SSCN Voumes 1-10, 1994-2004

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

أﻮ o in the English word not ; or ô in the English word pope .

Ow Biy

O P R C T U V < " W S F Q H J { }

ﺐ English b .

„ ﺮ r .

Ro

„ س s in the English word sun .

Sima

„ ﺪ d .

Dau Hey

i as in English pick , or ﻮ = English ow in how e.g. nau is pronounced nâu ; aumacf = aumasf ; but humnoc = himnoc .

ﺐ,ﻒ = b ; occasionally ph as in Philip .

Biy, Fiy

ﻚ,ﺘﺶ in all Coptic words = ch in choir ; in Greek words= ch in Scotch loch = خ before a> o> w> e.g. ,oroc> ,aric> but= ch as in English chair before e> /> i> and u e.g. ,ere> ,eroubim .

Chiy

ﺒس = bs.

Ebsy

اﻮ ô as in the English word bone. ﺶ = sh in the English sheep .

Ôo

Shay Faiy Khâi Hôry

ﻒ = f .

ﺨ Arabic ﺨ kh guttural.

ه h in Eglish here .

ج Soft as un English George ; hard as in English good .

Ganga Chîma

ﺘﺶ Ch in English word chair.

Dy = di . Note .—The accent (`) which is placed on consonants and sometimes on vowels represents always the sound e in the English ebony . Thus the definite articles p> v> t> n> y are always pronounced –eb . –et , etc.; also in regular words whether Coptic or Greek. Thus all such words as tc himi> p rwmi> p ]mi> p l/n> k l/roc> are pronounced eteshimi , enrômi , ebdimi , eblin , ekliroc , etc.

syllable /oui is always uttered âwi ىﻮﺁ-- ِ; au> eu are pronounced âû and /i is ây .أى-- The letter B may have been pronounced in ancient times, particularly in the Northern Dialects, as the English v . The ancient Egyptian letter ¾ which must have been the original letter b in value does not appear to have been pronounced like v . In names of Roman emperors, where the letter v figured, it was always transliterated by the letters y , » . The Church pronounces it to-day invariably as û when it figures in the beginning or middle of words; but it is pronounced as b when it is final. Thus e bol = âûl , niben = niwān ; but eyouab = atûâb , ou/b = ûâb . This rule is quite invariable.

A , E . Generally speaking there is no difference in the Church pronounciation of these two letters. The interchange between these two letters is common in the differenct dialects of Coptic. The word erok is pronounced as if it were arok and so forth wherever the letters appear. There is no difference also between / and i , but in some words even / is pronounced as if it were a , e.g. niv/oui is always pronounced nifâwi . The combination ou> wou> /oui> au> eu> /i. With the first two combinations the accent is usually employed and their prononciation resembles exactly the Arabic ﻮ ّ ,أ i.e. with the letter ﻮ ّ doubled; thus p wou is pronouncedّ إ ْ --ﻮﺒ ebôû ; the

St. Shenouda Coptic Newsletter

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