k/ represent the outcome of voiced d Id/, d /j/, g /g/ and of
rule to indicate < T > , as in C o p t . T C N T W ~ E > Ar. d a n d a r a "(the city ot)
uvular q /q/, no aspiration immediately preceding the tonic vowel takes
-
place:60 S B T a n "horn" 4 Eg. db*/dib/, B ~ ~ pS r ~ o "hand" p ~ < Eg. d r . t
Dendera" - meaning that < T > was neither articulated like Ar. It/, which was

-
*/ja:rat/, Barmr "INE "to find" < Eg. gmj.t */gi:mit/, S B ~ a "bone"
c < Eg. q s
aspirated, nor like Ar. /!/, which was ~ h a r y n ~ e a l i z e-d< T > and < K > are used in
this text to render Ar. /!/ and /q/, and also <e>a n d < x > for Ar. It/ a n d kl
*/qes/; in pre-sonorant environments, o n the other hand, the rule is upheld:
respectively. Since the feature [+ASPIRATED] is neutralized in final position
Bepeq- < d j j e f - , "ten thousand" c db' /ja'baF/, B o p ~ "dowry"a ~ < grg.t
(for example Eg. z3jw.tj */zv~'jawtvj/> */sa8jawt/> Copt. CIOOTT > Ar. 'asyii!
/gaaru:gvt/, Bxeoe "to become cool" < qbb lqa'babl.6'
"(the city of) Asyutfl),66 it is not surprising that at the e n d of a word Ar. /I/ is
This phenomenon can be interpreted by assuming that in spite of the
sometimes rendered by Copt. < T > and AI. /k/ as a rule by Copt. < K > . O n the
forward movement of their point o f articulation which took place in later
other hand, the letter <a,= : I d / = [dl, which in standard Coptic appears only
Egyptian (section 3.5) from the palatal to the dental ( d > Id/), from the velar
in lexical items borrowed from Greek, is used in this text to transliterate A!.
to the palatal (g > 134, and from t h e uvular t o the velar region (q > /go, these
/dl. This asymmetric state of affairs seems to point to the fact that the letter
three phonemes of earlier Egyptian preserved in fact in prevocalic position
<T>, at least in a number of cases, stood for a phoneme exhibiting a specific
their ejective articulation down to Coptic: <d> =:If/= [c'] > Id/= [t']; 4g> =: /g/
phonetic feature in addition to voicelessness a n d lack of aspiration: both
= [k'] > 131= [c']; <q> =: /q/= [q'] > /g/ = [k']. This justifies the use of <a>and of
diachronically (section 3.4) and synchronically (see above), glottalization
the Greek tenucs, rather than of the Greek mediae to indicate them in the
appears here to be the most likely candidate.
writing: T for Id/ = [t'], a for /j/ = [c'], K for /g/ = [ k ' ] . O n the contrary, Therefore, as in the case of its Egyptian antecedent, the phonology of
etymological t It/,_t /c/ and k /k/, which were not ejective but aspirated stops Coptic may actually exhibit a higher degree of complexity than is betrayed by
([th], [ch]and [kh] respectively), maintained the aspiration in the environments
a superficial graphemic analysis:67 in our concrete example, we probably have
described above. O n c e again, w e can consider this aspiration graphically
to posit for the entire Coptic domain (although graphemically mirrored
rendered only in Bohairic, but phonetically present in Coptic as a whole:6*
only in Bohairic) the presence of three stops in the dental, prepalatal, and
'Taq vs. 'earl "spittle" /tar/ = [thaf] < Eg. tf *Itif/ = [thif], S ~ o p vs. c bop1
velar region: (a) a voiceless series /p/ /t/ /c/ /k/, characterized by an optional
"willow" /to:ra/ = ['tho:n] 4 Eg.1r.t */ca:rvt/ = ['cha:rvt], S a r vs. Ror "to take" /ci:?/
aspiration; (b) a vc~rcctiseries /b/ /d//g/, limited to Greek borrowings -- wirh rhc
= [chi:?] < Eg. 13j.t I c i ~ j i t >l ['chi:?(at)],S K H A E vs. B~~~~ /ke:nn/ = exception of /h/ and of secondary sonorizalion due to the proximity o n /rd; (c)
['khe:rnal < Eg. kn1.t '/ku:mat/ = ['khu:mat].This points to a phonological, rathcr
an ejective serics /dl = (1'1,/j/ = [ c ' ] and /g/ = [ k ' ] , which ncvcr exhihitcd
than merely allophonic status of the underlying opposilion "vo~c.eless n.
aspiration ant1 tl~crc(orcresisted a merging with the corresponding voicclcs\
ejective,"" an opposition graphically conveyed only hy Rohairic- and displ;~).ctl
phonclncs. (;ra[~lrc~r~ic;llly, ~ l i cvoiceless series is conveycd by 11ic ( ;I(-ck ~ c . t ~ ~ r c . c
 < r r > <T> < K > and Coptic < a >(or by the aylrarat < g > < e > < x > and < o >in of the offset A and the greater the consonantal strcngrh of the onset R ;
Bohairic in stressed prevocalic or presonorant e n ~ i r o n m e n r ) , ~ b hvoiced e voiceless plosives display the strongest, low vowels rhc weakest consonantal
series by the Greek mediae < A > < c > , and the ejective series - limited to strength.72 Since Eg. /T/ was originally an ejective plosive /d/ = [!I (section 3.3),
the Egyptian vocabulary - again by the renues < T > <a>< K > , but this time its degree of sonority, which is the reverse of the consonantal strength, was
without the Bohairic change to the corresponding aspirata in stressed pre- lower than that of a preceding fricative or sonorant phoneme; by turning
vocalic o r pre-sonorant environment. into a voiced fricative /T/ in mi'j, it acquired, like the glide /j/ in &.w, a higher
T h e treatment of the glottal stop I?/ also deserves attention. As was degree of sonority, favoring in this way the metathesis by virtue of the
pointed out in section 3.5, later Egyptian N, hl, /j/ and /w/ are dropped in final contact law. Let us consider the examples m i ' j **/rnaS$dvj/ and dq'.w */jarjaw/.
unstressed position, but become Rl when closing a syllable, often representing T h e syllable contact rj$d is rather stable, since the consonantal strength of /dl
the only remnant of an unstressed final syllable of earlier Egyptian dropped is greater than that of /S/. W h e n the sound change /dl > IT/ took place,
in the later phase of the language. However, especially in final position after **/rnaSdvj/ became */rnaSTvj/, which is the form we posit for classical Egyptian.
stressed vowels, glottal stops deriving from the development of final /I/, /r/, /j,/ T h e syllable contacts S$T and r$j, however, are rather unstable, because t h e
and /w/ are not treated exactly like etymological I?/;one also finds slight degree of sonority of B (the voiced pharyngeal fricative /T/ and the glide /j/) is
differences in the treatment o f /e?/ < */u?/ as opposed to /e?/ < */i?/.69 higher than that of A (the voiceless fricative IS/ a n d t h e s o n o r a n t /r/
Different graphic solutions for R/ are adopted in the dialects. All of them respectively). As a consequence, an adjustment of the phonetic environment
display /?/ = <0> in initial position (see SBANOH Ra'noW, A L F a n a n /?arnak/ < through metathesis occurred, leading to the Coptic forms /rno&/ a n d /p3/.
*/ja8nak/ "I"). To express a glottal stop following the tonic vowel in plurisyl- An evidence in this sense is offered by the presence of a Demotic verb mSd "to
labic words, all dialects except Bohairic exhibit the reduplication o f t h e wander," regularly kept in Coptic as moswT "to examine," most probably a
vowel's grapheme, whether the glottal stop belongs to the same syllable - the Late Egyptian etymological doublet73 of miYj in which the original Afroas.
vowel being in this case short: /cv?/ = < c v v > , for example S T O O T ~B, T O T ~ phoneme is maintained: a t least in a few instances moau'i occurs with the
/do?bf/, F ~ /da?taf/
~ < */jartvf/
~ ~"his hand,"
q Smooylc, Bmoyl~/mo?Sa/ < same meaning of m-c,74 a fact which strengthens the hypothesis that the
*/maSFvj/ 'to walk" - o r to the following syllable - the tonic vowel being here metathesis was caused in similar cases by the "contact law" o f phonological
long: /cv:?/ = ccVV>, see o a H H f i /we:?ab/ < */wi:Fab/ "priest." I n this last case, environments.
i.c. if /?/ is the first phoneme o f a final syllable of the type $?vc# following a T h e phonetic contact law can be invoked to explain other cases o f meta-
stressed syllable of the type #'cv:$, this phoneme is conveyed in most dialects thesis which affccted the development of Egyptian a n d C o p t i c phonology:
by the reduplication of the tonic vowel, and in Bohairic by <0>: Sacuomc, one of the plural forms of n_tr*/na:car/ "god" was */na8cuw/.75A syllable such
Bawm /jo:hrn/ < */ja:rniT/ "book." But the presence of a glottal stop in this as $curw$, however, in which the consonant of the nucleus (/r/ = A) has a
pattern must be assumed for Bohairic as well, since there seems t o be a rule in lower degree of sonority than the semiconsonantal coda (/w/ = B), is unstable.
this dialect that the phoneme /?I is always rendered by <0>, regardless of its This instability favored the metathesis of the two phonemes - w - > -wr- > -jr-,
syllabic surroundings: examples such as SBeooa (rather than B8eooa) /ho?w/ documented by the Coptic forms NTalp /ntajr/ o r n a c c p c /nte?ra/ "gods" <
"day" show that the phoneme /?I determines here the appearance of the */na'tejrv/. In this way, we can posit a relative date for t h e s o u n d changes
vowel < o > rather than <w>, as would be expected in the presence o f a involved in this evolution: the metathesis must have occurred before the
diphthong /ow/, see Eg. */maw/ "water" > Smooa, Amaa, but Bmooa.70 sound change from the glide /w/ or /j/ to the glottal stop /?/ took place.
In most words displaying the phonological sequence Rc#/, the glottal stop This analysis of the phonological status of I?/ in Coptic is confirmed by
I?/ derives from an etymological /?/ o r /j/ through metathesis: ST&€, two facts: (a) T h e interesting graphemic opposition f o u n d in Bohairic
B ~ ~ / T /do:hb/
w n < db' *lfa:baV "to seal," S n o o p , Haop /jo?r/ "to be strongn < between the writing < - c I > to express a final syllable / - a / , as in Bpowl /ro:ma/
drj.w * f j a r j a w / "he is strong." 'l'he reason for this metathesis in bisyllabic "man" or Bmour /rno?Sa/ "to walk," as opposed to the writing <.-oc>to express
words ending in /TI or /j/ is found in the "contact law,"" which provides that a 1-7x1as,in B A H ~/rne:hS/ "crowd," whercas in Sahidic both environnlents are
syllable contact A$B is the more ~)refcrretl.[lie lcss the consonantal strength graphically rendered by < - c c > :Spwmc, ~ m o o ~S Ac I.I I I W C . (b) T h e two graphic
 r e n d ~ r ~ o nesx h ~ b ~ t eby
d the unstressed syllabic structure X'??c# 111 Sahidic. l ' h c ~ ctwo developrnenrs In the quality of the short s l r r \ c d vowel\ c i ~ s ~ l l . ~ ~
namely <-?iicc> as in a w m c /jo:hrn/, but also <-?Vc> as In ~ o o /bo:lan/. n
'I'here can bc no doubt that these two patterns are phonologically identical: generally rrlotivated by specific consonantal surroundings. 'I-IILIs,* / a / is kepl ;IT

see on the one hand the Sahidic variant with final - E (Seownc), on the other / a / in the two major dialects and is rendered as < c > in Fayyurnic before
hand the identical treatment of the rwo structures in the other dialects: see etymological guttural fricatives ( S A 1 a a ,Reba, V ~ b c< dh' */jaSbaC/" 10000");
A a o a o a m c , Boaoanc, Bnom, 6 o n /jo:'lam/, /bo:?an/. conversely, */a/ becomes to/ also in Akhmimic and Lycopolitan hefore erymo-
A last problem is represented by the fate of the phoneme fi/. Its existence, logical ti'/ and /C/ ( S e ~ o o p ( c )h, o p , Aroopc, roopc, F r a a ~ r, a a p < Ilrw */jatraw/
although not excluded, is in fact very doubtful. ?'he g a p h i c distribution of > */ja?r(a)/ "river"). Also, the diphthongs */aj/ and */awl, which regularly yield
etymological /f/ is identical with that of etymological Rl, including /r'/ < /j/, /oj/, /ow/ in Sahidic and /aj/, /'awl in the other dialects, appear written in
/w/, /r/. and It/,and scholars generally maintain76 that i t had merged with the Hohairic as <or>(except in final position) and < o o a > (in all positions)
glottal stop in later pre-Coptic Egyptian, leaving traces in Coptic vocalism, respectively: Scpor, c p o o a , ALapar, a p a a , F c ~ a r c, i a a , Rcpor, c p o o r "to
especially in the anteriorization o f its vocalic surrounding: unstressed a me, to them."
instead of E or <0> (as in aylal < '33 */ri'SiR/ > */ra'3i?/ "to become manyv vs. As for *re/,which, as we saw, regularly turns into S R a and A'.Fc, the main
cgar < &3 */zilqid > */sa'qi?/ "to write"), stressed a instead of o (as in Tea < db' exceptions are: (a) i t is kept also in Sahidic and Bohairic as c before ti'/,
*/ja'baT/ > */ta'ba?/ "10000" vs. ~ p o <q qrf */qaaraf/> */qa'raf/ "ambush1').77 whether derived from an etymological I?/ or from the lenition of a It/, /r/, /j/
and /w/ in the coda of a tonic syllable: Smc, Bmcr /me?/ "truth" < */me?Ya/ <
3.62 Vowels */rnui"iat/, SBnc /ne?/ "to you (fern.)" < */net/ < */nit/, S B B N ~ / h e ? / "net" <
Table 3.7 captures the vocalic system of Sahidic Coptic around 400 CE: */Sane?/ < */Svanuw/;(b) it is written before sonorant phonemes (including 6) as
in Sahidic, Akhmimic and Lycopolitan, as < c > in Rohairic, and as < ~ i >
Table 3.7 The vocalic phonemes of Sahidic Coptic or <a>in F a u u m i c : Smsj */Simsij/ > SALyliuc, B ~ c m wF~ , ~ /SemSa/
~ "to i ~

worship." If the following sonorant is not followed by another consonant, it

STRESSED
VOWELS UNSTRESSED undergoes reduplication in all dialects except Bohairic: 9nj.t */qinjit/ > S ~ R n € ,
SHORT LONG
A ~ R n r e ,Bnenr, F H H N N J "to become fat." Also, in proximity of sibilants o n e
FRONT <(€)I>l i d often finds the outcome *re/ > SBe o r SBAFJ: for example, wsh.t * / w i s ~ a t / >
<e>, <0> /e178
So-sctycc, Soaoylcc, B O S ~ / H ~ C I "breadth," p5s.t */pussat/ > Snryc, n a y c
<f > , <0> /a/ < t i > le:/
CENTRAL <A> la1 "half." Diphthongs display slight irregularities as well: instead of the para-
digmatic form < a n(as in snwj */sifnewwvj/ > S c n a a "two," hnw *&v'new/ >
<O> 101 "jar"), */ew/ occasionally yields < o r > , and < o > in Akhmimic in final
RACK < o r > /u:/
position: S c n o a , g n o a , % n o . T h e outcome of */ej/ is even more complex: i t
develops as expected into S k ( e ) r , but it keeps a vocalization closcr to the
W h e n compared with the preceding phases in the history of Egyptian, the original in +(€)I, Frir; Bohairic exhibits a difference in treatnicnt, depending
vocalic system of Coptic exhibits the further consequences of the Late on whether the original vowel was *u (i.e., */ej/< */uj/), in which case i t goes
Egyptian sound change. Late Eg. stressed */a/ becomes t o / in the two major with Sahidic a t , or * I (i.e. */ej/< */ij/), in which case it goes with F a u u m i c HI:
dialects: Eg. sn */san/ "brother" > SBcon, ALFcan, following the pattern of */a:/ for example zjnw */zljnvw/> Scacrn, Acc(c)rnc, RFcnrnr "tlllysician," :;qj
> to:/: Eg. rmj */rarnac/ "man" > */ro:ma/ > pome, which had already taken */Tujqvl/ > ",ACIK, bat^ "consecration."
place around 1000 RCE (section 3.5). Moreover, I.ate t-g. * / e l , whether from ( : o p t i c long vowels display no major phonologic.ll d c v e l o ~ ~ r n efrom
~~t
original *ti/ (as in rn */rin/ > */ren/ "name") or from original ' / \ I / (as in brw L.arc t<gyptian. Hut JI the phonetic level, the following pllcnoniena t ~ k c
* / ~ u r r a w /"Flurrian" > */xell "servant"), becomes /a/ in S;ihidic- and Hohairic. ~ ) l ~ ~('1) : clidlcc~scxhi0it the evolution */a:/ > <or>
c r All 0 1 */:I:/ >
111:) (~n\rc,.~cl

t)ut is kept as /el in the other dialects: SRpan, Al.pcn, "icn; s l p ~ i".p a , ' ~ c A .
 well: n_rr */na:carl> NOFTE /nu:le/ "god."Hi' Akhmirnic displays < o w > in final Table 3.8 l ' h c syllabic strucrurcs of Sahldic C o p r ~ c
position or when followed by the gluttal stop, i.e. by a reduplication of the
vocalic grapheme: Sawwmt., A a o a o a m c . W e shall see below that these two SYLLABICSTRLICTURFS P R E ~ CI ) N I ( : TONIC P O S I 'IO N I C
-- -
phonological contexts are in fact identical, final stressed vowels being 0PU.I $cv$ $,cv:$ $cv#
regularly followed in Coptic by an extrasyllabic /?/. T h a t /u:/, however, has #CCV$ LTccv:$

acquired phonemic character in Coptic is shown by the presence of minimal CLOSFD $cvc$ %'cvc$ $cvc#
#CCVC$ ~ C C V C ~
pairs such as e o n /ho:n/ < hnn */qa:nan/ "to approach" vs. e o s n /hu:n/ < hnw
WUBLY -CLOSED S'cvcc$
*/qa:naw/ "inside." (b) T h e outcome <(€)I> [i:] instead of /e:/ from etymo-
(rccvccd
logical */ud > *led (3.5) is frequent in proximity of /r/ a n d after etymological
U)NG $'cv:c#
pharyngeals: s$~p, B b ~ p ,A ~ r pF,Q I A < * / ~ u : r /"street," a loanword from
Semitic. As in the case of */a:/ > <or>[u:], Akhmimic displays here < € I > in
final position o r if the vowel is followed by /?/: %nee, Aferee "finger." This
At first sight, a pattern o f tonic open syllable with short vowel $'cv$ is
same */u:/ > */e:/ occasionally appears as <E> before pharyngeal phonemes:
documented in words such as nE "heaven" < p.t */pit/, TO "land" < t 3 * l t a ~ l ,
S a x n e e < */taprpu:h/ "apple," also a Semitic loanword. (c) W e had already
g a a e "to tell" < sdd.r */sijdit/, or c r o n e "occupation" < wpw.r */wapwat/. In
observed in Late Egyptian (section 3.5) the phonetic outcome */i:/ > * [ e : ]in
these patterns, however, one has to assume the presence o f a final /-?#p
proximity of /F/ or /j/.
deriving from the lenition o f /I/, /r/, /j/ and /w/ in a stressed syllable in later
Most Coptic dialects have two unstressed vocalic phonemes,81 depending
Egyptian (section 3.5). Within an autosegmental approach to Coptic ~ h o n o l -
o n the phonetic context of the original structure of the word: as a general
ogy, these syllables can be analyzed as closed $'cvc$ o r doubly-closed $ o c v ~ ~ $ ,
rule, pretonic and posttonic vowels have developed into /a/,SZ graphically ren-
by positing the insertion of an extrasegmental glottal s t o p /?I as "default
dered by <c> or <0> (<I> in Bohairic a n d Fayyumic in final position); pretonic
consonant" in the final position on the skeletal tier $cv(c)$: thus n c = /pel/,
unstressed /a/ owes its origin to an earlier Egyptian unstressed */a/, either
TO =/to?/, w a n e = /Saj?/, and Elone = /jop?/, parallel to the cvc-pattern p a n =
etymological o r resulting from assimilation of */el < */i/ o r */u/ in proximity
/ran/ a n d t o the cvcc-pattern COTn = /sotp/ "chosen."85 W h e n this final /N
of a n etymologicd pharyngeal o r velar phoneme: aglar 'to become many" <
appears in closed syllables, it is mostly indicated i n the writing by c0>; in
'83 */Fi'Sid, o r to a n unstressed sonorant phonetic surrounding: a m p n e e
doubly-closed syllables, it is represented graphemically by c - e > in the dialects
"asphaltn c */rnv'rihjat/. An apparent pretonic unstressed /i/ derives from a
of Upper Egypt and by < - I > in those of Lower Egypt: S € l O ~ E ,B l o t /jot?/,
pretonic unstressed syllable of the type $cvj$ and is in fact to be analyzed as /j/:
%l&TE, ALFe~af/jat?/ < */jatjaw/ "fathers," S ~ I O A EB, g /hjom?/,
~ ' ' ~% M E~, ~
serewr /hajbo:j/ "ibis" < h0)bj.w */hij'ba:jvw/, originally the plural of h(j)bw
F e/hjam?/ ~ c *&i'jamwvd
~ ~ "women."86
*/hijbaw/ > */hi:b/, see %In. T w o important elements in favor of this analysis are: (a) the graphic
rendering of this glottal phoneme in dialects other than Sahidic as final <-E>
3.63 Syllabic structures (in Akhmimic and Lycopolitan) o r < - I > (in Bohairic a n d Fayyumic), a n d
Coptic syllabic patterns83 are similar to those of Late Egyptian, the only occasionally in Sahidic itself: see "E, met, SALAHE,AAIE,BAHI, AEI,FAEI, AEEI,
major difference being represented by the emergence o f new patterns from
A H I "truth," to be analyzed in all cases as /mv?/; (b) the A k h m i m i c (and
the reduction to schwa (and eventually to zero) of the short vowel of pretonic
partially Lycopolitan) raising of etymological */a/ to c o > or sometimes <c>
open syllables and the development o f biconsonantal onsets: *#cv$cv(c)$ >
(instead of the regular outcome < a > ) , of etymological */a:/ to < o r >(instead
#ccv(c)$. As in the earlier stages of the language, long and doubly-closed
o f the usual < o > ) , and of etyn~ological*/i:$T/ to < I > (instead of < H > ) in final
syllables are documented only in stressed final position. These rules of syllabic
position and before reduplication of thc vowel:R7 SA'TOOT~,R T O T ~ , F ~ h h ~ ' l
distribution and the ensuing comments apply to [he vocabulary of Egyptian
"his hand"; S B A L % i o . F % T ~"YOU (fern.),'' SFKO, RXW,L w ( ~ ) , AL,KOIT "to lay";
stock, not to the Greek words which entered the langrlage especially in the
S a w m e , Anoaoame "l)ook." I t i q cvitlcnt that these two environments were
religious sphere.
perceived as sharing a c o r n n l o l l faturc, whicl, is precisely the presence of' ;I /I/
after the tonic vowel: in Akhmimic lda?taf/= ['t'oibfl, hta?/ = [nt(h)o?], /ko:?/ =
[k(h)u:?], /jo:?am/= ['c'u:bm]. That this final glottal stop is not expressed in
the writing should hardly be surprising, since this is the regular fate of n/in
Coptic in all initial and final positions, unless it represents the last phoneme
of a doubly-dosed syllable of the type we considered above (efone = /jop?/).
Accordingly, a structure such as roe "part" < dnj.t */danju@s should probably
Elements of historical morphology
be analyzed as /do??/, the sequence of two glottal stops at the end of the
doubly-closed syllable being the reason for the variety of spellings of this
word: TO#, TA(€), TO, just to mention the Sahidic forms.
Conversely, the apparent and utterly un-Egyptian presence of patterns 4.1 Introduction
with long unstressed vowel (pretonic as in O a T A e "fruit" or posttonic as in Ancient Egyptian is a language of the flectional or firrional type,' with a
diachronic tendency to replace VSO-synthetic structures by SVO-analytic
ncoa "pricen) is easily removed from the phonological system of Coptic by
constructions and to move toward the polysynthetic type which characterizes
interpreting cow> in these cases not as syllabic /u:/, but rather as semiconso-
nantal /w/: o n e /wdah/, pattern #ccvc# < wdh */wi'dah/, pattern #cv$cvc# Coptic, its more recent phase. Egyptian morphemes are unsegmentable units
combining grammatical functions. Morphological forms exhibit a number
and ncos nasw/, pattern #cvcc# c jsw.r */jiswat/, pattern #cvc$cvc#. In both
of correspondences with the patterns of word formation and of flection in
cases, the hypothetical [u:] (L[u!t'ah] or *['asu:]) would represent the phonetic
other Afroasiatic languages. But although Egyptian is the oldest language of
realization of /w-/ and /-awl in those specific environments.
the phylum documented in written form (at least seven centuries before
Akkadian), its morphological repertoire differs to a great extent from that of
Further reading
Semitic and of other Afroasiatic languages.2 This morphological variety can
Fecht, G. W o m k u n t und Silbcnrtmktur. &yptologische Forschungen XXI (Gliick-
stadt: Vcrlag J. J. Augustin, 1960) [The standard analysis of the syllabic be accounted for in many ways:3 (a) by suggesting that, in spite of its archaic
patterns of Egyptian]. date, Egyptian had undergone already before its emergence as a written
Hintze, F. "Zur koptischen Phonologie," Enchoria 10 (1980), 23-91 [A generative language a considerable number of changes which modified the genetic
analysis of Coptic phonology]. inventory inherited from Afroasiatic;4 (b) by considering Afroasiatic a rela-
Hoch, J. E. Semitic W o r d in Egrptian T a t s of the Ncw Kingdom and Third Inter-
mediate Period (Princeton University Press, 1994) [A companion for issues of
tively loose language continuum, whose individual branches came to share
comparative Egyptian-Semitic phonology]. linguistic features through intensive contact, but were not necessarily derived
Osing, J. Die Nominalbifdung &I Agrpti~chen,2 vols. (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, from a common ancestor;5 (c) by rejecting the prevailing "semitocentric"
1976) [The fundamental reference work on the vocalic patterns of the language approach to Afroasiatic linguistics, proposing that the regular patterns dis-
from Middle Egyptian through Coptic]. played by Semitic, and above all by Arabic, represent a typologically late result
Schenkcl, W. Zur Rekonstmktion der dnrcrbalen Nominalbildrtng dm Agrptirchcn,
G6ttinger Orientforschungen IVl13 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1983) of a series of grammaticalizations which created its rich phonology and mor-
[Expands and discusses the methodology of Osing, N o m i n a l b i l i f ~ n ~ ] . phology, rather than the original situation inherited from the Ursprache.6
Schcnkel, W. Einflhnrng in die altrgptische Sprachwisscnschafi Oricntalistischc In fact, all these approaches have their strong points and contribute to
Einfiihrungen (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1990) [Indis- explaining in part the emergence of historical forms. T o give one a a m p l e
pensable tool for the study of the prehistory of Egyptian phonology and its
for each of them: (aa) Egyptian developed already in prehistoric times rigid
comparative aspects].
syntactic forms which favored the neutralization of the function of the
original case endings and the loss of vocalic endings. In this respect, Egyptian
is typologically more recent than classical Semitic languages such as Akkadian
or Arabic, where case endings are kept and productive, although not to the
extent in which they played a role in classical Indo-European languages. This
244 Notes to pagcs 2 6 3 1 Notes to pagcr 3 1-34 24 5

39. For a presentation of the decipherment in its cultural milieu see Iversen, The 11. A possible remnant of the early pronunciation of this phoneme is perhaps its
Mfi of E ~ p t 1, 2 U 5 . outcome as Coptic hl in specific phonetic surroundings: %POLII "sickle" < bs6.r
40. "Lcttre h M. le Professeur H. Rosellini ...sur I'alphabet hiCroglyphique," Annuli *lqa'~abjvt/(?), with [ q ~ >] [khr].Scc the references in W. Westendorf, Koptisches
&n'lstituto d i com;pon&nu archeologica 9, Rome 1837, 5-100. Hand~uiirterbuch (Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitatsverlag, 1965), 67. An
etymological glottal stop R/, however, was probably present in the original
phonological inventory of Egyptian, as shown by words such as n7.t *Inu:?at/
3 Egyptian phonology "city" (> Hebr. nd' lm?l > Akk. transcription nC-e'/ ni-i' YThebes") or m?w.r
*Irnehvat/ "mother" (> Coptic m a a a hnahvl).
For the reconstruction of the phonological evolution from Afrouiatic to Egyp- 12. F. Kammenell, "Pcrsondpronomina und Personalendungen im Altigyptischen,"
tian see Schenkel, A h ~ p t i s c h cSprachwirscnschaj?, 48-57; F. h m c r z c l l , review in D . Mendel and U. Claudi (eds.), & y p t e n i m afio-oricntalischen Kontnct.
of L a fangua duns & monde ancirn et modme, LingArg 2 (1992), 157-75; J. Ge&nkschrtfi Peter Bchrrns. Afrikanistischc Arbeitspapiere, special issue 1991
&idler, review of P e t r ~ ~ e kVnglrchrnde
, Srudirn, LingArg 2 (1992), 189-222. (University of Cologne, 1991), 201.
Hoch, Srmitic Words in E m t i a n Texts, 399-437. 13. Osing, Nominalbifdung, 857.
The most complete description of these rules and of the patterns of Egyptian 14. Ibid.. 316.
vocalization is found in J. Osing, D i e Nominalbifdung des rdDptischen, 2 vols. 15. Scc also the observations by Kammenell, in Gcdmkchtrf)PcterBehrm, 198 ff.
(Mainz am Rhcin: Philipp von h b e r n , 1976), 10-30. 16. RGsslcr, "Das &yptische als scmitischc Sprache," 263-326; among Egyptol-
Schenkel, Altdgyptische Sprachwirscnschafi, 23-28. This book presents an up-to- ogists see primarily Schenkel, Aftdgyptirrhc Sprachwissenschaj?, 24-57; see also
date picture of Egyptian phonology (pp. 24-93). Kammerzcll, LingArg 2 (1 992), 169-71; &idler, LingArg 2 (1992), 206-10.
A. Faber, 'Interpretation of orthographic forms," in Ph. Baldi (ed.), Linguistic 17. A discussion of adequacy and advantages of this simpler solution is offered by
Change and Reconstruction Methodology. Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Hoch, Srmitic Words in Egyptian Texts, 425 ff.
Monographs 45 (Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990), 627 ff.; id., 18. Schenkel, Altdgyptische Sprachwissenschafi, 3 3 4 1 . In loanwords from Egyptian
"Second Harvest: ~ibbdleerevisited (yet again)," JSS 37 (1992). 1-10. For didec- to Semitic, Eg. d is always rendered by Sern. !: Eg. jdmj *ljVdumvjl [j~t'um(vj)]>
tal differences in the case of Akk. J see W. von Soden, GrundTirr der akkadischrn Hebr. 'em "red linen." The same holds true for Babylonian transcriptions of Eg.
Grammatik. Analecta Orientalia XXXIII-XLVII (Roma: Pontificium Institutum words: jfdw *ljafdawl [jv~t'aw]"four" = Middle Bab. ip!au: Th.0. Lambdin, Egyp-
Biblicum, 1969), 5 30. tian Loanwords and Transcriptions in the Ancient Srmitic Languages (Baltimore:
Faber, in Linguistic Change and Reconstruction Methodology, 627; id., JSS 37 Johns Hopkins University Press, 1952), 136-37; Sern. !, on the other hand, is
(1992), 1-10; Hoch, Semitic Words in Egyptian Tncrs, 407-8.
What is often referred to as "rules of decorum": see Chr. Eyre and J. Baines,
"Interactions between Orality and Literacy in Ancient Egypt," in K. Schousboe
and M . T. Larsen (eds.), Literary and Sociery (Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag,
1989), 91-1 19.
"Afrouiatic" is here used as a conventional term to indicate the set of linguistic
1
I
rendered both by Eg. d (with which it shared "markedness," in spite of the pho-
netic difference between Eg. glottalization and Sem. pharyngealization) and by
Eg. t (with which it shared 'voicelcssness," in spite of the difference between Eg.
glottalization and Sem. aspiration). Also, Eg. /g/ and /q/ were probably articulated
as ejectivcs [k'] and [q'] respectively, which explains why Eg. g = [k'] is always
rendered by Sem. q = [q]: Eg. gsrj *Igastvj/ ['k'ast(vj)]"palette" > Hebr. qeJer (<
featurcs which Egyptian shares with a certain number of other language families *qa~r)"bow": ibid., 148, whereas both Sem. q = /q/ (because of its voicelcssness)
(Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, Chadic), without implying the belief in the existence and Scm. g = /g/ (becausc of its vclarity) are rendered by Eg. g = [k']. As for the
of an actual proto-language ancestral to these families. The different theoretical Eg. palatal ejective d, it regularly corresponds to Sem. "emphatic" p: dh.r *IpTnat/
models are discussed in A. Loprieno, Das VerbaLystem i m rdgyptischen und im ['c'uTn(at)] "(the city of) Tanis" > Hebr. p6'an (< *su~n).See Hoch, Srmitic Word
Snnitischen. Z u r Grund&gung < i n n Aspekttheorie. GGttinger Orientforschungcn in Egyptian Texts, 429-30.
Wl17 (Wiesbaden: Harrusowia, 1986), 1-12, 187-90. 19. See the consistency of the evolutions Eg. /dl > Coptic T, Eg. ljl > Coptic a,Eg.
0. RGssler, "Das Agyptische als semitische Sprache," in F. Altheim and R. ~ t i e h l lgl > Coptic K or a: W. H. Worrell, Coptic Sound. University of Michigan
(eds.), Christentum a m Roten M e n I (Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter~ Studies. Humanistic Series XXVI (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press,
1971), 275-77. Later evidence for the original dental articulation of Eg. <'> will 1934), 17-30.
be discussed in section 3.6. 20. For the discussion of similar "glottalic" approaches to the phonology of Indo-
Scc the comparable evolution from Proto-Sem. *d to Aram. <q>, later <'>: "d' European and of the proximity of voiced phonemes to ejectives see and J. H.
< ' m a >> <'ar'H> "earth": C. Brockelmann, GrundnJder v&ichrndm GramM- Greenberg, "Some generalizations concerning glottalic consonants, especially
tik dersemitischen Sprarhcn, vol. 1 (Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1908), 134. implosivcs," I j A L 36 (1970), 1 2 3 4 5 and W. R Schmalsticg, "A few issues of
contemporary Indo-European linguistics," in Linguistic Change and Reconsmc-
tion Mctbodology, 3 6 2 4 5 . An exception is represented by /b/, most probably [b],
246 Notes to pages 34-37 Notes to pages 37-40 247

in which the feature [+VOICED] was presumably kept beuuse of the difficulty of 34. Fecht, Wortakztnt u n d S i l b m t m k t u r , $5 325-347.
maintaining in a linguistic system a glottalized [p'], due to the distance beween 35. G . Fecht, 'Prosodie." in LA IV, 1127-54; for the general issues Durand,
-glottis and lips: see the discussion by Schmalstieg ibid., 363-64. For a discussion I
Genrrative a n d Non-linear Phonoba, 2 19-24.
of the relationship between voicing and types of phonation in general see J. 36. Osing, Nominalbildrtng, 420, 619-20.
Durand, Generative a n d Non-linear Phonology. Longman Linguistics Library 37. Ibid.. 463.
(London-New York: Longman, 1990), 55. 38. This process of lenition may appear surprising if one sticks to the honet tic classi-
This pattern of devoicing represents a form of "initial strengtheningn: H. H . fication of R/ as a "glottal stop," but becomes quite understandable within a
Hock, Principles of Historical Linguistics (Berlin-New York: Walter dc Gruytcr, generative phonological frame, in which /?I is classified as "laryngeal glide,"
second edn 1991), 162-64. sharing the same features [-CONS,+SON]as the bilabial glide /w/ or the palatal
An excellent analvsis of the relation between three different types . . of stops glide /j/: Durand, Gmcrative and Non-linear Phonoba, 42, 102.
(voiced-unaspirated, voiceless-aspirated, and voiceless-unaspirated) is provided 39. Osing, Nominalbildrtng, 463, 809-10.
by Worrell, Coptic Sounds, 17 ff.: while Egyptian "voicelessn plosives are aspi- 40. Hoch, Semitic Words in Egyptian Tnca; 492-93.
i
rated, their "voiced" counterparts, which were probably articulated as ejectives, I 41. Ibid., 499-500.
correspond rather to ~ o r r e l l ' s"half-voiced" (i.e. voiceless-unaspirated) stops. 42. Fecht, Wortakzent und Silbenstmktur, 5 172.
Kammerzell, in Gedcnkschtifl Pctrr Behrm, 190 ff. 43. Ibid., 5 172; Osing, Nominalbildung, 148.
Osing, Nominalbildung, 870 f. 44. Schenkel, Altdgyptischc Sprachwissenschafl, 87-88; Osing, N~minalbildrtn~, 377.
Ibid., 454. 45. Ibid., 20, 605-6, 149.
W. Schenkel, "Das Wort fiir 'Konig (von Obcdgypten)'," G M 94 (1986), 57- 46. Ibid., 20-21. This is probably a case of phonetically motivated suspension of the
7 3 suggests the interpretation of z as affricate [GI,among other reasons because it contrast between /id and led: see Durand, Generative a n d Non-linear Phonology,
stands for /t/ + h l in the word nzw "king," whose more traditional writing is ntrw. 57.
Whether an affriute (as suggested by Schcnkcl and by the equation with Afroas. 47. Ibid., 730, 476.
's) or an ejective (as suggested here on the basis of the historical evolution to a
- -
48. Ibid., 477.
voiceless counterpart which it shares with voiced plosives), it is not surprising- 49. Ibid., 463.
that this phoneme should be used to indicate a sibilant immediately following a 50. For recent accounts and literature on Coptic dialectology see the corresponding
nasal, a phonetic surrounding which often tends to generate affrication: Ins/ < entries in Aziz S. Atiya (cd.), The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. VIII (New York:
<nts> or <nz> = [vni;] (Schenkel) or else <nz> = [vns'] > <nts> = Ins/ [vnlj] (as Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991) on Akhmimic (pp. 19-27, by P. Nagel).
suggested here): for "consonantal epenthesis" (as in the case of [vns] > [vnii]) see Bohairic (pp. 53-60, by A. Shisha-Halcvy), Fay-yumic (pp. 124-31, by R.
Hock, Principb of Historical Linguistics, 1 17 ff. Kasser), Lycopolitan (pp. 15 1-59, by P. Nagel) and Sahidic (pp. 194-202, by A.
See J. A. Goldsmith, Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology (Oxford: Blackwell, ! Shisha-Halevy).
1990), 107-8. 51. A. Loprieno, "Methodologische Anmerkungen zur Rolle der Dialekte in der
W. Schenkel, Aur drr Arbeit an einrr Konkordanz zu dcn altagyptischrn Sa'gtnrten. W t i s c h e n Sprachenwicklung," G M 53 (1981), 55-75.
11: Zur PIuralbildrtng des Agyptischen. Gijttinger Orientfor~chun~en IV/12 (Wies- 52. Voiceless stops were articulated with aspiration in specific phonetic environ-
baden: Harrassowitz, 1983), 171-230; id., Einfihrung, 63-78. ments. This feature was probably common to the entire Coptic domain: while
F. Karnmerzell, "Augment, Stamm und Endung. Zur m ~ r ~ h o l o g i s c h e n most dialects do not indicate this feature in their graphic conventions, Bohairic
Enwicklung der Stativkonjugation," LingAeg 1 (1991), 189-92; id., in Gedmk- uses the corresponding Greek aspiratae+, e,x (for n, T , K) and the Coptic sign
schrifi Pctrr Bchrens, 198 ff. The fall of final vowels is usually seen in connection a (for a).The voiced phonemes (plosives A /dl and r 19,and fricative 3 /z/) are
with the transition from the Dreisilbennesetz to the Z ~ c i s i l b c n ~ e s eint z the pre- limited to Greek borrowings and arc realized as voiced stops. "Ejcctivc"
history of Egyptian: see G. Fecht, ~ o g k z t n ut n d ~ i l b c n s t m k t u~~~ ~ ~ t o l o ~ i s c h e phonemes, on the contrary, are characteristic for the vocabulary of Egyptian
Forschungcn XXl (Gliickstadt: J. J. Augustin, 1960), $5 3 9 2 4 0 6 ; ~chenkel. stock and are realized as ejective stops. They are written with the corresponding
A l t d ~ p t i s c h cSprachwissenschafl, 78-86. Greek tcnuis.
See Zcidler, LingAeg 2 (1992), 216, 53. In Sahidic and in most other dialects, the phoneme /?I is rendered by <0> in
In the following samples, the reconstruction of the phonological structure of a initial and final position, and by the reduplication of the vocalic grapheme (<'vv>
specific word in early Egyptian is accompanied by the later evidence (~kkadian = when immediately following the stressed vowel of a word. In Akhmimic
transcriptions from the New Kingdom, Meroitic borrowings, or the Coptic form and Lycopolitan, Rl in final position of monosyllabic words is rendered by <e>.
of the word) on which this reconstruction is based. In Bohairic, R/ is expressed by <0> in any nonfinal position; at the end of a
Osing, N ~ m i n a l b i l d u n 558
~ , ff. monosyllabic word, erymological17/ (primary or secondary) has evolved into <r>
Ibid., 532-33. For Meroitic see sections 1.1. and 2.1. (this feature being shared by Fayyumic).
 Notn to pagn 40-44 Notn to pagn 44-43 249

T h e phoneme /x/ is rendered by an independent grapheme in Akhmimic (Q) and 71. 'This phonological law is discussed by Th. Vennemann, Prrfirmcr Laws f i r
in Bohairic (b), but not in Sahidic; however, its presence in the underlying Syl&blr Structure and the &&nation of Sound Chnngr (Berlin-New York-
phonological inventory left traces in internal vocalic oppositions of the rype Amsterdam: Mouton de Gruytcr, 1988), 40-4 1.
S c c g ~< */seh,nvl "leprosy" vs. S c a g <
~ */se~tvjl"weaver." 72. Goldsmith, Autosrprntal and Mrtrikal Phonology, 108- 12.
T h e existence of a ~ h o n e m cfit, which I subsume here under the headine" 73. A very plausible casc has been made by F. Kammerzcll, "Ucbcr die Vcrschicdcn-
'elottal"
" -
because of its historical merger with Rl, is doubtful; however, its heit von geschriebcncr und gaprochcncr Sprachc," paper read at the Sixth Intcr-
presence in the underlying phonological inventory left traces in final vocalic national Congress of Egyptology (Turin, 1-8 September 1991) and by &idler,
oppositions of the rype g n a "wool" < */cqaF/ < b ' q */ca'Faq/ vs. g n o "to be LingArg2 (1992), 207-10 for the interpretation of a few lexical doublets which
hungryn < *&qo?/< hi *&aSqar/. display fit in their Old and Middle Eg. and /d/ in their Late Eg. form as two
Fayyumic is known for its "lunbdacism": <A>appears in many words in which dialectal variants of a common Afroas. ancator with etymological */dl.
the other dialects display <p>. The ratio between the two phonemes in all other 74. W . Crum, A Coptic Dictionmy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1939), 207 5.v.
Coptic dialects is 70% to 30% in favor of <p>, whereas Fayyumic has a ~0sglf.
proportion of 80% to 20% in favor of <A>:R. Kasser, "Fayyumic," in Coptic 75. Osing, Nominalbildrmg, 754; Schenkel, Pluralbildung, 197 ff.; &idler, LingAq 2
Encyclopedia
- - VIII, 125. (1992), 195, and section 3.3.3 below.
T h e most up-to-date account of Coptic phonology is by F. Hinne, "Zur kopti- 76. Bibliographic information in R. Kasser, "Ayin," in Coptic Enqcloprdia VIII, 45-
schen Phonologic," Enchoria 10 (1980), 23-91, to which the reader is referred 47.
for a generative treatment of an underlying phonological system of Coptic shared 77. For other possible signals of a preservation of the phoneme fit in final position
by the dialects independent of their different graphic conventions. see the discussion on the glottal stop R/ in section 3.4.3 below.
-
See its frequent alternation with <y> /fi and < o r > Iwk SFnora n o r q < nbw 78. As we saw above, /e/ = <a> in Sahidic, Akhmimic and Lycopolitan, . . <e> in
-
/na:baw/ "gold," Saorne B o r m ~ <n ~ bjn.t/bajnvtl "harp." Bohairic, and <H> or <a> in Fayyumic before sonorant phonemes (includinga).
ow ever,-final Rl is expressed by <e> in Sahidic and <I> in Bohairic in doubly- 79. The prcsence of a short vowel [a] is indicated in most dialccts by a supralinear
closed syllables, see below.
See H . J. Polotsky, review of Till, Koptischr Dialrktgrammatik, Cottingischc
.,
stroke (called in German VokaLmmch)over the following consonant.
80. This is yet another casc of phonetically motivated neutralization of a phono-
Crlrhrtr Anzrigrn 196 (1934), 60; Hinne, Enchoria 10 (1980), 40-41. logical opposition.
See the discussion of these phonetic properties in Worrell, Coptic Soundr, 17-23. 8 1. Osing, Norninalbild~n~, 27-30,475-500.
T h e reason for rendering- aspirated
. stops in the majority
. . of dialccts with the 82. If the stressed syllable of earlier Egyptian was of the rype cv:$ and the first conso-
corresponding Greek trnuis would be that Greek arpiratar generally represent in nant of the posttonic syllable /w/, /j/, or R/, Egyptian posttonic vowels in syllables
Coptic the combination of the corresponding voicclcss phoneme followed by the of the type %cvw,%cvj,and &v? have left different traces in the final long vowels
glottal fricative: = /ph/ (rather than /p")), e = /th/ (rather than /th/), x = W or diphthongs of Coptic: Schenkel, Altiigyptischr Sprachwissmrchafi,91 f.
(rather than kV). 83. For a recent presentation of the state of the art see L. Depuydt, "On Coptic
As generally assumed by scholars (see R. Kasser, "Phonology," in Coptic Encych- sounds," Orientalia 6 2 (1993), 338-75.
prdia VIII, 184-86), except for Bohairic o,which some linguists consider 84. Within a generative approach see Hintzc, Enchoria 10 (1980), 32-35, 48-54;
phonemically distinct from a:see A. Shisha-Halevy, "Bohairic," ibid., 54. within a traditional historical model see also the phonema /x/, /d und /W as sug-
Hintze, Enchoria 10 (1980). 50. gested by H. Saningcr, "Phonologie dcs koptischen Verbs (sa'idischer Dialekt),"
H. Satzinger, "Zur Phonetik d a Bohairischen und dcs &yptisch-Arabischen im in M. GGrg (ed.), FrstschrrfZ Elmar Edrl. Agypten und Altes Testament I
Mittelalter," W Z K M 63-64 (1971), 40-65; id., "Pronunciation of Late (Bambcrg: Urlaub, 1979), 348.
Bohairic," in Coptic Enqcloprdia VIII, 6 M 5 . 85. See Goldsmith, Autosrgmrntal and MrmmcalPhonology, 92, 107-8. Needless to
Hock, Principb of Historical Lingrtistics, 121. say, the phonetic realization of these phonological strings may very well have
For the older assumption that Coptic displays an exact correspondence be-: been [~aja],[Topa], or ['sotap], but in this instance the phonetic dimension is both
graphemic appearance and phonological structure scc R. Kasscr, "Syllabication, impossible to reconstruct and irrelevant within the context of our discussion.
in Coptic Enqcloprdia VIII, 207 ff. 86. Many scholars would interpret the syllabic structure of thesc words somewhat
This is a general context for the development of aspiration, called "delayed differently, namely as S e r o ~ eBlot
, = rjota/. From the point of view of the
voicing onset," also present in Modern English and German: Hock, Principh of economy of a linguistic system, however, this phonological analysis presents the
Historial Lingrtistics, 121. drawback of positing the existence of a stressed open syllable rev-/ in a pluri-
Background information, discussion and examples in Osing, ~ o m i n a l b i ~ n b ~ syllabic word, which is not documented throughout the history of the Egyptian
15-1 7,403-48. language and is unnecessary at the synchronic level as well: see section
Osing, Nominalbildung, 11; Hinne, L'-choria 10 (1980), 49. 3.4.3
250 Notes to pages 49-54 Notes to pages 54-59 25 1

87. Hincze, Enchoria 10 (1980), 49. See the masculine nkt *lnu'kutl > R K A InkaU "thing" from the root ktt "(to be)
88. Sec the discussion in Osing, N~minalbildun~,
440. small" or the feminine nhdt *)nuhjat/ > riaage hachal "tooth" from hd "(to be)
white": Osing, Nominalbihng, 21 1-12; M.Th. Derchain-Unel, "Das n-Prafix
im Agyptischen," GM 6 (1 973), 39-54.
H . Grapow, Die Wortbildungrn mit cinrm Prdfix rn- im ~gyptischcn.AI'AW,
Phil.-Hist. H., V, Berlin 1914. This formation is much rarer in Egyptian than
Comric, Language Univmalr and Linguistic Typology, 42-5 1. in other Afroasiatic languages, see Osing, Nominalbildung, 119.
See Schenkel, Altduptischr Sprachwirrcnrchaji, 13-17 and references. In the following table, conventional Egyptological transcriptions arc maintained
For the different methodological approaches to the study of Afroasiatic see for the sake of accessibility. For the underlying phonological reality see chapter 2
Loprieno, VrrbaLyrtem, 1-1 2. on phonology. Also, vocalized forms are always preceded by an asterisk to
This is the approach adopted by a majority of scholars working within the indicate their reconstructed, rather than documented nature.
"semitoccntric" genetic model: for example 0. Rosslcr, "Vcrbalbau und Vcrbal- P. J. Hopper and E. C. Traugott, Crammaticalizution. Cambridgc Textbooks in
flexion in den semitohamitischcn Sprachen. Vorstudien zu eincr vcrgleichcndcn Linguistics (Cambridgc Univcrsity Press, 1993), 32-62.
semitohamitischcn Gmmmatik," ZDMC 100 (1950), 461-514. See the acellent study by Zcidler, LingAg 2 (1992), 210-21.
This is the so-called "allogcnctic" theory of G. W. Tscrctcli, "Zur Fragc der Stems in *-i or *-u show in very rare cases the semivocalic ending <jj> =: +ij or
Bezichung zwischcn den scmitischcn und hamitischcn Sprachen," M I 0 16 <w> =: *uw instead of <--B> respectiveIy: Schcnkcl. P l ~ r a l b i l d u n202.
~
(1 970). 271-80. Osing, Nominalbildung, 25, 89 1.
For representatives of two forms of this theoretical model see Lopricno, Vrrbal- Ibid., 312.
y t e m and K. Petrdtek, Altdgpti~ch,Hamitosrmitisch und ihrr Brzirhungrn zu For an analysis of this syntactic phenomenon see A. Lopricno, "Osscrvazioni
rinigrn Sprachfamilirn in Afika u n d h i r n . VcrgLichrndr Studirn. Acta Universi- sullo sviluppo dell' articolo prcpositivo in cgiziano c ncllc linguc semitiche,"
tatis Carolinae Philologica Monographia XC (Prague: Charles Univcrsity, 1988). Orirns Antiqutu 19 (1 980), 1-27.
See especially T. Giv6n's work, for example Syntax. A Functional-Typological See Fccht, Wortakzrnt und Silbrnstruktur, $9 78 ff.; a modern treatment of this
Introduction, vol. I (Amsterdam: Bcnjamins, 1984), 360-72. issue is Schcnkcl, Altagyptischc Sprachwi~smchaj?,8 1-86.
A good example of an extreme triradical approach to Arabic verbal morphology Osing, N~minalbildun~, 604.
is offered by R. M . Voigt, Die inf;wncn Vrrbaltypcn drs Arabirchrn und dac Ibid., 532-33. For Mcroitic see sections 1.1 and 2.1.
Biradikalismus ProbLm. Vcrijffentlichungcn dcr Oricntalischcn Kommission A different explanation is offered by W. Schcnkel, FriihmittrLigyptischrStudirn.
- Franz Stcincr, 1988).
XXXIX (Stuttgart:
'
Bonner Oricntalistischc Studicn, N.S. XI11 (University of Bonn, 1962), 58: dp.1
In more recent times, attention is being paid to the witnesses of prehistoric *ldvppvt/ < **/dvpwvt/vs. dp. wt=f */dvpwv:tvf/.
contact betwecn Egyptian and Indo-European; see for example J. Ray, "Arc Ibid., 408 ff.
Egyptian and Hittite related?," in A. B. Lloyd (ed.), Studies in Pharaonic Religion Moscati, Comparative Grammar of the Semitic Languages, 87.
and Society in Honour of]. Cuyn Grifiths (London: Egypt Exploration Society, Schcnkcl, Pluralbildrmng, 202-4.
1992), 124-36 and F. Kammcnell, "Zur Etymologic dcs agyptischcn Zahlworts See discussion and bibliography in Zcidlcr, LingArg 2 (1992), 194-95.
'4'," in Crorsrolldr III Prrprints. %he two forms of the plural coexist sometimes in the same Icxcmc, for example
See F . Hintze, "Die Haupttendenzen dcr agyptischen Spra~hcntwicklun~," Zrit- in *3ab8d > EBOT Ra'botl "month," *nBlar > NoaTe )nu:ta/ "god"; (a) w-plural
~chrrfif i r Phonctik und allgrmrinr Sprachwisscnschafi 1 (1 947), 85-1 08; W. *3abdd-w > €BATE Ra'bat71, *na_tti'nv> i?TE€p(E) /nte7r/; (b) aw-plural *3ab1id-aw >
Schenkel, "Die Konvcrsion, ein Epiphanomen der kcmischcn (agyptisch- EBHT,*nal*-aw > RTHP/nte:r/. See the disc~~ssion in Osing, Nominalbildung, 75 1
koptischen) Sprachgeschichtc," MDAIK2l (1966), 123-32. ff.; Schcnkel, Pluralbildung, 197 ff. For the metathesis -urw > -ewr > -e?r see
For a formal analysis of morphological derivation in Egyptian scbCh. Reintga, scction 3.6.1.
"Formal and functional aspects of the Egyptian root lexicon," in'crorsroadc III See Zcidlcr, LingArg 2 (1992), 191-97.
Prrpn'nts. For the metathesis -XW-> -w6- see scction 3.6.1.
From the root mr "to tic" see mr(w) *rmu:raw/ > A H P "river bankn vs. jmr.w Fccht, Wortakzcnt und Silbrnstruktur, $ 206.
*/ja'mirwat/> BAAHIPI "inundation": Osing, Nominalbild~n~, 196. For the metathesis -iw-> -ejr- > -e7r- see 3.6.1.
From 3 s "to blow" see b3w */~u:~uw/ > EH "blow (of the wind)": Osing, Nomi- For the evolution of posttonic diphthongs see Osing, N~minalbildun~, 28-30;
nulbikiung, 97. Schcnkcl, Altdgyptischr Sprachwi~~rnschaj?, 9 1-92.
See mn '1ma:nl "to be stable" > AOVN vs. smn.t *rsimnit/ "to establish" > B c ~ ~ ' ~ That in words of the i-stem the pattern with aw-plural (TE~Evs. ~e(yeca)is
smn.t */si'mi:nit/> SCAINE: Osing, Nominalbild~n~, 54 E probably not identical to the simple ~ - ~ l u r(see
a l EEE vs. ceca above) is shown
by the presence vs. abscncc of a glottal stop in Coptic: while the simple ~ - ~ l u r a l
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1956). 7.4 188
7.7 150, 274
7.10 150
8,3 146
8,556 157
8,13 150
10,4 12 1
12,l 154
12,6 152
12,13-14 199
12,14 116
14,14 156
Arncncmopc 2,6 268
Ani 8 , l 1 141
Bcni Hassan I 25,98-99 126, 168
Berlin 1 157,ll 151
12 197
18-20 129
Book of the Dead 64,5 262
125y,28 172,215
(Budge) 241,14 121
(Budge) 26 1,l 204
(Lepsius) 162,8 263
(Navillc) 11,4018 128
British Muscum 614,8 264
Cairo C G 205 18 a, l 85
Codex Hcrrnopolis 7,7 135
C T I 28c-29a 153
44b 108
55b 123, 147
7 0d 206
74 i 189
8 1a-b 185
17Og-i 101
187e 171,213
207c-d 107
248c 208