<P> Coptic, or Coptic Egyptian (Bohairic: ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ti. met. rem. ən. k ēmi and Sahidic: ⲧⲙⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲕⲏⲙⲉ t. mənt. rəm. ən. kēme), is the latest stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro - Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century . Egyptian began to be written in the Coptic alphabet, an adaptation of the Greek alphabet with the addition of six or seven signs from Demotic to represent Egyptian sounds the Greek language did not have, in the 1st century AD . </P> <P> Several distinct Coptic dialects are identified, the most prominent of which are Sahidic, originating in parts of Upper Egypt, and Bohairic, originally from the western Nile Delta in Lower Egypt . </P> <P> Coptic and Demotic are grammatically closely related to Late Egyptian, which was written with Egyptian hieroglyphs . Coptic flourished as a literary language from the 2nd to 13th centuries, and its Bohairic dialect continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria . It was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic as a spoken language toward the early modern period, but language revitalization efforts have been underway since the 19th century . </P> <P> The native Coptic name for the language is ϯⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ / ti - met - rem - en - kheː - mi / in the Bohairic (Delta) dialect, ⲧⲙⲛ̄ⲧⲣⲙ̄ⲛ̄ⲕⲏⲙⲉ / t - ment - rem - en - kiː - me / in the Sahidic (Valley) dialect . The particle prefix me (n) t - from the verb ⲙⲟⲩϯ mouti (' to speak') forms all abstract nouns in Coptic (not only those pertaining to "language"). The term remenkhēmi / remenkēme meaning' Egyptian', literally' person of Egypt', is a compound of rem -, which is the construct state of the Coptic noun ⲣⲱⲙⲓ / ⲣⲱⲙⲉ,' man, human being', + the genitive preposition (e) n -' of' + the word for' Egypt', ⲭⲏⲙⲓ / ⲕⲏⲙⲉ k ēmi / kēme (cf . Kemet). Thus, the whole expression literally means' language of the people of Egypt', or simply' Egyptian language' . </P>

When did arabic overtake coptic as the language most used in egypt