Coptic ⲖⲀⲀⲨ (“nothing”) as a Transformation of iry (“any” < “doing”), with Implications Including Possible Semitic-like Vocalization and Demotic-like /l/-Representation
The following has been written to gather feedback, in preparation for a fuller scholarly article. Part of this thinking was previewed at the 48 th North Atlantic Conference for Afroasiatic Linguistics (Mihalyfy 2025b). . . . A simple thesis: Coptic ⲖⲀⲀⲨ “nothing” is a cross-linguistically expected descendant of the sequence transliterated iry – typically translated “thereof,” but actually an “any” word grammaticalized from a participle “doing.” Quite interestingly, this etymology may indicate historic Egyptian vocalization matching the first long vowel in the reconstructed Proto-Semitic active participle C 1 a:C 2 iC 3 (Huehnergard 2019: 57). It may also support reinterpreting the Demotic script’s representation of /l/ as a ligature of I + R (vs. other traditional derivations like that found in Johnson 2000: 3 and Richter 2023: 10, for example). Some steps of argumentation, and then some “lagniappe” raising other possible connections across different eras of Egyptian. ...