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18th Century Illuminated Coptic Uncial Bible Manuscript
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18th Century Illuminated Coptic Uncial Bible Manuscript
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This is a rare illuminated uncial Coptic Christian Bible manuscript leaf. While some have dated this manuscript to the 17th century, I think it was made in the 18th century. The text is written on thick paper, with much disintegration, discoloration, and stains, due to humidity, weather, age, and use over the centuries. Total size of the page is 6 ½ in. x 9 in. (= 166 mm x 232 mm). The text area is about 4 1/2 in. x 7 in. (= 114 mm x 175 mm). The Coptic text in its distinctive and beautiful large uncial letters, which are read from left to right. T are n umerous instances of red rubrication in letters and words (both Coptic and Arabic), as well as diacritical and punctuation marks. The manuscript as a whole contains many instances of the Nomina Sacra or Sacred Names (which are used for such terms as God, Lord, Jesus, Christ, Savior, Father, Son, Holy, and Spirit). This leaf has four (4) large initial letters, with one in red rubrication (see 1st scanned image). This particular sheet has a number of sacred names on it. The most important is "The Lord," which appears twice on this leaf (front, line 7; and back, line 9), which is indicated as a sacred abbreviation by the line above the word and red dot or circle on that line. Also on the back are the two words: "Abraham " (back, line 11), and the word "Patriarch" (back, line 12). An amazing leaf from Coptic Christian history. The winne r of the auction will also receive a photocopy of each side of this leaf with the most important Coptic words circled and translated. This is an original manuscript, not a reproduction. Its authenticity is 100% guaranteed. IMPORTANT WARNING NOTE: Please notice that I have used the word "Bible" in the title, it really should be "Biblical." (Earlier I had changed the word "Bible" to "Biblical," but t were no search hits, because most people are searching for the word "Bible.") The reason that I say this is because one cannot be certain that the particular text on the manuscript is a Bible or New Testament text. It could just as well be a Psalter, a private prayerbook, a theological exposition, a Biblical commentary and explanation, a church liturgy or service, various quotations of Patristic writers, a philosophical discussion, a hymnody, or some other Christian historical writing. However, this sheet does represent some aspect of the Christian religion of the Coptic Orthodox Church. This manuscript uses the beautiful large Uncial Coptic script (which shows connections with both ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Greek language). The Coptic alphabet is based on the Greek alphabet, but contains a number of extra letters for sounds not found in Greek. The extra letters come from the Demotic of the Egyptian script. The Coptic alphabet came into being during the 3rd century BC after the Greek conquest of Egypt and the subsequent spread of Christianity. The name 'Coptic' derives from the Greek word for Egyptian: âeoe Aigyptioiâe which became âeoe Qibtâe in Arabic and then was Latinized to become âeoe Copt .âe The Coptic language is a member of the Egyptian branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family and a descendant of the Ancient Egyptian language. Coptic was an official language in Egypt until around the 13th century A.D., when it was replaced by Arabic. Nowadays Coptic Christians all speak Arabic as their every day language, but use Coptic in their religious ceremonies. CopticThe language of Egypt endured for at least 3500 years before the Islamic conquest swept it aside in favour of Arabic. During that time it naturally underwent significant evolution. T was at one time much debate over the origin of the Egyptian language; was it Semitic or not? It seemed to have Semitic influence, but not enough to really be part of the family. This seems now to have been solved; Joseph H. Greenburg in the 1960s proposed to group most of the languages of northern Africa and the Middle East in one great "Afroasiatic" superfamily. Egyptian and the Semitiic languages were two of the ...
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