Coptic SCRIPTORIUM: Digitizing a Corpus for Interdisciplinary Research in Ancient Egyptian

Abstract

Coptic, having evolved from the language of the hieroglyphs of the pharaonic era, represents the last phase of the Egyptian language and is pivotal for a wide range of disciplines, such as linguistics, biblical studies, the history of Christianity, Egyptology, and ancient history. The Coptic language has proven essential for the decipherment and continued study of Ancient Egyptian and is of major interest for Afro-Asiatic linguistics and Coptic linguistics in its own right. Coptic manuscripts are sources for biblical and extra-biblical texts and document ancient and Christian history. Coptic SCRIPTORIUM will advance knowledge in these fields by increasing access to now largely inaccessible texts of historical, religious, and linguistic significance. The project designs digital tools and methodologies and applies them to literary texts, creating a rich open-access corpus