Coptic The Coptic language preserves a form of spoken Middle Egyptian in an alphabet composed of all Greek and some demotic characters.   While this indicates that the language began to be developed after the Greek conquest of Egypt in 332 B.C.E., our earliest surviving Coptic texts date to the first four centuries C.E. and are mostly Christian.  They include biblical books, apocryphal material, the famous cache of gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi, and records from the Egyptian monastic tradition.  The main dialect and the standard for literary works was Sahidic (or Thebaic); other dialects include Achmimic, Subachmimic, Faiyumic, Bohairic.   Bible Horner, George William, ed.  The Coptic Version of the New Testament in the Southern Dialect, otherwise called Sahidic and Thebaic.  Oxford: Clarendon, 1911-1924.   Dictionary Azevedo, Joaquim, ed.  A Simplified Coptic Dictionary (Sahidic Dialect).   Cachoeira, Brazil: Centro de Pesquisa de Literatura Biblica, 2001. Cerný, J.  A Coptic Etymological Dictionary.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975. Crum, W. E.  A Coptic Dictionary.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962; original 1939. Kasser, Rodolphe.   Compléments au dictionnaire copte de Crum, Bibliothèque d'études coptes 7.  Le Caire: L'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1964. Metzger, Bruce M., comp.  Lists of Words Occuring Frequently in the Coptic New Testament (Sahidic Dialect).  Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1961. Smith, R.  A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1983.   Concordance Degge, Eldon H.  A Computer-Generated Concordance of the Coptic Text of the Gospel according to Thomas, Computer Bible 43.  Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen, 1995. Lefort, L. T., M. Wilmet and R. Draguet.  Concordance du Nouveau Testament sahidique, 5 vols., CSCO 124, 173, 183, 185, 196 (Subs. 1, 11, 13, 15, 16)  Louvain: 1950-1960.   Grammar Lambdin, Thomas O.  Introduction to Sahidic Coptic.  Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1982. Layton, Bentley.  A Coptic Grammar, with Chrestomathy and Glossary, Sahidic Dialect.  Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000. © 2017 Catherine Murphy, Associate Professor cmurphy@scu.edu   Dept of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053