Copt: Encyclopedia II - Copt - Etymology

Copt - Etymology

The English word Copt is from New Latin Coptus, which is derived from Arabic qubṭi قبطي (pl: qubṭ قبط and aqbāṭ أقباط), an Arabisation of the Coptic word kubti (Bohairic) and/or kuptaion (Sahidic). The Coptic itself is derived from the Greek word Αἰγύπτιος, aiguptios: "Egyptian", from Αἰγύπτος, aiguptos: "Egypt".

The Greek term for "Egypt" has a long history. It goes back to the Mycenaean language (an early form of Greek) where the word a₃-ku-pi-ti-jo (lit. "Egyptian"; used here as a man's name) was written in Linear B. This Mycenaean form is from Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ ("Hut-ka-Ptah"), literally "Estate (or 'House') of Ptah" (cf. Akkadian ^āluḫi-ku-up-ta-aḫ), the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis. As the chief temple precinct of the capital of Egypt, the name was applied to the entire city of Memphis and ultimately to the country as a whole. (A similar situation is observed in the name Memphis [Greek Μέμφις], which comes from the Egyptian name of the pyramid complex of king Pepi II, mn nfr ppy (lit. "Established in Perfection (or 'Beauty') is Pepy") at Saqqara but which was applied to the nearby capital city.) Interestingly, this usage survived in Sahidic as Gupton and Kupton, meaning "Memphis".

There is another theory which states that the Arabic word qibṭ "Copt" was an Arabisation of the Greek name of the town of Κόπτος Coptos (modern قفط Qifṭ; Coptic Kebt and Keft) is generally no longer accepted.

References to Copts in the Coptic language are both Greek and Coptic in origin. The words kuptaion (Sahidic) and kubti (Bohairic) are known, but are used in the surviving texts to refer to the language, rather than the people; these both derive from Greek Αἴγύπτιος aiguptios "Egyptian". The "native" Coptic term referring to Copts was rem en kēme (Sahidic), lem en kēmi (Fayyumic), rem en khēmi (Bohairic), etc., literally "people of Egypt"; cf. Egyptian rmṯ n kmt, Demotic rmt n kmỉ.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etymology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki