Coptis, the Christian descendants of the ancient Egyptians. The name (in Arabic, Kubt) is most probably derived from the same root as Egypt. The Copts are in number about 300,000, only one-eighteenth of the population of the country. A large proportion live in Cairo, but there are numerous populous settlements of Copts in Upper Egypt, notably at Girga, Negâda, Luksor, Asyût, Dendera, and Ikhmîm, where 40,000 are said to reside. They are essentially townsmen, engaged as clerks on account of their undoubted mathematical talents; or employed in the finer handicrafts, such as goldsmithery; and their occupations account for their paleness as compared with their Moslem neighbours. The few Copts who work in the fields do not differ perceptibly from the Moslems, and the resemblance to the ancient Egyptians is visible in both, though the inbreeding of the Copt has perhaps retained the ancestral lineaments more faithfully. They are of middle stature, have black eyes, and black curly hair; dress like the Moslems, but are generally distinguished by a black or blue turban; the women are veiled. Their character is in general gloomy, deceitful, and avaricious; they are ignorant, drunken, and sensual. In religion they are Monophysites (q.v.) of the Jacobite sect; but a few are united to the Greek and Roman Catholic churches. When the Council of Chalcedon in 451 pronounced the Jacobite opinion heretical, some of the Copts supported the verdict, and bitter jealousies ensued between these 'royalists' and the Jacobite Copts. The latter did not scruple to welcome the Moslem conquest in 640 in order to expel the Greek faction. They ascribe their conversion from heathenism to St Mark, whom they regard as the first patriarch of Alexandria. Their highest dignitary is the patriarch of Alexandria, whose residence, however, is in Cairo. Their other orders of clergy are twelve bishops, and archpriests, priests, deacons, and monks. The patriarch is named by his predecessor, or chosen by lot from among the monks of the convent of St Anthony. He is not permitted to marry, and when he sleeps it is necessary to waken him every quarter of an hour. He nominates the metropolitan of Abyssinia (see ABYSSINIA).
The Copts are very strict in some of their religious observances, and hate other Christian sects even more than they hate the Moslems. They maintain the seven sacraments—baptism by trine immersion; confirmation; penance or confession; orders; matrimony; unction; and the eucharist, administered in both kinds to all, even young children, and formed of leavened bread which has been dipped in wine. They keep Wednesday and Friday with great strictness as fast-days, and have besides an onerous fast of Nineveh, lasting fifty-five days, and lesser fasts of the Nativity, the Apostles, and the Virgin. Each fast is followed by a feast. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem is prized highly. Priests may be married to one virgin provided the ceremony takes place before ordination; if the wife die, he may not marry again, nor may the widow of a priest remarry. The Copts seldom marry outside their own sect; the wedding ceremonies are very peculiar, and may be read in L. Oliphant's Land of Khcmi; the bride is expected to remain at home until confined, or for a year if barren (see Lane's Modern Egyptians). The Coptic ritual, liturgy, vestments, &c. are specially interesting as preserving unchanged very ancient Christian forms. The churches, of which the most celebrated are those built in the Roman fortress of Babylon at old Cairo, and those in the Nitrian valley, are remarkable for peculiarities of construction and plan, and for exceedingly beautiful carved ivory screens. An admirable account of them is given by Mr Butler. They have many schools, but only for boys, who learn the psalms, gospels, and apostolic epistles in Arabic, and then the gospels and epistles in Coptic. The Coptic, however, is not grammatically taught, and is not now a spoken language, having been everywhere supplanted by the Arabic. It has not been spoken in Lower Egypt since the 10th 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 language is the descendant of the ancient Egyptian, but the alphabet is Greek uncial, probably introduced soon after their conversion to Christianity. The romance of language could go no further than to join the speech of Pharaoh and the writing of Homer in the service-book of an Egyptian Christian' (Butler). There are two principal dialects of the language—the Sahidic or Upper Egyptian, and the Memphitic or Lower Egyptian, which is sometimes exclusively called Coptic. A third dialect, the Bashmuric, of which only a few remains exist, was spoken in the Delta, and is interesting from its points of resemblance to the language of the hieroglyphics. The literature is wholly religious. See the article EGYPT; and The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, by Alfred J. Butler (2 vols. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1884).