Expert: Rudy de Swart - 12/27/2005

Question
Can you give me a definition of what is meant by "Coptic" - or is it a term that defies a simple definition, as would seem to be the case. I have seen it used to refer to the following: a religious sect - Egyptian Christians in Late Antiquity; the Egyptian language; the Egyptian language as written using the Greek alphabet (which I suppose would have been used mostly by Egyptian Christians); and simply Egyptian. How do Scholars of Ancient Egypt define it.

Answer
When egyptologists talk about coptic they mean the language spoken in Egypt from approximately AD 200 to 1600.

Coptic evolved from the ancient Egyptian language and is the last written form of that language. Coptic was also used to write numerous Egyptian dialects and later also Arabic.
Coptic was replaced by Arabic in the 16th century. Today a dialect is still in use in the liturgy of the modern coptic church.

I hope this answers your question.