or COPTIC, the language of the Copts, the ancient language of the Egyptians, mixed with Coptic a great deal of Greek, the characters it is written in being all Greek. It has a form and construction peculiar to itself: it has no inflections of the nouns or verbs; but expresses number, case, gender, person, mood, tense, and possessive pronouns, by letters and particles prefixed.

F. Kircher is the first who published a grammar and vocabulary of the Coptic. There is not known any book extant in the Coptic, except translations of the Holy Scriptures, or of ecclesiastical offices; or others that have relation thereto, as dictionaries, &c.

The ancient Coptic is now no longer found but in books; the language now used throughout the country is Arabic. The old Coptic, which Kircher maintains to be a mother-tongue, and independent of all others, had been much altered by the Greeks: for besides that it has borrowed all its characters from the Greek, with a very little variation, a great number of the words are pure Greek. Vossius, indeed, asserts, that there was no Coptic language till after Egypt became subject to the Arabs. The language, according to him, is a mixture of Greek and Arabic: the very name thereof not being in the world till after the Arabs were masters of the country. But this, M. Simon observes, proves nothing; except that what was anciently called Egyptian, has since by the Arabs been called Coptic, by a corruption of speech. There are, it is true, Arabic words in the Coptic; yet this by no means proves but that there was a language before that time, either Coptic or Egyptian. Pietro de la Valle observes, that the Copts have entirely lost their ancient tongue; that it is now no longer understood among them; that they have nothing extant therein but some sacred books; and that they still say mass in it.

All their other books have been translated into Arabic, which is their vulgar tongue; and this has occasioned the originals to be lost: it is added, that they rehearse the epistles and gospels in the mass twice; once in Arabic and once in Coptic. Indeed, if we believe F. Vansleb, the Copts say the mass in Arabic, all but the epistles and gospels, which they rehearse both in that and Coptic.

Coptic Bible. See Bible.

Coptic Liturgies are three; one attributed to Basil, another to St Gregory, and the third to Cyril: they are translated into Arabic for the use of the priests and people.

Copiata, under the western empire, a grave-digger. In the first ages of the church there were clerks destined for this employment. In the year 357 Constantine made a law in favour of the priests copiatae, i.e. of those who had the care of interments; whereby he exempts them from the lustral contribution which all other traders paid. It was under him also that they first began to be called copiatar, q.d. clerks destined for bodily labour, from scorto, or scorto scindo, cedo, ferio, "I cut, beat," &c. Before that time they were called decani and lecticarii; perhaps because they were divided by decades or tens, each whereof had a bier or litter for the carriage of the dead bodies. Their place among the clerks was the next in order before the chantors.

Coping of a wall, the top or cover of a wall, made sloping to carry off the water.

Coping over, in Carpentry, a sort of hanging over, not square to its upright, but bevelling on its under side till it end in an edge.