Chapter III. Morphology

I. The Noun; Pronouns
§35. The Suffix Pronouns

As the name implies, these forms are attached to the end of various forms as subjects or objects.
§36. Uses: (a) After prepositions; e.g. ero.k ‘To thee’, na.n ‘For us’, mmw.tn ‘With you’, 4aro.3 ‘To him’, nmma.s ‘With her’.
§37. (b) As subject of verbal auxiliaries; e.g. a.3.`oo.s ‘He said it’, ne.n.swtm ‘We were hearing’, mare.k.bwk ‘Mayest thou go!’ (c) As subject of the Old Conjugation form of the verb (§180); e.g. pe`a.3 ‘He says’, naa.k ‘Thou art great’. (d) As the object of the verb; e.g. a.3.bol.3 ‘He loosed him’, 3.na.6otb.3 ‘He will kill him’. (e) Reflexively; e.g. a.3.kot.3  e.m.maqhths (Lk 10:2) ‘He turned himself to the disciples’, a.3.oue4 tmeio.3 ‘He wished to justify himself’ (Lk 10:29).
§38. (f) As possessives, used with a few nouns only. Most of these are parts of the body, those marked with an asterisk* being especially common in Compound Prepositions (§272):

—e.g. rw.3 ‘His mouth’, rat.k ‘Thy foot’, e`w.i ‘Upon me’ (lit. To my head), n.6ht.3 ‘In it’ (lit. In its heart).
§39. Forms of the Suffix
 1 pers sing  The normal ending i falls away when the noun or verb stem ends in t; e.g., rat ‘My foot’, 6ht ‘My belly’, nt ‘To carry me’, moout ‘To kill me’. Note: Some verbs having a pronominal form with a  as the final letter take t  as the suffix ending (originally these verbs possessed an ending in t); e.g. taa.t ‘To give me’ (taa= being the pronominal form of 5), aa.t ‘To make me’ (aa= from eire), kaa.t ‘To lay me’ (kaa= from kw). When, however, the stem ends in a consonant, the ending i  is replaced by t; e.g. 6obs.t ‘Clothe me’, tnnoou.t ‘Send me’, arh`.t ‘My end’.
§40.  2 fem sing  -e  is attached to the stem when it ends in a consonant; e.g. eiat.e ‘Thy eye’, toot.e ‘Thy hand’, nt.e ‘To bring thee’, otp.e ‘To surround thee’. -e  is omitted when the stem, being a noun or a preposition, ends in a vowel; e.g. `w ‘Thy head’, 6th ‘Thy heart’, ero ‘To thee’. If the noun or preposition ends in a, this stem vowel gives place to the e  of the suffix; e.g. 6r.e ‘Thy face’ (6ra=), n.e ‘For thee’ (na=). -e  is likewise omitted after verbal stems ending in o, w, ou; e.g. kto ‘To turn thee’. But when the verbal stem ends in a (§39n), the suffix takes the form -te; e.g. taa.te ‘To give thee’.
§41.  3 fem sing  -s  is regularly used to express the neuter object ‘it’, especially after the verb `w ‘To say’, which must take an object; e.g. a.3.`oo.s ‘He said it’.
§42.  2 com pl  -tn. When the stem ends in a or o, the vowel is lengthened; e.g. 6ra.n ‘Our face’ but 6rh.tn ‘Your face’, ero.k ‘To thee’ but erw.tn ‘To you’, ta6o.3 ‘To place him’ but ta6w.tn ‘To place you’. Note: mmw.tn ‘You’ and nou.tn ‘Yours’ (§14). When the stem ends in a consonant, the form -thutn  is used; e.g. 6ht.thutn ‘Your heart’ e`n.thutn ‘Without you’. It is to be noted that when this suffix is employed as the object after a verb, the verb is in the Construct Form, and not in the Pronominal Form; e.g. twoun.k ‘To raise thee’ but toun.thutn ‘To raise you’, bol.k ‘To loose thee’ but bel.thutn ‘To loose you’.
§43.  3 com pl  -ou  is the usual form of the suffix; e.g. rat.ou ‘Their feet’, ero.ou ‘To them’, 6w.ou ‘Themselves’, ta6o.ou ‘To place them’. When the stem ends in a, the diphthong au  is formed; e.g., taa.u (for taa-ou) ‘To give them’, 6ra.u (for 6raou) ‘Their face’.
§44. -sou  appears as the 3 com pl suffix after the verbs s6ai ‘To write’, tnnoou and `oou ‘To send’, 2wou ‘To make narrow’, and ari, the imperative of eire ‘To do, make’; e.g. tnnoou.sou ‘To send them’, ari.sou ‘Make them!’ Occasionally this suffix appears in the form -se; e.g. 3.na.tn-noou.se ‘He will send them’ (Mt 21:23).
§45. The Independent Pronouns

In contrast to the Suffix Pronoun, the Independent Pronoun can stand in its Absolute Form quite independently of any other word in the sentence, and as a result bears a more of less emphatic meaning; e.g. nto.3  de  a.3.ouw4b ‘He (and no one else) answered’ (lit. He, he answered).
§46. Uses.
(1) To emphasize the subject of a sentence when it is a pronoun; e.g. anok 5.`w  mmo.s  nh.tn ‘I, I say it to you’.
(2) In the 1^st and 2^nd persons to express the subject in non-verbal sentences (§301); e.g. anok  ou.rwme ‘I (am) a man’. The Construct Forms are more common in use than the Absolute; e.g. ang.p.4hre  m.p.noute ‘I (am) the Son of God’.
(3) To strengthen the possessive adjective (§50); e.g. anok  pa.6ht ‘My heart’, pa.eiwt  anok ‘My father’.
(4) To strengthen the suffix; e.g. a.3.2nt.3  nto.3 ‘He found him’ (Z 294).
§47. The Pronoun of Emphasis or Contrast: 6w(w)= ‘Self, also’ or ‘But on the other hand’, takes the suffixes:

It is frequently used in conjunction with the Independent Pronoun; e.g. nto  6ww.te  bhqleem ‘Thou also Bethlehem’ (Mt 2:6), ntwtn  6wt.thutn  ari.sou  na.u  n.tei.6e ‘You also do thus (lit. in this way) to them’ (Mt 7:12), ntwtn  6wt.thutn  ete.tn  `w  mmo.s  `e  ang.nim ‘But you on the other hand, who do you say I (am)?’ (Mt 16:15).
§48. The Possessive Pronoun

§49. This Absolute Form is used as a substantive; e.g. twk  te  t.2om  mn.peoou  4an.iene6 ‘Thine is the power and the glory forever’ (Mt 6:13), nou.k  de  ouwm  sesw ‘But thine (i.e. the disciples) eat, they drink’ (Lk 5:33; note the asyndeton, §338).
The Construct Form of the Possessive Pronoun
§50. The Possessive Adjective

These forms are prefixed to substantives, and agree in number and gender; e.g. pek.son ‘Thy brother’, te3.s6ime ‘His wife’, nen.bir ‘Our baskets’. Note: The possessive article can be used with those nouns which take the suffixes (§38); e.g. pe3.ro or rw.3 ‘His mouth’, pen.6ht or 6th.n ‘Our heart’.
§51. The Possessive Article

These are used before a noun with the meaning ‘Belonging to’; e.g. pa.t.4eleet ‘The bridegroom’ (lit. He belonging to the bride), na.nestorios ‘The Nestorian Heresy’ (lit. The things belonging to Nestorius).
§52. The Demonstrative Pronoun: ‘This’ and ‘These’ have two forms:

The Absolute Form is used as a substantive, pai and nai being used in a neuter sense for ‘this’ and ‘these’; e.g. pai  de  ne.3.`w  mmo.s ‘This one was saying’ (Z 311), tai  te  q.e ‘This is the way’, pai  et.sh6 ‘This which is written (i.e. which follows)’ (Z 324), pet.eire.n.nai ‘He who does these things’. The Construct Form stands before its noun; e.g. pei.ka6 ‘This land’, tei.s6ime ‘This woman’, nei.rwme ‘These men’.
§53. The Demonstrative Pronouns: ‘that’ and ‘those’ also have two forms:

The Absolute form is used as a substantive; e.g. nh  de  mp.ou.eime ‘Those did not know’ (Jn 10:6), nh  thr.ou ‘All those (things)’ (Mt 18:23).
§54. As the Construct Form is used to express the Definite Article (§80), in order to express such a phrase as ‘That man’ a relative clause is employed:  et.mmau  ‘Who (or which) is there’; e.g. p.rwme  et.mmau ‘That man’, n.6m6al  et.mmau ‘Those servants’.
§55. The Interrogative Pronouns (for uses, §344):  a4  ‘Who, what, which?’,  nim  ‘Who, which?’,  ou  ‘What?’,  ouhr  ‘How much?’,  a6ro=  (always with suffix) ‘Why?’
    · Nouns ·
§56. Coptic recognizes two genders, Masculine and Feminine. As a general rule masc nouns end in a consonant or a short vowel (a, e, o), and fem nouns end in -e  (-i in Bohairic) or a long vowel (i, h, w, ou); e.g. masc hrp ‘Wine’, 6llo ‘Old man’, la ‘Slander’, toou ‘Mountain’; fem hpe ‘Number’, 6llw ‘Old woman’, 6ih ‘Path’, ri ‘Cell’.
§57. But there are many exceptions to this rule, especially in respect to words ending in -e. Thus the following are all masc: beke ‘Wage’, rwme ‘Man’, 4hre ‘Son’, 4te ‘Mast’, 5me ‘Village’, 4e ‘Wood’. Note also the following masculines ending in a long vowel: eiw ‘Donkey’, 3w ‘Hair’, ouw ‘News’. Examples of fem nouns ending in a consonant are: ba4or ‘Fox’, melwt ‘Ceiling’, mort ‘Beard’.
§58. Nouns formed by the addition of the suffixes of the 3^rd masc sing and 3^rd fem sing clearly indicate their gender. This type of noun formation is only met with occasionally; e.g. Suffix -3  masc gender: na6b.3 ‘Yoke’ (from nou6b ‘To yoke’), 4l6.3 ‘Fear’ (4la6 ‘Be afraid’), mo`6.3  and mo`.6 ‘Girdle’, 3o2.3 ‘Robber’ (3w2e ‘To seize’); Suffix -s  fem gender: kot.s ‘Circuit’ (from kwte ‘To turn’), soou6.s ‘Collection’ (swou6 ‘To gather’), 4ol.s ‘Booty’ (4wl ‘To rob’), 4op.s ‘Reception’ (4wp ‘To receive’).
§59. Compound Nouns. By means of a prefix, which may be a noun, a verb or a particle, placed before another noun or verbal form, a large number of Compound Nouns were constructed. The prefix, when it stands immediately before the noun or verbal form, is always in the Construct Form. However, it must be noted that some of the prefixes must be connected to their noun or verbal form by the particle n-.
§60. Noun Prefixes. The most common of these are:
(a)  eiep-  (construct of eiope ‘Craft’), fem gender; e.g. eiep.noub ‘Goldsmith's craft’, eiep.4e ‘Woodworker's craft’.
(b)  ma-  ‘Place’ followed by n and verbal form, masc gender; e.g. ma.n.4wpe ‘Dwelling-place’, ma.n.pwt ‘Place of refuge’.
(c)  rm-  (construct of rwme ‘Man’) followed by n; e.g. rm.n.5me ‘Villager’, rm.m.me ‘Honest person’ (lit. Man of truth), rm.n.khme ‘Egyptian’. Note: The particle n  is usually omitted before the names of cities and towns; e.g. rm.rakote ‘Alexandrian’.
(d)  sa-  ‘Man’ followed by the particle n  and noun, forms nouns expressing profession or even character; e.g. sa.n.hrp ‘Wine merchant’, sa.n.aba2hein ‘Glass blower’, sa.n.kot ‘Guileful person’.
(e)  6am-  ‘Craftsman’ is used without n  to describe various kinds of workers; e.g. 6am.klle ‘Boltsmith’, 6am.noub ‘Goldsmith’, 6am.4e ‘Carpenter’.
(f)  4ou-  ‘Use, value’ with the following verbal form has the meaning ‘Worthy of, fit for’; e.g. 4ou.moste ‘One fit to be hated’ (§249).
§61. Note also:
(g)  eie6-  (eiw6e ‘Field’); e.g. eie6.eloole ‘Vineyard’, eie6.4hn ‘Grove’.
(h)  eier-  (eioor ‘Canal’); e.g. eier.o ‘River’ (lit. Great canal).
(i)  s5-  (stoi ‘Smell’); e.g. s5.nou3e ‘Perfume’ (lit. Good smell), s5.bwwn ‘Stench’ (lit. Evil smell).
(j)  6wb-  ‘Work’, so 6wb.n.2i` ‘Handiwork.’
§62. Verb Prefixes. The characteristic feature of the Verb Prefix in Compound Nouns is the presence of the vowel  a  after the first radical of the verbal root; e.g. ouam- (from ouwm ‘To eat’), matn- (from mton ‘To rest’). This form originated from the old participle, and still retains the participial meaning in expressing a characteristic, especially in describing trades or occupations; e.g. ouam.sno3 ‘Bloodthirsty man’ (lit. Eater of blood), mai.eoou ‘Lover of glory’, `ai.beke ‘Hireling’ (lit. Taker of wages), mane.rir ‘Swineherd’, sa6t.6boos ‘Cloth-weaver’, 3ai.na6b ‘Yoke-bearer’. Note: This verbal form has been named ‘Participium Conjunctum’, and is indicated in Crum's Coptic Dictionary by the abbreviation ‘pc’.
§63. Particle Prefixes.
(a)  mnt-  (from moute ‘To call’) forms abstract fem nouns; e.g. mnt.eiwt ‘Fatherhood’, t.mnt.son ‘the Brotherhood’, mnt.swtp ‘Choice’.
(b)  re3-  with the verbal form expresses a noun of agency, and is used regardless of gender or number; e.g. re3.swtm ‘Hearer’, re3.w4 ‘Reader’, re3.moout ‘Dead man’. Note: The verbal form can take an object after it; e.g. re3.r.nobe ‘Sinner’ (lit. One who does sin), re3.6i.la ‘Slanderer’.
(c)  2in-  (for `i  n-, §5.f) with verbal form expresses nouns of action which are feminine; e.g. 2in.libe ‘Madness’, 2in.kime ‘Movement’, 2in.4a`e ‘Saying, speech’.
(d)  at-  (ate before double consonants) forms, with nouns and verbal forms, a negative adjective (§101ff); e.g. at.nobe ‘Sinless’, at.tako ‘Imperishable’. When the complement is a verb it can take an object, and it is to be noted that when used in a passive sense transitive verbs must take an object, in such cases a pronominal object; e.g. at.sont.3 ‘Uncreated’ (lit. Without to create it), at.nau  ero.3 ‘Invisible’ (lit. Without to see it).
§64. (e) Occasionally  an-  in collective numerals; e.g. an.taiou ‘Fiftieth’.
(f) Occasionally  e-  to form nouns of profession: e.g. e.kwt ‘Builder’, e.4wt ‘Trader’.
§65. Number. Although singular and plural forms are found, as well as a few words preserving the old dual endings (e.g. spotou ‘Lips’, snau ‘Two’), the majority of words show the same form in both the singular and the plural, distinction in number being indicated by the form of the Article (§80, 85); e.g. p.rwme ‘The man’, n.rwme ‘The men’, ou.rwme ‘A man’, 6en.rwme ‘(Some) men’, t.4eere ‘The daughter’, n.4eere ‘The daughters’. Even with those nouns which have preserved the old plural endings, it is quite common to find the singular form used with the plural Article; e.g. abwk ‘Raven’ plural n.abooke or n.abwk, 6to ‘Horse’ plural 6en.6twwr or 6en.6to.
§66. Plural Formations, Masc Nouns: Ending in o form plurals in wou; e.g. kro ‘Shore’ plural krwou, eiero ‘River’ eierwou, ro ‘Door’ (when meaning ‘Mouth’ takes a suffix, §38) rwou, rro ‘King’ rrwou, 4teko ‘Prison’ 4tekwou, `o ‘Armpit’ `wou. Note: 6llo ‘Old man’ has the plural 6lloi.
§67. Ending in e  form the plural in hu or eeu:
(a) -hu; e.g. ame ‘Herd’ plural amhu. Likewise amre ‘Baker’, la4ane ‘Village officer’, 4ne ‘Net’, 4te ‘Mast’, 4`e ‘Locust’, 2me ‘Gardener’. Note: rpe ‘Temple’ and beke ‘Wage’ show fem plurals rphue  and bekhue.
§68. (b) -eeu; e.g. blle ‘Blind man’ plural bleeu. Likewise mntre ‘Witness’, sabe ‘Wise man’, rm.6e ‘Freeman’, 6ae ‘End’, 6atre ‘Twin’, `ise ‘Height’, 2ale ‘Lame man’. Note: `a`e ‘Enemy’ shows plural forms `i`eeu  and `in`eeu.
§69. Ending in t  preceded by a long vowel form plural ate; e.g. barwt ‘Bronze’ barate. Likewise besnht ‘Smith’, ekwt ‘Builder’ (but see §70), erht ‘Vow’, remht ‘Tenth part’, 6alht ‘Bird’, 6ouht ‘Passenger’, 6oueit ‘First’, rwt ‘Growth’.
§70. Note: Irregular are eiwt ‘Father’ plural eiote, e4wt ‘Trader’ plural e4ote, 6ht ‘Lip, edge’ plural 6teeu; ekwt (‘Builder’) sometimes shows ekote.
§71. Ending in t preceded by a short vowel also form plural ate; e.g. ebot ‘Month’ plural ebate. Likewise merit ‘Beloved one’ plural merate, sot ‘Dung’, 6ourit ‘Guardian’.
§72. Plural formed by adding -e  to the singular form; e.g. 4aar ‘Hair’ 4aare. Likewise `noou ‘Threshing floor’, 2amoul ‘Camel’. Note: the following show a vocalic change also: abwk ‘Raven’ abooke, barw6 ‘Camel’ bara6e, lelou ‘Youth’ lelaue, sa4 ‘Blow’ sh4e, 6oeim ‘Wave’ 6hme, 2erh2 ‘Hunter’ 2era2e.
§73. Plural formed by moving the tone syllable is shown in the following: son ‘Brother’ plural snhu, 4hre ‘Son’ 4rhu, 6am ‘Craftsman’ 6mhu, 6wb ‘Thing’ 6bhue. 4om ‘Father-in-law’ shows the plurals 4moui or 4mwou, and 6o3 ‘Serpent’ the form 6boui.
§74. Some nouns show a ‘broken plural’, i.e. the vowel of the singular form modifies in the plural: (a) a becomes au: ana4 ‘Oath’ plural anau4, likewise `na6 ‘Forearm’ `nau6. But note mka6 ‘Pain’ forms the plural mkoo6, and so too mla6 ‘Battle’, msa6 ‘Crocodile’. kas ‘Bone’ shows the plural kaas. (b) h  becomes ee in 4bhr ‘Friend’ plural 4beer. (c) o becomes oo: e.g. klom ‘Crown’ kloom, likewise sote ‘Arrow’, to4 ‘Border’, ou6or ‘Dog’. But apot ‘Cup’ apht. (d) oo becomes ww: e.g. 6boos ‘Garment’ 6bwws, 2roo2 ‘Seed’ 2rww2. Note: sno3 ‘Blood’ follows this modification, plural snww3. Also `6o ‘Treasure’ and 6to ‘Horse’, which show as their plurals a6wwr  and 6twwr. (e) w becomes oo: e.g. e2w4 ‘Ethiopian’ e2oo4, mar`w`e ‘Garment’ mar`oo`e, 2wm ‘Garden’ 2oom. Note: tw4 ‘Ordinance’ shows the plural tww4. Note: The following show two forms of the plural: 4ws ‘Herdsman’ 4oos or 4wws, 2erwb ‘Rod’ 2eroob or  2erwwb.
§75. Irregular plurals are the following:

§76. Feminine Nouns:
Ending in e form the plural in hue; e.g. ape ‘Head’ aphue, pe ‘Heaven’ phue, 6re ‘Food’ 6rhue.
§77. Ending in h form the plural in ooue; e.g. ou4h ‘Night’ ou4ooue, 6ih ‘Road’ 6iooue. Note: 6ih ‘Rudder’ forms the plural 6ihu.  Note: A few Greek words ending in h  form a plural in ooue; e.g. yuxh ‘Soul’ yuxooue, epistolh ‘Letter’ epistolooue.
§78. Ending in w  also form the plural in ooue; e.g. mrw ‘Harbour’ mrooue. Likewise abw ‘Dragnet’, alw ‘Snare’, alw ‘Pupil of eye’, rsw ‘Fold’, sbw ‘Teaching’, 6bsw ‘Garment’. Note: e4w ‘Sow (female swine)’ shows plural e4au.
§79. Irregular plurals are: