Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 11/21/2004 3:56:40 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
peterkirk AT qaya.org writes:


> Thanks for the clarification. The Coptic alphabet, according to 
> http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n2636.pdf, certainly seems to have 
> a theta (although variously names thethe, thita, tutte, tida) which 
> clearly corresponds in shape, position in the alphabet and numeric value 
> with the Greek theta. If this document is in fact based on false 
> information, there may just be time to stop the letter being separately 
> encoded in Unicode, but it looks to me like it is clearly attested.

Yes--my memory served me wrong.  The Coptic alphabet certainly does have a 
"thita"--but I have never seen it used in *Egyptian* words--which is what I 
should have said in the first place.  It is reserved for the writing of Greek 
words, which certainly proliferate in Coptic texts.  The same goes for the 
Coptic 
letter dalda.  It is used only to write Greek words that contain delta.  As I 
said, older Egyptian terms that once contained /d/ are written with Coptic 
tau.