COPTS. 395 COPYHOLD. converted the Coptic bishop and his whole con- gregation. Tile Coptic language, which was spoken from the third to the sixteenth century, but has now become e.xtinct as a vernacular, belongs to the Haniitic group of African lan- guages. It is of great importance linguistically as being tlie descendant of Ancient Egyptian (see Egypt, paragraph Laiujiuiyt) , although its own literature is of comparatively small impor- tance. In character Coptic was at first almost monosyllabic, like Egyptian, but it developed at a later period into a highly agglutinate language ( q.v. ) . The morphological side of Coptic was, therefore, little develoijed, but the phonology became the real basis of the grammatical system for variations of meaning. It gained in conse- quence a far greater flexibility than Egj^ptian had possessed, and it also enriched its vocabulary by many Greek loan-words, as well as a smaller number of Latin and Persian terms. Arabic ■words are significantly lacking in the Coptic vocab- ulary. The language was divided into five prin- cipal dialects. These were the Sahidic or Thebaic and Achmimic in Upper Egypt, the Boheiric, and Memphitic in Lower Egypt, and the Fayumic, or so-called Bashmuric, spoken near Lake Men- zaleh in Central Eg;spt. There were also doubt- less a number of dialects of much importance of which no record has been preserved. Of the Coptic dialects the oldest is the Sahidic, whose literature dates from the period extending from the third to the seventh century, comprising annals, translations of the Bible, apocryphal and Gnostic books, legends of the saints, and the like. This oldest literature has been in great part lost, and only fragments remain. The Boheiric dialect, dating from the seventh century, contains by far the greater amount of extant Coptic literature, again in the main translations from the Greek or revisions of the older Sahidic texts, as well as a few translations from the Arabic. It is this dialect which is still used in the liturgy of the Coptic Church. The Fay- umic dialect has only very scanty literary re- mains, which have been discovered lately by ex- cavations in Egj-pt. The Sahidic is the most harmonious and has more Greek loan-words than the Boheiric, while the Fayumic stands midway between the two. The Coptic script has thirty- one letters, twenty-four of which are Greek uncials (see Lxcial Letters), while the re- maining characters, for S (sh), f, h (German cTi) , h, 5 (French /), c (English ch in child), and ti, are derived from the Egyptian demotic script. After the Mohammedan conquest of Egypt Arabic gi'adually displaced Coptic, al- though Coptic is said to have been spoken as late as 163.3 by one old man. Consult : Kircher, Prodromus Coptus sive ^gijptUicus (Rome, 1636) ; Lingua JEgyptiaca Fcstitufn (Rome, 1643-44) ; Tattam, Compen- dious Orammar of the Egyptian Language (Lon- don. lS.3n: 2d ed. 1863); Rosellini, Elementa Linguw JEgxjptiacw sive Copticw (Rome, 1837) ; Peyron, Orammatica Linguce Copticw (Turin, 1841); Schwartze, Koptische Crnmmalik (Ber- lin, 18.50) ; t'hlemann, Linguw Copticw Gram- matica (Leipzig, 18.53) ; Stern, Koptische Oram- ', 'tik (Leipzig, 1880) ; Loret. Manuel de la langue egyptienne (Paris, 1892) ; SteindorfT, Koptische Grnmmatik (Berlin, 1804) ; Peyron, Lexicon Linguw Copticw (Tvirin. 1835) ; Tattam, Lexicon ^gypiiaco - Latinum (Oxford, 1835); Vol. v.— 26. Parthey, Xocahularum Coptico-Latinum et La- tino-Copt icum (Berlin, 1844). COP'ULA (Lat., b(jnd). A term employed in logic to designate the word which expresses the relation of subject and predicate in a judg- ment. Thus, in the sentence "Art is long," art is the subject-concept, long the predicate-concept, and is the copula. The copula is either expressed separatel}-, as by some part of the ^•erb 'to be,' as in the above seutence, or it is contained in the word expressing the predicate — as, "The flower blooms," i.e. t.5 blooming. COPULATIVE (Lat. copulativus, from Lat. copularc, to join together, from copula, bond, from CO-, together + apcre, Gk. dirTeiv, haptein, to fasten). A term applied to words and sen- tences that introduce something which adds to the preceding thought, in the same direction. They are sometimes for this reason called cunuilative conjunctions. The principal ones are and (the typical copulative conjunction), also, as well as, likea^ise, inorcocer. Adversative, marking degrees of opposition of thought in the words and expressions connected; as, hut, howecer, nevertheless, only, still, yet. Causal, introducing a reason or cause; as, consequently, for, hence, then, therefore. Alternative, expressing a choice between two or more things; as, either, else, nor, neither, whether. When two conjunctions connect closely related parts of a sentence they are called correlatives, as, either — or, neither — nor, whether — or. The subordinating conjunctions may also be subdivid- ed, the principal classes being place, time, man- ner, cause, comparison, purpose. COPY (OF. copie, abundance, from Lat. copia, from CO; together + opes, riches ) . In the fine arts, a reproduction of a work, whether painting, statue, or engraving, not by the original artist. A copy made by the master himself is called a repetition or replica {in Yrench, a. doublette) . A copy of a statue, or other piece of sculpture, taken from a mold, is not called a copy, but a cast (q.v.). COPYHOLD. A species of estate or right of [iroperty in land in Ireland and England, the modem form of the ancient tenure in villeinage, and closely resemljling in many particulars the feu rights of Scotland. Copyhold is expressed technically as "tenure by copy of court-roll at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the manor." This means that it is tenure of land, being part of a manor, the title being evidenced by the court-rolls of the manor, and the right of the owner being in conformity with the imme- morial customs of the manor. The addition, "at the will of the lord," serves only as a memorial of the derivation of this species of estate from the estates granted in old times to the bondmen, or villeins, which estates were of course resumable at the pleasure of the lord. But the will of the lord is now absolutely controlled by the custom of the manor, which forms the law of the tenure; and as this custom must be immemorial, i.e. ex- tending to the reign of Richard I., no new copy- holds can be created. The custom of each manor may vaiy in impor- tant particulars. In some the copyhold lands are held for life only; in some they descend ac- cording to particular rules of their own; in most, however, they descend according to the
