ONLINE
ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY
- Copt
-
"native monophosyte Christian of Egypt," 1610s, from
Mod.L. Coptus, from Arabic quft, probably from Coptic gyptios, from
Gk. Agyptios "Egyptian." Arabic has no -p- and often
substitutes -f- or -b- for it. Related: Coptic
-
-
-
WIKIPEDIA
The word
Copt was adopted in English in the 17th century, from
New Latin
Coptus, Cophtus, which is derived from
Arabic
collective
qubṭ, qibṭ
قبط
"the Copts" with
nisba
adjective
qubṭī, qibṭī
قبطي,
plural
aqbāṭ
أقباط;
Also
quftī, qiftī, Arabic /f/ representing historical Coptic
/p/. an Arabisation of the
Coptic
word
kubti (
Bohairic)
and/or
kuptaion (
Sahidic).
The Coptic word is in turn an adaptation of the Greek
Αἰγύπτιος
"Egyptian" ultimately related to
Caphtor.
The term is thus ultimately derived from
the Greek designation of the native Egyptian population in
Roman
Egypt (as distinct from Greeks, Romans, Jews, etc.). After the
Muslim
conquest of Egypt, it became restricted to those Egyptians
adhering to the Christian religion.
[18]
The Greek term for Egypt,
Αἰγύπτος,
is itself derived from the
Egyptian
language, but dates to a much earlier period, being attested
already in
Mycenean
Greek as
a3-ku-pi-ti-jo (lit.
"Egyptian"; used here as a man's name). This Mycenaean form
is likely from
Middle
Egyptian ḥwt-k3-ptḥ ("Hut-ka-Ptah"),
literally "Estate (or 'House') of the
Spirit
of
Ptah" (cf.
Akkadian
āluḫi-ku-up-ta-aḫ), the name of the
temple complex of the god
Ptah
at
Memphis.
In their own
Coptic
language, the Copts referred to themselves as
rem en kēme
(Sahidic)
ⲣⲙⲛⲕⲏⲙⲉ,
lem en kēmi (
Fayyumic),
rem en khēmi (Bohairic)
ⲣⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ,
which literally means "people of Egypt" or "Egyptians";
cf.
Egyptian
rmṯ n kmt,
Demotic
rmt n kmỉ.
The Arabic word
qibṭ
"Copt" has also been connected to the Greek name of the
town of Κόπτος
Coptos
(modern day
Qifṭ;
Coptic
Kebt and
Keft). It is possible that this
association has contributed to making
Copt the settled form of
the name.
[19]
In the 20th century, some Egyptian
nationalists and intellectuals in the context of
Pharaonism
began using the term
qubṭ
in the historical sense. For example, Markos Pasha Semeika, founder
of the
Coptic
Museum, addressed a group of Egyptian students saying: "All
of you are Copts. Some of you are Muslim Copts, others are Christian
Copts, but all of you are descended from the Ancient Egyptians".
[20]
-