Description
This page contains the 6-dot literary Braille Code for Ancient Coptic (esp. Sahidic). There is also an 8-dot computer braille code for Coptic created by Ibraam Nasif of the Coptic Bishopric of Youth. That code is included in LibLouis but is not described here.
Tables
Use the following table for the designated screen reader or translator:
JAWS: Coptic
NVDA: Coptic Grade 1
VoiceOVer (MacOS & iOS): Coptic > LibLouis Coptic
LibLouis: cop.utb
Code
Letters
⠁ ⲁ ALFA (dot 1)
⠃ ⲃ VIDA (dots 12)
⠛ ⲅ GAMMA (dots 1245)
⠙ ⲇ DALDA (dots 145)
⠑ ⲉ EIE (dots 15)
⠸⠧ ⲋ SOU (dots 456-1236)
⠵ ⲍ ZATA (dots 1356)
⠱ ⲏ HATE (dots 156)
⠹ ⲑ THETHE (dots 1456)
⠊ ⲓ IAUDA (dots 24)
⠅ ⲕ KAPA (dots 13)
⠇ ⲗ LAULA (dots 123)
⠍ ⲙ MI (dots 134)
⠝ ⲛ NI (dots 1345)
⠭ ⲝ KSI (dots 1346)
⠕ ⲟ O (dots 135)
⠏ ⲡ PI (dots 1234)
⠗ ⲣ RO (dots 1235)
⠎ ⲥ SIMA (dots 234)
⠞ ⲧ TAU (dots 2345)
⠥ ⲩ UA (dots 136)
⠋ ⲫ FI (dots 124)
⠯ ⲭ KHI (dots 12346)
⠽ ⲯ PSI (dots 13456)
⠺ ⲱ OOU (dots 2456)
⠩ ϣ SHEI (dots 146)
⠫ ϥ FEI (dots 1246)
⠡ ϧ KHEI (dots 16)
⠓ ϩ HORI (dots 125)
⠚ ϫ GANGIA (dots 245)
⠣ ϭ SHIMA (dots 126)
⠳ ϯ DEI (dots 1256)
Dialectical variants of individual letters, where they exist, have the same dot pattern as their standard form.
Diacritics and Special Characters
⠂⠍ ⳥ MI RO (dots 2-134)
⠂⠏ ⳦ PI RO (dots 2-1234)
⠐⠖ ⳧ STAUROS (dots 5-235)
⠂⠯ ⳩ KHI RO (dots 2-12346)
⠂⠞ ⳨ TAU RO (dots 2-2345)
⠂ combining macron/overline (dot 2)
Punctuation
⠦ ⳻ OLD NUBIAN INDIRECT QUESTION MARK (dots 236)
⠦ ⳺ OLD NUBIAN DIRECT QUESTION MARK (dots 236)
⠲ ⳾ COPTIC FULL STOP (dots 256)
⠲ ⳹ OLD NUBIAN FULL STOP (dots 256)
⠲ ⳼ OLD NUBIAN VERSE DIVIDER (dots 256)
Latin Punctuation and Characters
Whenever Latin characters, numerals, or punctuation are used, they are produced in accordance with UEB Grade 1.
Sources
Official documentation of this braille code appears in the transcribers’ preface to the braille edition of:
Layton, Bentley. Coptic in 20 Lessons: An Introduction to Sahidic with Vocabularies and Exercises. Leuven: Peeters, 2007. Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin by Caroline Crews and Sarah Blake LaRose.
See also:
Smith, Daniel C., and Sarah Blake LaRose, “Expanding the World of Biblical Studies to Scholars who are Blind: Creation and Implementation of a Coptic Braille System.” Near Eastern Archaeology 87 (2024): 132–136.
Smith, Daniel C. “Accessing the Ancient mediterranean Studies Classroom.” Ancient Jew Review. October 24,2022.