Lakhasly

The term “Coptic” designates the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language- the descendant of the earlier stages (Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic scripts). Coptic was written in the Greek alphabet, supplemented by six or seven letters borrowed from the Demotic script and used by Egyptians in the text production between the 3rd and 13th cent. CE. It continues to be used by Coptic Orthodox Christians as a liturgical language. The probable origin of Coptic as a literary language lies in the translation of the Bible, Old, and New Testament, from Greek into the local language of Egypt as part of the spread of Christianity from Alexandria into the provinces. Religious and literary texts were not only translated into Coptic but also newly-composed in this language. In addition to these genres, we find legal, documentary, and scientific texts in Coptic. The study of non-literary texts gives us a close view of the daily life of the Egyptian population in this period.
In the following, I consider Coptic scientific texts, from the beginnings to late antiquity and the early Arabic period. The term ‘scientific’ here indicates medical, pharmacological, chemical, and other learning documents. These texts are not devoid of magical ritual practices and are greatly influenced by Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Arabic magical traditions.
The Coptic magical texts date back to between the fourth and the twelfth century CE: the period of different religious conversion in Egypt. Thus the magical texts were affected by this conversion and present to us different religious aspects of various religious cults, i.e. “pagan”, “gnostic”, “Judaism”, “Christianity” and “Islam”. Subsequently, almost Coptic magical texts contain Greek and Arabic loanwords. Exploring these texts through comprehensive research will contribute significantly to our understanding of the linguistic, cultural, and spiritual facets of this historical period.
Our knowledge of the practice of magic in the post-Pharaonic, and Late Antique periods is reliant on documentary evidence in the form of various scientific texts written on papyrus, ostracon, parchment, paper, and dipinto on walls of monasteries. Further sources include mythological texts, amulets, and letters. While investigating Coptic magico-scientific texts, it can be noticed that some of the Arabic loanwords were unknown to the editors (in already published texts). Still, as a native speaker, I can identify these words and their meanings, which enables me to provide an updated version of certain texts. Noticeably, most Arabic words in Coptic scientific texts were almost nouns, including the names of drugs, measurements, and colors. While, Greek loan words were used intensively in the recipes’ ingredients, measurements, and verbs.