morph_f

Chapter VIII. Verb Classes 2

§161. Class IV: 3 lit inf (fem infinitives, §138); Model:

Verbs of this model are the most common of the 3 lit inf verbs. Not only are they fem in their Absolute form, but they further show the old fem ending in t in the Construct and Pronominal forms. As a general rule, the Construct has e as the formative vowel, and a appears in the Pronominal. The Qual generally shows o as its characteristic vowel. Note: Before 6 and 4 (§15), o changes to a; e.g. 56e ‘To become drunken’ Qual ta6e, ei4e ‘To hang’ Qual a4e. However, site ‘To throw’ has Qual sht, and 6ioue ‘To strike’ Qual 6woui.
§162. Note especially the following very common verbs:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
eine	‘To bring’	n--	nt=	––
eire	‘To make, do’	r--	aa=	o
4ibe	‘To change’	4b--	4b-t=	4o(o)be
4ine	‘To seek, ask’	4en(t)-	4n-t=	––
2ine	‘To find’	2(e)n-	2n-t=	––

§163. Model ra4e ‘To rejoice’. The following only appear in this group:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
ale	‘To mount’	––	alo=	alhu
mate	‘To reach’	––	––	matwou
pake	‘To be lightweight’	––	––	pok(e)
4a3e	‘To swell’	––	––	4obe
6ate	‘To flow’	––	6aat=	––

§164. Model knne ‘To become fat’. The verbs in this class are very few—only:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
pr-re	‘To shine forth’	––	––	––
tr-re	‘To be afraid’	––	––	treiwou
2b-be	‘To be feeble	––	––	2oob

About 30 verbs follow this model. The two verbs noted below had already begun to approximate to the 2 lit verbs of the bwte model (§149):

Note: pwwpe ‘To knead, make bricks’ shows the forms pape-, papw=.
§166. Class V: 4 lit (Pronominal form, §28). Model:

All these verbs, which are formed by reduplicating the first two consonants, have an intensive meaning or convey the idea of rapidly repeated action; e.g. ouo4oue4 ‘To thresh’, 2o42(e)4 ‘To sprinkle’. Note: Exceptions to this formation are nkotk ‘To sleep’, oua6be3 ‘To bark’, and ouostn ‘To become broad’ Qual ouestwn.
§167. Model brbr ‘To boil’ (note the presence of the sonant consonant). Verbs of this model are intransitive and have only Absolute forms (the one exception is tmtm ‘To be heavy’ which shows Qual temtwm), kmkm ‘To play a musical instrument’, snsn ‘To resound’, tltl ‘To drip’, 6m6m ‘To roar’, 6r6r ‘To snore’.
§168. Class VI: 4 lit inf. No model can be given, as the verbs in this class are quite irregular. A fairly complete list of this class is given:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
ne6pe	‘To mourn’	––	––	––
ne6se	‘To awaken’	––	––	––
sabte	‘To chew’	––	––	––
sa6te	‘To kindle’	––	––	––
lale (or loole)	‘To paint’	lalw-	lalww=	lalwou
moste	‘To hate’	meste-	mestw=	––
na6te	‘To trust’	n6et-	––	n6o(u)t
4m4e	‘To serve’	4m4e-	4m4ht=	––
[6ooure]	‘To deprive’	6oure-	6ourw(w)=	––
2o(e)ile	‘To dwell’	2ale-	2alww=	2alwou
sr3e	‘To be at leisure’	––	––	sro3t

Note: sobte ‘To prepare’ is really a 3 lit gem verb (old spdd). The fourth radical has fallen away in all but the Pronominal and Qualitative forms; thus sbte-, sbtwt=, Qual sbtwt.
§169. Class VII: 5 lit verbs; Model:

All the verbs in this class are formed by the reduplication of the second and third consonants and follow the model form. 6borbr ‘To become loosened’ has two forms of the Qualitative: brbort and brbwr. Note: kromrm ‘To become dark’, but krmrm ‘To murmur’.
§170. Class VIII: Verbs showing a doubled vowel after the first root letter (§146n):

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal		Qual
aa
baabe	‘To be insipid’	babw-	babww=		––
taate toote	‘To shine’	––	––		taate
taate	‘To shake’	––	––		––
4aare	‘To smite’	––	4ar=		4ar
`a(a)`e	‘To be hard, rough’	––	––		`a`w
`aa`e	‘To clap hands’	––	––		––
ee (Absolute forms only)
beebe	‘To bubble forth’	––	––		––
meeue	‘To think’	––	––		––
seepe	‘To remain over’	––	––		––
hh
nhhbe	‘To swim’	––	––	––
oo
moone	‘To pasture’	mene-	manou=	––
moone	‘To come to land’	––	––	manoout
moo4e	‘To walk, go’	––	––	––
soo6e	‘To reprove’	sa6e-	sa6w=	––

§171. Causative Verbs Two formations of the Causative exist in Coptic. The first, and less common, by means of the prefix s-, and the second by means of the prefix t-.
(a) Formation with prefix s- . This was the regular method of forming Causatives in Old Egyptian. In Coptic, however, only a few verbs form the Causative in this way. Here may be noted:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
s.bbe	‘To circumcise’	s.bbe-	s.bbht=	s.bbhu(t)
s.mme	‘To appeal’	––	––	––
s.mou	‘To bless’	––	––	s.mamaat
s.aan4	‘To cause to live’	s.aan4-	s.anou4=	––
s.mine	‘To establish’	s.mn-	s.mnt=	s.mont
s.atbe	‘To chew’	––	––	––
s.w6ne	‘To bring near’	s.a6n-	––	––
s.oo6e	‘To set up’	s.a6e-	s.a6w=	––
s.ooutn	‘To straighten’	s.outn-	s.outwn=	s.outwn
s.2ra6t	‘To rest’	––	––	––
s.a6ou(e)	‘To curse’	s.6our-	s.6ouwr=	s.6ouort

§172. In a few verbs with ` as the first consonant, the prefix s- changes to 4 (§11); e.g. from s.`a`e to 4a`e (Boh sa`i) ‘To speak’ (old sdd), 4o`ne (Boh so2ni) ‘To take counsel’ (old stn’i). Note: 4ouo ‘To empty’ 4oue-, 4ouw= is a causative which has lost its prefix (old sšw).
§173. (b) Formation with prefix t- . This prefix is a contracted form of 5 ‘To give’. It is the normal method employed to form the causative. Addition of this prefix makes intransitive verbs transitive, and to transitive verbs it gives a causative meaning. All the verbs in this class follow a common formation with minor variations; e.g.:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
t.b-bo	‘To make pure’	t.b-be-	t.b-bo=	t.b-bhu
t.an6o	‘To make alive’	t.an6e-	t.an6o=	t.an6hu
t.saeio	‘To make beautiful’	t.saeie-	t.saeio=	t.sa(e)ihu
t.ou`o	‘To make whole’	t.ou`e-	t.ou`o=	t.ou`hu

Note: A few verbs show the feminine form of the Qual; e.g. t.akhut ‘Destroyed’, t.sabhut ‘Made wise’. Also a few verbs show Qual forms ending in -eit: q.msoeit ‘Made to sit’, k.toeit (also k.thu) ‘Made to turn’.
§174. The prefix t- before roots beginning with 6 and with their second consonant b, l or m, often coalesces with the 6 to become q:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
q.b-bio	‘To humiliate’	q.b-bie-	q.b-bio=	q.b-bihu(t)
q.l-o	‘To make to fly, scatter'	––	q.l-o=	––
q.m-o	‘To make hot’	––	––	––
q.m-ko	‘To maltreat’	q.m-ke-	q.m-ko=	q.m-ku
q.m-so	‘To make to sit’	q.m-se-	q.m-so=	q.m-soeit

§175. Before verbs with 4, as the initial consonant the prefix t- contracts with 4 to `; e.g.:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
`.pio (causative of 4ipe ‘to shame’)	‘To blame’	`.pie-	`.pio=	`.piht
`.to (causative of 4to [?, C595b, C792a])	‘To lay down’	`.te-	`.to=	`.thu
`.po (causative of 4wpe ‘to become’)	‘To beget, cause to be’	`.pe-	`.po=	––

One Causative sometimes shows the prefix and at other times omits it: (t.)sto ‘To bring back’: (t.)ste-, (t.)sto=, Qual (t.)sthu.
§177. Compound Verbs. (Cf also §90)
By means of a verb in the Construct form placed before a substantive, Coptic is able to form a very great number of Compound verbs; e.g.:

ka.moou	‘To cease to give water’
me6.moou	‘To draw (lit. to fill with) water’
r-.moou	‘To become water’
sek.moou	‘To draw water’
5.moou	‘To give water’
3i.moou	‘To carry water’
6i.moou	‘To rain’
`i.moou	‘To take water’

r- (eire)	‘To do, make’	5- (5)	‘To give (actively)’
e4 or 4-	‘To be able’	oue4- (ouw4)	‘To wish’
4p- (4wp)	‘To receive’	oue6- (ouw6)	‘To set’
4r-p (4wrp)	‘To do first’	3i- (3i)	‘To carry, bear’
6i- (6ioue)	‘To strike’	`i- (`i)	‘To take (passively)’
2n-- (2ine)	‘To find’	Note: `i.5	‘To buy and sell’

§178. Greek Verbs appear in the Active Imperative, a form identical with the Infinitive form minus the final in or sqai; e.g.:

§179. Some Greek verbs present in Coptic strange forms due to phonetic spelling; e.g.:

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
tww2e	‘To join’	te2-	too2=	th2
`w(w)2e	‘To dye’	`e2-	`o2=	`h2

Absolute	Meaning	Construct	Pronominal	Qual
kto	‘To make to turn’	kte-	kto=	kthu or ktoeit
mesio	‘To bring to birth’	––	mesio=	––

Coptic	Greek
sunage	sunagein
pisteue	pisteuein
6ubrice	ubrizein
aisqane	aiqanesqai
epikalei	epidaleisqai

Coptic	Greek
plana	planan
kosmei	kosmein
aciou	axioun

Coptic	Greek
paradidou	paradidonai
kaqista	kaqistanai

Coptic	Greek
arna	aneisqai
plea	plein
arxei	acesqai
xrw	cphsqai
pira	teirazein
euxaristou	eucaristein
eti	aitein