SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

II. Dictionary: This module can best be described as an abridged, fully alphabetized, Bohairic edition of the monumental Crum's Coptic Dictionary. It also includes many of the Greek-loan words found in Coptic texts. The primary sources for the Greek- loan words were E. Labib's Coptic Dictionary and Mallon's Grammaire Copte . This work began by this writer in the late seventies as a Bohairic extract of Crum's entries to help in text translation. With the advent of the computers, it took shape as a full Bohairic-English Coptic Dictionary . To increase its usefulness in academic circles, a reference to page and column number in Crum's Dictionary is included for all words of Egyptian origin. The dictionary also has search capabilities in both English as well as Coptic. To facilitate such word search on a Coptic word, the user would utilize the provided Coptic Keyboard keystroke guide. The dictionary is primarily intended to give students of Bohairic Coptic the necessary tool to understand and translate the texts available. It is also designed to serve as prototype of a dictionary for Modern Coptic. However, there is more work to be done in the future to better achieve the above goals. This will include identifying more Greek- loan words used in the available texts, as well as standardizing the modern usage of the available vocabulary. The literary contribution of all experts in this field is greatly appreciated. The Society is grateful to Dr. Tim Vivian of Bakersfield, CA, for intiating such contribution. III. New Testament (NT): This part of the CD is the primary reason for all the previous parts. It includes the Bohairic (B), Sahidic (S), Greek (Gk), and King James Version (E) texts of the NT. The Middle Egyptian text (ME) of Matthew, the Old Bohairic text (BO) of John, and the Subakhmimic text (L) of John are also included. Each book of the NT is arranged in separate files, containg two of these versions with each verse set side-by-side. This arrangement yields six different files for each book, excluding the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. These combination files are: B-E, B-Gk, B- S, Gk-E, S-E, and S-Gk. For the Gospel of St.

Matthew the following combinations are added: B- ME, ME-E, ME-Gk, and S-ME. For the Gospel of St. John, nine more combinations are added: B-BO, B-L, BO-E, L-E, BO-Gk, L-Gk, BO-L, S-Bo, and S-L. Each of these files is accessed by clicking on the appropriate button of a master menu. Within each file, the user can navigate by chapter or search for a keyword in that book. The Coptic version of each book of the NT was chosen from the best available published text, if such a choice was available. The English and Greek versions were converted from available electronic databases. All texts were formatted with a chapter and verse designation, e.g. 5:1. They were then arranged in half-page, single cell, table format with each verse occupying a separate cell. The Bohairic and Sahidic texts were modified to standarize the pointing placement as well as the word divisions. This was done mainly to facilitate the understanding of the text by non-scholars. Any other change in the text was indicated with the usual text-editing notations. Other minor dialects were produced as they were in their respective printed publication. The printed and electronic publications used in the accomplishment of the above monumental task were as follows: I. The Gospels a. Bohairic: Horner, the Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Northern Dialect , Oxford 1898-1905. v.1 (Matthew-Mark), v.2 (Luke-John) b. English: Online Bible version 6.0 KJV-module, electronic version. c. Greek: CCAT Greek New Testament electronic version. d. Lycopolitan or Sub-Akhmimic: Thompson, The

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter Gospel of St. John According to the Earliest Coptic Manuscript , London 1924. (St. John only) e. Middle Egyptian: Schenke, Das Matthaus-

Evangelium im Mittelägyptischen Dialekt des Koptischen (Codex Scheide) , Berlin, 1981. (St. Matthew only)

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