Demotic (Egyptian)

Demotic (from Ancient Greek: δημοτικός dēmotikós, "popular") is the ancient

Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Nile Delta, and
Demotic
the stage of the Egyptian language written in this script, followingLate Egyptian and
preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to
distinguish it from hieratic and hieroglyphic scripts. By convention, the word
"Demotic" is capitalized in order to distinguish it fromdemotic Greek.

Contents Type Abjad augmented by

Script logograms
Early Demotic Languages Demotic (Egyptian
Middle (Ptolemaic) Demotic language)
Late (Roman) Demotic
Time c. 650 BC–5th century
Language period AD
Decipherment
Parent Hieratic
See also systems
Notes Demotic
References Child Meroitic, Coptic
External links systems
Direction Right-to-left
ISO 15924 Egyd, 070
Script
The Demotic script was referred to by the Egyptians as sš n šˤ.t "document writing", which the 2nd century scholar Clement of
Alexandria called επιστολογραφική (epistolographikē) "letter writing", while early Western scholars, notably Thomas Young,
formerly referred to it as "Enchorial Egyptian". The script was used for more than a thousand years, and during that time a number of
developmental stages occurred. It is written and read from right to left, while earlier hieroglyphs could be written from top to bottom,
left to right, or right to left. Parts of the demoticGreek Magical Papyri were written with a cypher script.[1]

Early Demotic
Early Demotic (often referred to by the German term Frühdemotisch) developed in Lower Egypt during the later part of the 25th
dynasty, particularly found on stelae from the Serapeum at Saqqara. It is generally dated between 650 and 400 BC, as most texts
written in Early Demotic are dated to the 26th dynasty and the following Persian period (the 27th dynasty). After the reunification of
Egypt under Psametik I, Demotic replaced Abnormal Hieratic in Upper Egypt, particularly during the reign of Amasis, when it
became the official administrative and legal script. During this period, Demotic was used only for administrative, legal, and
commercial texts, while hieroglyphs and hieratic were reserved for other texts.

Middle (Ptolemaic) Demotic

Middle Demotic (c. 400–30 BC) is the stage of writing used during thePtolemaic Period. From the 4th century BC onwards, Demotic
held a higher status, as may be seen from its increasing use for literary and religious texts. By the end of the 3rd century BC, Greek
was more important, as it was the administrative language of the country; Demotic contracts lost most of their legal force unless there
was a note in Greek of being registered with the authorities.

Examples of Ptolemaic Demotic

Ostracon with Demotic inscription. Ptolemaic Contract in Demotic writing, with signature of
dynasty, c. 305–30 BC. Probably from a witness on the verso. Papyrus, Ptolemaic
Thebes. It is a prayer to the god Amun to heal era.
a man's blindness.

Late (Roman) Demotic

From the beginning of Roman rule of Egypt, Demotic was progressively less used in public life. There are, however, a number of
literary texts written in Late Demotic (c. 30 BC–452 AD), especially from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, though the quantity of all
Demotic texts decreased rapidly towards the end of the 2nd century. In contrast to the way Latin eliminated minority languages in the
western part of the Empire and the expansion of Greek led to the extinction of Phrygian, Greek did not replace Demotic entirely.[2]
After that, Demotic was only used for a few ostraca, subscriptions to Greek texts, mummy labels, and graffiti. The last dated example
of the Demotic script is dated to December 1, 452 AD, and consists of a graffito on the walls of the temple ofIsis at Philae.

Language
Demotic is a development of Late Egyptian and shares much with the later Coptic
phase of the Egyptian language. In the earlier stages of Demotic, such as those texts
Demotic
Region Ancient Egypt
written in the Early Demotic script, it probably represented the spoken idiom of the
time. But, as it was increasingly used for only literary and religious purposes, the Era c. 450 BC to 450 AD,
written language diverged more and more from the spoken form, leading to when it evolved into
Coptic
significant diglossia between the Late Demotic texts and the spoken language of the
time, similar to the use of classical Middle Egyptian during the Ptolemaic Period. Language Afro-Asiatic
family
Egyptian
Decipherment Demotic

The Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799. It is inscribed with three scripts: classical Early Archaic Egyptian
forms
Greek and both Demotic and hieroglyphic Egyptian. There are 32 lines of Demotic, Old Egyptian
which is the middle of the three scripts on the stone. The Demotic was deciphered
Middle Egyptian
before the hieroglyphs, starting with the efforts of Silvestre de Sacy. Scholars were
Late Egyptian
eventually able to translate the Egyptian glyphs by comparing the Greek words,
which could be readily translated, and the Egyptian hieroglyphs, in addition to their Language codes
existing knowledge of Coptic. Egyptologists, linguists and papyrologists who ISO 639-3 –
specialize in the study of the Demotic stage of Egyptian script are known as Glottolog None
Demotists.
The table below shows some derivative similarities from Hieroglyphic to Demotic to the currently surviving Coptic Egyptian script.

Hieroglyph Demotic Coptic

→ →Ϣš
→ →Ϥf

→ →Ϧx

→ → Ϩh
→ → Ϫ dʒ
→ →Ϭq

→ → Ϯ ti

See also
Transliteration of Ancient Egyptian
Tale of Setne Khamwas and Si-Osire

Notes
1. Hans Dieter Betz (1992)."The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, Volume 1" (http://p
ress.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo3684249.html) .
2. Haywood, John (2000).Historical atlas of the classical world, 500 BC–AD 600
. Barnes & Noble Books. p. 28.
ISBN 0-7607-1973-X. "However, Greek did not take over as completely as Latin did in the west and there remained
large communities of Demotic...and Aramaic speakers "

References
Betrò, Maria Carmela (1996).Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt. New York; Milan: Abbeville Press
(English); Arnoldo Mondadori (Italian). pp. 34–239.ISBN 0-7892-0232-8.
Johnson, Janet H. (1986).Thus Wrote 'Onchsheshonqy: An Introductory Grammar of Demotic . Studies in Ancient
Oriental Civilization, No. 45. Chicago: The Oriental Institute.

External links
Demotic and Abnormal Hieratic Texts
List of all Demotic texts in Trismegistos
Chicago Demotic Dictionary
The American Society of Papyrologists
Directory of Institutions and Scholars Involved in Demotic Studies
Demotic Texts on the Internet
Thus Wrote 'Onchsheshonqy: An Introductory Grammar of Demoticby Janet H. Johnson
Demotische Grammatikby Wilhelm Spiegelberg (in German)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Demotic_(Egyptian)&oldid=829099833

"
This page was last edited on 6 March 2018, at 17:08.

Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.