传承不衰的古埃及语言

Life in Egypt enjoys a quite extraordinary continuity with the past， but that doesnt mean there havent been huge changes. There have.

In the year 391 AD， the Roman Emperor， Theodosius， issued a decree banning all pagan temples throughout the empire. Well， for the Egyptians， this was a disaster， for their temples werent just places of worship. They were schools and universities， they were libraries， they were medical centres， they were law courts. They were the centre of civic life. Closing them down spelt the official end of the old ways and the end of the written language. And a few centuries later， the coming of another religion， Islam， spelt the end of the spoken language.

However， the language of ancient Egypt was still being spoken， and it still is. For 1， 600 years， despite frequent official repression， the Coptic Church and priests like Father Itsak Ramsey， have kept alive the Coptic language.

Fr. Ramsey： Coptic is a derivative of the ancient Egyptian language.

Q： So youre actually speaking the language that was spoken by the pharaohs.

Fr.Ramsey： Yes.

Of course， it may be that the way Coptic is being spoken here bears as little resemblance to the way it was spoken in the ancient world as modern English does to Anglo-Saxon. But nevertheless， the Christian Coptic Church was keeping this dead language alive in the same way that the Roman Catholic Church was keeping Latin alive.

And the worlds earliest recorded script was still being spoken. And it was this realization that was crucial to cracking the meaning of the hieroglyphs. Actually the word “hieroglyph” is a bit of a misnomer. You see， when the ancient Greeks first came across these mystical writings on the Egyptianstombs and temples， well， they naturally assumed they were full of mystical significance， so they called them“hieroglyphs， ” or “sacred carvings.” But， in fact， a lot of them were far from mystical， and they werent all just carved on temple walls.

The Egyptians invented the first paper. They used the inside of the reed， known as the papyrus， and thats where we get the name “paper” from. And this was what they used for official documents and for archiving. But， for everyday notes and messages， there was a much cheaper version at hand. They had bits of broken pottery or…or “shards” of limestone， and this is what they scribbled their messages on. But for this they developed a kind of shorthand version of the hieroglyph， which is known as Hieratic.

Papyrus grew in abundance alongside the Nile， and someone worked out that， by cutting it up， rolling it out and soaking it， interleaving it and then pressing it， you could produce something you could write on.

The invention of writing in Ancient Egypt was， of course， a boon for the accountants and managers and scribes， but it also made possible the worlds first literature.

传统在当今埃及的生活中得到了不同寻常的延续，但这并不是说这里就不曾发生过巨大的转变，巨变确曾发生。

公元391年，古罗马皇帝狄奥多西颁布法令，取缔罗马帝国内所有异教徒庙宇。唉，这对埃及人可是一场灾难，因为对他们来说，神庙不仅是祭拜的地方，那还是学校与大学，它们是图书馆、是医院、是法庭，它们是城市生活的中心。关闭神庙相当于传统习俗的正式终结和书面语言的末日。几个世纪之后，一种新的宗教——伊斯兰教——传入埃及，口头语言也继而失传。

然而，古埃及的语言还是流传了下来，至今依旧有人在说。一千六百年来，尽管屡遭官方打压，科普特教会和像拉姆齐神父这样的神职人员依旧把科普特语传承下来。

拉姆齐神父：科普特语是古埃及语的衍生语言。

问：这么说，你正在使用的語言就是法老曾经使用的语言？

拉姆齐神父：是的。

当然，他们如今所用的科普特语也许已跟古代所用的相去甚远，就像当代英语跟盎格鲁·撒克逊人说的英语有天壤之别一样，但基督教科普特教会仍努力传承这种早已不被使用的语言，如同罗马天主教会也在努力地传承着拉丁语。

世界上最早的手写文字还有人会念，而这正是解读象形文字的关键。其实象形文字一词纯属误称。要知道，古希腊人头一回在埃及墓地和神殿看到这些神秘的文字，自然会认为它们充满神秘意义，所以称它们为象形文字（hieroglyph），也就是“神圣篆刻”的意思。其实许多文字根本谈不上神秘，而且它们也不只出现在神殿的墙壁上。

古埃及人首先发明了纸张，所用材料是芦苇内部的纸莎草（papyrus），这正是英语中“纸”（paper）这个词的由来。他们正是用这种纸书写官方文件，作档案记录;至于日常记录与讯息，他们手边有更便宜的工具。他们用陶器或石灰石的碎片作为传递讯息的工具。为此他们发展出象形文字的简易版，也就是所谓的僧侣体。

尼罗河沿岸出产大量纸莎草，有人发现把它剖开、展开、泡水，交错叠起来然后压紧，就能做出用以书写的纸张。

古埃及人发明的书写方式是会计师、经理及抄写员的一大福音，它也促成了世界文学的诞生。

科普特人Copts

科普特人指埃及的基督徒，是当代埃及的少数民族之一。他们是在公元一世纪时皈依基督教的古埃及人的后裔。目前，埃及的科普特人是中东地区最大的基督教族群，其人口约占埃及总人口的10-15%。“科普特”一词原意为埃及人。该词在古阿拉伯语中曾是所有埃及人的代称，

但随着大部分埃及居民皈依伊斯兰教，该词也发生语意变化，现专指埃及的基督徒。

现在，大多数科普特人使用阿拉伯语，但在宗教仪式中仍使用科普特语（由古埃及语演变而来），属闪含语系古埃及语-科普特语族。他们全都信仰基督教，并保持着古埃及人固有的文化特色。科普特人从中世纪阿拉伯人入侵埃及开始，便一直处于二等公民的地位，许多古埃及人后裔顶住了巨大压力并仍然坚守基督教信仰，这才有了如今埃及具有一定规模的科普特人群体。现代科普特人的教育水平普遍较高，最有名的科普特人士是布特罗斯·加利，他曾担任联合国秘书长。