Learn Coptic › Sources
Sources for Bohairic grammar the books the lessons cite, and others we hold, with links
A lesson cites a book by its short name and page. This is the list, so you can read them yourself. Under each book you can see which lessons cite it; a book that no lesson cites is listed only because we hold a copy or use it elsewhere on the site, and is marked so. Where a book is in copyright we link to it and quote no more than a line or two; the link goes to the place that holds the scan, which may stop working. If you find a better copy, or a grammar we should read, tell us.
The list is in order of authority. Where two sources disagree about grammar, spelling or meaning, the one higher up decides: the standard scholarly grammars and dictionaries first, then the texts themselves, then the early printed grammars, then modern courses and the church school books. How a word is read aloud is different: there the course follows the church reading, as confirmed by ear by the site owner, and says so in the lesson.
The sources for how each letter is pronounced, which include many more studies, are on the pronunciation page.
Standard scholarly grammars and dictionaries
The authorities. Where a rule, a spelling or a meaning is in dispute, these decide, in this order. Mallon is the standard grammar of Bohairic; Stern is the older scholarly grammar that Mallon builds on; Crum and the Coptic Dictionary Online say what a word means and in which dialects it is found.
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Grammaire copte, avec bibliographie, chrestomathie et vocabulaire 1904, 1907, 1926
Alexis Mallon (1875 to 1934) · Bohairic · French
The standard older grammar of Bohairic; cited by section: articles §41 to 49, possessives §74 to 76, demonstratives §92 to 99, interrogatives §100 to 106, the genitive §158 to 159, numbers §176 to 182, pronunciation §10 to 12.
1904 edition, archive.org · 1907 edition, archive.org
Checked 7 Oct 2026: the copy we hold and both archive.org items are the third edition (Beyrouth, 1926), whatever the item names say, so the § numbers here are that edition's. An English translation by Boulos Ayad was published in Cairo in 2004.
Cited in lessons 1-4, 1-6, 1-7, 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9.
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Koptische Grammatik 1880
Ludwig Stern · German
A scholarly German grammar. Stern also wrote down how Copts read the church texts aloud in his day.
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A Coptic Dictionary 1939
W. E. Crum · all dialects · English
The standard dictionary: every attested word, with the dialect forms and references.
archive.org (OCR scan) · Searchable online as part of the Coptic Dictionary Online
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Coptic Dictionary Online
KELLIA, Coptic Scriptorium and the Comprehensive Coptic Lexicon project · all dialects · English
Look up a word and see its forms, the Greek behind it, and the texts it occurs in. Free.
Scholarly grammars of Sahidic, for comparison
Excellent grammars, but of the other main dialect. We use them to see what Bohairic shares with Sahidic and where it differs, never to settle a Bohairic form.
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Koptische Grammatik (1904) and Lehrbuch der koptischen Grammatik (1951) 1904, 1951
Georg Steindorff · Sahidic · German
Sahidic grammars; useful for comparison, not for the Bohairic of the church.
1904, archive.org · 1951, archive.org
Cited in lesson 2-9.
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An Introductory Coptic Grammar (Sahidic Dialect) 1948
J. Martin Plumley · Sahidic · English
A short Sahidic grammar, for comparison.
Cited in lesson 2-9.
Texts to check against
The evidence of how Bohairic is actually written and sung. A form that stands in the Bohairic New Testament is attested; a grammar rule that the text does not follow is only a rule.
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The Bohairic New Testament (Coptic text with English)
Marcion project and Hany Takla, from the Coptic Scriptorium corpora · Bohairic · Coptic, English
The way to check that a phrase is real Bohairic: search the verses. The course checks its cited verses here. The text has capital letters and no jenkoms.
Coptic Scriptorium · The corpora on GitHub (bohairic.nt)
CC-BY 4.0. The same text is in the copticchurch.net database.
Cited in lessons 1-4, 1-6, 1-7, 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9.
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The hymn texts of this site (Hymn Library)
tasbeha.org · Bohairic · Coptic, English, Arabic
Search how a word or a name is written in the hymns the church sings; the course uses it for names and Greek words such as Θεόδωρος, and to check readings against how the site's editors transliterated the same words.
Early printed grammars
The first grammars of Bohairic, from the 1600s to the early 1800s, written for missionaries and orientalists. Valuable for what the language looked like then and how the church read it, but they are before the modern scholarly study.
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A Compendious Grammar of the Egyptian Language, as contained in the Coptic, Sahidic and Bashmuric dialects 1830, 1863
Henry Tattam (1789 to 1868) · Bohairic (called Coptic), Sahidic, Bashmuric · English
The first English grammar of Bohairic. Free. Describes the Bohairic of its day, so it differs from the church reading in places.
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Rudimenta linguae coptae 1778
Rufāʾīl al-Ṭūkhī (Raphael Tuki), bishop of Arsinoe · Bohairic · Latin, Arabic
A Bohairic grammar written by a Coptic Catholic bishop for his own people.
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Grammatica Aegyptiaca 1778
Christian Scholtz, edited by Charles Godfrey Woide · Bohairic · Latin
An early Latin grammar, interesting for how the language was read in the 18th century.
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Lingua Aegyptiaca restituta 1643
Athanasius Kircher · Bohairic · Latin
The first printed Coptic grammar and dictionary in Europe, from the Bohairic of the Scala of al-Samannudi.
Modern English courses
Courses written to teach English speakers the church reading. Useful and carefully made, but they are teaching aids, not scholarly grammars, and they sometimes disagree with each other and with the grammars above.
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So, You Want to Learn Coptic? A Guide to Bohairic Coptic 2005
Younan · Bohairic · English
A Bohairic grammar used in hymns classes. Same pronunciation system as the church; each rule is tied to a New Testament verse, so it is the best book to check a rule against.
A scan in the archive.org collection ("So, you want to learn Coptic")
In copyright (St. Shenouda Press). Read for checking only.
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Coptic Language (CPT100) 2008
Fr. Kyrillos Makar, Servants Preparation Program, Southern US Diocese · Bohairic · English
A short diocese course; its pronunciation rules are among the ones the site follows (see the pronunciation page).
Cited in lesson 2-8.
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Coptic language lessons (12 lessons)
Hany N. Takla, St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society · Bohairic · English
A short Bohairic course with a table of the letters in the current modern and a modified pronunciation, then articles, possessives, the genitive, numbers and the verb.
Church school books
The books of the Egyptian church schools. They are the classroom tradition the lessons grew from, and the best witness of what is taught in the church, but they rank below the grammars when it comes to what the language allows. Where the site owner confirms a reading by ear, that reading is what the course teaches.
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Coptic curriculum, Levels 1 to 4 (Read, Sound, Speak and Comprehend like a Pharaoh)
St. Athanasius Deacons School, Madinet Nasr, Cairo · Bohairic · English, Arabic
Classroom Coptic for beginners: the alphabet, articles, possessives, numbers, the present tense, everyday words and phrases, with Arabic glosses at Level 4. The course cites it as Deacons L2 p22 and the like.
The four PDFs, linked from the README of the metremenqeemi app
Permission to republish its text is not settled (issue #15); we link to it and quote only short examples.
Cited in lessons 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9.
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Ⲥⲁϫⲓ ⲛⲉⲙⲁⲛ, Saji Neman, "Speak with us", books 1 and 2 1969
Emile Maher Ishak · Bohairic · English, Arabic, Coptic
The course that generations of Copts learned from: short dialogues, the everyday phrases, the grammar notes. Prints an old and a modern pronunciation column; the course teaches the modern one.
Both books (sagi neman 1.pdf, sagi neman 2.pdf) in an archive.org collection
In copyright. Read for checking; do not copy more than a line or two.
Cited in lessons 1-1, 1-3, 1-4, 1-6, 1-7, 2-2, 2-4, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9.
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المطالعة والمحاورات العصرية في اللغة القبطية, Reading and Modern Conversations in Coptic, part 1 (ⲪⲈⲦⲞⲨⲰϢ ⲚⲈⲘ ⲚⲒⲞⲨⲚⲤⲀϪⲒ ⲘⲂⲈⲢⲒ) 1948
Shenouda ʿAbd as-Sayyid, teacher of Coptic at the Clerical College · Bohairic · Arabic
A Clerical College textbook of 1948 with everyday conversations in Coptic, each line paired with Arabic: greetings by the time of day, how are you, names, school. The course takes its greetings from it (printed p. 26). It does not greet with Ⲭⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲁⲕ.
Second, revised printing, June 1948. The link is a shared Google Drive file and may stop working.
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قواعد اللغة القبطية, Qawāʿid al-lugha al-qibṭiyya, volumes 1 and 2
Fr. Andraos (Andrew) al-Maqari, St. Macarius Monastery · Bohairic · Arabic
An Arabic Coptic grammar organized like the course: letters and sounds, articles, nouns, pronouns, verbs.
Volumes 1 and 2 in the archive.org collection
In copyright. The printing in the scan is not stated; the course README cites the 6th edition of 2016.
Cited in lesson 2-4.
Arabic grammars and primers of the church
The books that taught Coptic to Arabic speakers and the reformed reading in the Egyptian church schools, from ʿIryān Muftāḥ's manuscripts of the 1850s to 1955. Held mostly for the pronunciation page; several repeat Mallon in Arabic and so are not independent witnesses.
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Coptic Language Primer (cover label: al-Mabādiʾ at-tamhīdiyya fī al-lugha al-qibṭiyya, "Preliminary principles of the Coptic language") mid-19th century (undated manuscript)
ʿIryān Muftāḥ (Iryan Moftah, 1826 to 1886), teacher at the clerical college under Pope Cyril IV · Bohairic · Arabic, Coptic
The earliest Arabic-medium primer we hold, by the teacher of Cyril IV's school reforms: the 32 letters, vowels and consonants, and the rules of pronunciation in Arabic, then nouns, adjectives, adverbs and telling the time. A handwritten notebook, Coptic on the left of each page and Arabic on the right.
Library of Congress item page · Handle · PDF, 64 images
World Digital Library item 11353, LCCN 2021667304; original at the American University in Cairo Rare Books and Special Collections Library (Iryan Moftah Collection). A manuscript, not read letter by letter yet; no printed copy is known.
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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Coptic Grammar, a phrase book (title devised by the Library of Congress) mid-19th century (undated manuscript)
ʿIryān Muftāḥ (Iryan Moftah, 1826 to 1886) · Bohairic · Arabic, Coptic
Everyday Coptic sentences in the left column and colloquial Arabic on the right, grouped by topic (school, at home, at meals, at bedtime, church), with no religious or Biblical references, for schoolchildren and young seminarians. They are grammar drills made of everyday sentences (the imperative, the negative imperative, the future, the imperfect), so it shows how plain Coptic was meant to be said in the 1850s, but it has no stock greetings, thanks or farewells. The oldest book we hold that teaches Coptic as something to say, not only to read.
Library of Congress item page · Handle · PDF, 38 images
World Digital Library item 11354, LCCN 2021667879; original at the American University in Cairo Rare Books and Special Collections Library (Iryan Moftah Collection). A manuscript; no printed copy is known.
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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كتاب قواعد اللغة المصرية القبطية, a grammar of the Egyptian Coptic language 1925
Georgy Sobhy · Bohairic · Arabic
A Ministry of Education grammar that teaches a flat t for ⲑ in every dialect.
archive.org · Also in the archive.org collection
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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اللغة القبطية، الكتاب الأول 1922
Girgis Filotāʾus ʿAwaḍ · Bohairic · Arabic
A reading primer for the church schools.
Transcribed by vision (8 Oct 2026, unproofread, private). The PDF runs backwards, printed page 48 first.
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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اللغة القبطية، المبحث الأول 1916
Girgis Filotāʾus ʿAwaḍ · Bohairic · Arabic
A grammar that prints the rule for ⲃ and for ⲑ after ϣ, ⲧ, ⲥ. Its first part is a history of Coptic grammars and teachers, with the most detail on Iryan Moftah (pronunciation of ⲅ and ϫ) that we have found in print.
Transcribed by vision (8 Oct 2026, unproofread, private). The scan lacks printed pages 20 and 21.
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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التمرينات التجهيزية في تعليم اللغة القبطية 1888
Barsūm ibn Ibrāhīm Rāhib · Bohairic · Arabic
An early Arabic primer for learning Coptic. Beyond the drills it has real conversations with an Arabic gloss, which no grammar has: greetings, a farewell (ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ ϣⲓⲛⲓ ⲉ̀ⲡⲉⲕⲓⲱⲧ, p. 51), evening greetings (p. 52), a welcome (ⲕⲁⲗⲱⲥ ⲁⲕⲓ̀ ϣⲁⲣⲟⲛ, p. 74), two ways to say please (ⲁⲣⲓϩⲙⲟⲧ ⲛⲉⲙⲏⲓ, p. 108; ⲁ̀ⲣⲓⲕⲁⲧⲁⲝⲓⲟⲓⲛ, pp. 74 and 94), go in peace (ϧⲉⲛ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲣⲏⲛⲏ, p. 82) and small talk about travel, a wedding and writing letters (pp. 49 to 50, 108 to 109).
Only part is available online; see _private/refs/README.md. Transcribed page by page by vision (8 Oct 2026, unproofread, private): the scan lacks printed pages 7 and 16. Awad 1916 (p. 19, checked on the page image) names al-ʿAllāma Barsūm Effendi al-Rāhib among the many who graduated at the hands of Iryan Moftah and Philotheus Ibrahim, and says he taught Coptic until the year before it was printed, when illness stopped him.
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Qāmūs al-lugha al-qibṭiyya al-miṣriyya (Coptic-Arabic dictionary of the Egyptian language) 1895 to 1904 (six parts)
Iqlūdiyūs Yūḥannā Labīb (Claudius Labib, 1873 to 1918), professor of Coptic at the clerical college · Bohairic · Arabic, Coptic
The first Coptic-Arabic dictionary of Bohairic, by the man who urged Copts to speak Coptic at home. For the spelling and Arabic meaning of a word as it was taught in the clerical college around 1900; alphabetical by the Coptic headword.
Internet Archive (public domain mark)
Parts 1 to 3 are also at archive.org/details/QamusAlLoghaAlQebteyaAlMesreya01, 02 and 03. Not cited by any lesson yet.
Not cited by any lesson yet.
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تمهيد مصور لكتب أخوم فات في تعليم لغة القبط, a pictured introduction 1910 (our copy is the 1923 printing)
Claudius Labīb · Bohairic · Arabic
A children's primer with a short pronunciation rule for ⲑ.
The link is a mediafire file and may stop working.
Cited in lesson 1-6.
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الأساس المتين في ضبط نطق لغة المصريين, al-Asās al-matīn 1888
ʿAbd al-Masīḥ of Dayr al-Baramūs · Bohairic · Arabic
The first printed grammar of the reformed reading of Coptic.
Transcribed by vision (8 Oct 2026, unproofread, private). The scan is of two-page spreads, each given twice, and lacks printed pages 108, 109, 118 and 119.
Cited in lesson 2-9.
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ⲠⲒⲚⲞⲨⲂ, Pī nūb, "The Gold", to learn Coptic without a teacher, part 1 1955
Ayyūb Faraj Ibrāhīm · Bohairic · Arabic
A self-teaching primer with the pronunciation rules of the time. Part 1 glosses ⲉⲣϩ̀ⲙⲟⲧ as to favor, to be gracious and ⲡ̀ⲟⲩϫⲁⲓ as salvation.
Two scans exist with different pagination; see _private/refs/SOURCES-arabic-grammars.md. The Columbia scan of part 1 is transcribed by vision (8 Oct 2026, unproofread, private).
Cited in lesson 2-9.
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الآجرومية المستوفية (the Rome primer) 1878
Anonymous, attributed to Aghabiyus Bishay · Bohairic · Arabic
A primer printed in Rome that still gives the old reading of ⲑ.
The link is a mediafire file and may stop working.
Not cited by any lesson yet.