The Rise of Coptic

Egyptian versus Greek in Late Antiquity

Jean-Luc Fournet

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English

Princeton University Press
31 March 2020

Historical & comparative linguistics; Ancient history: to c 500 CE

Series: The Rostovtzeff Lectures

Coptic emerged as the written form of the Egyptian language in the third century, when Greek was still the official language in Egypt. By the time of the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641, Coptic had almost achieved official status, but only after an unusually prolonged period of stagnation. Jean-Luc Fournet traces this complex history, showing how the rise of Coptic took place amid profound cultural, religious, and political changes in late antiquity.

For some three hundred years after its introduction into the written culture of Egypt, Coptic was limited to biblical translation and private and monastic correspondence, while Greek retained its monopoly on administrative, legal, and literary writing. This changed during the sixth century, when Coptic began to penetrate domains that were once closed to it, such as literature, liturgy, regulated transactions between individuals, and communications between the state and its subjects. Fournet examines the reasons for Coptic's late development as a competing language-which was unlike what happened with other vernacular languages in Near Eastern Greek-speaking societies-and explains why Coptic eventually succeeded in being recognized with Greek as an official language.

Incisively written and rich with insights, The Rise of Coptic draws on a wealth of archival evidence to shed new light on the role of monasticism in the growing use of Coptic before the Arab conquest.

By: Jean-Luc Fournet
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 1
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691198347
ISBN 10: 0691198349
Series: The Rostovtzeff Lectures
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 31 March 2020
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jean-Luc Fournet is the Chair of Written Culture in Late Antiquity and Byzantine Papyrology at the Collge de France in Paris.

Reviews for The Rise of Coptic: Egyptian versus Greek in Late Antiquity

In this outstanding and original book, Fournet provides a general synthesis on the 'invention' of Coptic and its progressive development until its recognition as an official language. -Alain Delattre, Universite libre de Bruxelles A major contribution. Fournet is the first to thoroughly explore the paradox of Coptic as a creation of Hellenized Egyptian intellectual circles. The linguistic-historical panorama he provides is wide and coherent, and his philological method is impeccable. -Anne Boud'hors, coeditor of Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt