COPPERSMITH
601
COPTIC LANGUAGE
Spaniards, were in possession of tempered implements >f copper, and had the means of smelting, refininf?, md forging this metaL They were also able to hard- m it by aSloying. "The metal nsed for this latter purpose was tin; and the varioos Peruvian articles subjected to analysb are found to contain from three to six per cent of that metal*' (Silliman's Jcumal^ ii, 51). See Metal.
Tnbal-Cain is recorded as the first artificer in brass and iron (Gen. iv, 22). In the time of Solomon, Hi- ram of l^rre was celebrated as a worker in brass (1 Kings vii, 14 ; comp. 2 Chron. ii, 14). To judge from Hesiod {Op. ei Die*, 184) and Lucret. (v, 1285), the art of working in coppor was even prior to that in iron, probably from its being found in larger masses, and from its requiring less labor in the process of manu- facture. Palestine abounded in copper (Deut viii, 9), the mines being apparently worked by the Israelites (Isa. li, 1) ; and D^rid left behind him an immense quantity of it to be employed in building the Temple (1 Chnm. xxii, S-14). Of copper were made all sorts of vessels in the tabernacle and temple (Lev. vi, 28 ; Num. xvi, 89; 2 Chron. iv, 16; Ezra viii, 27), weap- ons, and nwre especially helmets, armor, shields, spears (1 Sam. xvii, 5, 6, 88 ; 2 Sam. xzi, 1^, and bows (2 Sam. xxii, 85), also chains (Judg. xvi, 21), and even mirrors (Exod. xxxviii, 8; Job xxxvii, 18). The larger vessels were moulded in foundries, such as lav- era, tlie great one being called "the copper sea** (2 KhgB XXV, 18 ; 1 Chron. xviii, 8) ; also the pillars for arclutectural ornaments (1 Kings vii). It would, how- ever, appear (1 Kings vii, 14) that the art of copper- founding was, even in the time of Solomon, bat little known amoifg the Jews, and was peculiar to foreign- ers, particularly the Plioenicians, who seem to have hnpOTted the material and even wrought articles from a distant quarter (Ezek. xxvii, 18), probably from the Moschi, etc., who worked the copper mines in the neighborhood of Mount Caucasus. Michaelis (M<m, Reeht, iv, 217, 814) observes that Moses seems to have given to copper vessels the preference over earthen (Lev. vi, 28), and on that ground endeavors to remove the common prejudice against their use for culinary purposes. From copper, also, money was coined (Esek. xvi, 86 ; Matt, x, 9).— Kitto, s. v. See Bbass.
COPPERSMITH (xaXwuc, q. d. hragier, ftt>m xaX- K^Qy copper), a worker in metals of any kind, a smith (Hesych. s. v.) ; a sense in which the word is used in other Greek writings (Hom. Od, ix, 891). Alexander, sn opponent of Paul, is designated as being of this trade (2 Tim. iv, 14). See MscHAKia
Coptic Church. See Copts.
Coptio Langnage, a mixture of ancient Et^yp- tian wHh Greek and Arabic words, spoken in Egypt after the introduction of Christianity. It is not now a spoken language, having been everywhere supplant- . ed by the Arabic It has not been spoken in Lower Egypt since the tenth century, but lingered for some centuries longer in Upper Egypt. It is, however, still used by the Copts in their religious services, but the lessons, after being read in Coptic, are explained in Arabic. The Coptic literature consists in great part ot lives of saints and homilies, with a few Gnostic works (Chambers, s. v.). It is especially interesting as giving us a clew to the meaning of the hkroglyphica (q. V.) after they have been phonetically deciphered. It is divided into three dialects, the Memphitic, or Lower Egyptian, which is the most polished, and is Bometimes exclusively called Coptic ; the Sahidic, or Upper Ej^rptian ; and the Bashmuric, which was spo- ken in the Delta, and of which only a few remains ex- ist (Penny Cpelopndia, s. v.). See Egypt. A frill list of works on the subject is given by Jolowicz, BibKotMca -^inr^iacn, p. 101 sq., 229 ; also the Supplem. p. 29 sq. See Copts. The gender of nouns is indicated by the forms of the
Alpha
Vida
Gamma.
Dalda
Ei
Zida
Hida
Thida.
landa
Kabba.
Laala
Mi
Ni
Exi
O
Pi
Ro
Sima
Dan
He
Phi
Obi
Ebfll
0
Fei
Hon
Khei
Shei
Jiaigia
Skima
Del (ligature) So
B
r
A G
H
e I
R
u
H 0
n p c
T
^ 1 {> *
K
JUL
Jl
O
n
P c
T V
a b,y
g
d
e %hort
z
e 2^71^
th
i
k
1
m
n
X
o %hort p, b
r
8
t,d
ph
ch ps o long
f h kh
sh
J
ak ti cipher 6
a
/S
7 Z
6
K \
V
o
TT P
cr
T V
X
COFnC LITURGY
502
COPTS
article, namely, jn, j>,/, for the masc. ; t, th, ti, for the fern. ; nt, nen, for the common plar. The simple arti- cle ia, sing, u, plur. Kau, The plnr. of noons is ex- pressed partly by the termination, as -t, -ti, -y, -x; partly by an internal change. The cases are supplied by the enclitic additions : nom. -«»i^, gen. -ente, dat and accus. -e. The adjectives are indeclinable, bat are compared by means of AtM>=more, emasho =yeTy. The numerals are: 1, tiot; 2, man; 8, shomb; ^^flSu; 5, Hui 6,«ou; 7, liuuhf; 8, shmM; ^^ptibf 10, m«6, etc. The ordinals are formed from these by the addition of -mdb. The personal pronouns are cmok=J, enthok (masc.) and eatho (fem.)=thoa, eiUhqf=ht^ eiUhot= she, afiofi=we, 6nMdten=ye, etUhdu=they. Abln'e- viated forms of these are used, some as possessives, etc., others as suffixes to nouns, verbs, and particles. But instead of them the words ro (L e. ** mouth**), tot (i, e. "hand"), etc., are commonly employed, with tiieir various inflections. The tenses are formed part- ly by additional syllables, and partly by means of auxiliaries. There are grnunmars of tiie language by Kircher (Rome, 1636), Blumberg (Leipzig, 1716), Tuli (Rome, 1778), Scholz (Oxford, 1778), Valperga (Par- ma, 1783), Tattam (Lond. 1830, 2d ed. 1863), RoseUini (Rome, 1837), Peyron (Turin, 1841), Schwartae (Berl. 1850), IJhlemann (Lpz. 1853) ; and dictionaries by La Croze (Oxford, 1775), Tattam (ib. 1835), Peyron (Tu- rin, 1835), and Parthey (Berl. 1840). See N6ve, Ifon- uments de la kmgue Copte (in the Rime CaihoUque, Lou- vain, 1853). For a reading-book the learner may use the so-called Pistis Scphda, published by Petermann (Latin version by Schwartze, Berlin, 1861).— Pierer, Univ€r$al-Lexihonf ix, 712.