A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon, which began as a word list compiled by students at Fuller Theological Seminary is often regarded as the best resource for students beginning their study of Coptic. Smith's lexicon is commonly paired with Crum's Coptic Dictionary because of their unique relationship and their authority as studies of Coptic Christianity. The Concise Coptic-English Lexicon was originally published in 1983, compared to Crum's work in 1939, and therefore includes additional vocabulary from the discovery of the Nag Hammadi.
What is Coptic? Why is the Coptic Bible important?
The ancient Egyptians wrote with over 4000 symbols, but were quick to adopt the Greek alphabet's 24 letters in the aftermath of the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. Coptic is the Egyptian language written in Greek letters—with some additional letters added to represent sounds not found in Greek. The Coptic Bible contains some of the earliest recorded manuscripts of the canonical scriptures, as well as many significant Gnostic texts. The Coptic Bible is incredibly important because of its relationship to the early Church and the evolution of the Greek texts in such close proximity to the time of Christ.
Smith's book is just the kind of tool that for many users tends to become a well-worn friend, and in the long run pays its own freight in spades due to its sheer convenience.
—Michael Williams, University of Washington (Near Eastern Languages & Civilization and Jackson School of International Studies)
Richard Smith has provided English-speaking beginning Coptic students with a concise aid to reading Sahidic texts … [and] has done students of Coptic an appreciable service.
—Westminster Theological Journal Review
- Title: A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon
- Author: Richard Smith
- Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
Reviews
2 ratings
Jeff Moss
12/13/2025
The bio for Smith provided by Logos relates to different Robert Smith (notice that there's not a single mention of Coptic or the Nag Hammadi codices). As an alternative, below is a bio for the author of this dictionary that I've cobbled together from various sources: Richard Smith is a scholar and Coptic language expert known for his significant contributions to the study and publication of the Nag Hammadi codices (aka the Nag Hammadi Library). He taught himself the Coptic language in the 1970s and taught Coptic at Claremont School of Theology (CST) and Claremont Graduate University (CGU), translated ancient manuscripts such as the Nag Hammadi codices, and wrote and edited several books in the field including a student Coptic dictionary, ‘A Concise Coptic-English Lexicon’ (1st Edition 1983; 2nd Revised Edition, 1999, available from Logos). He was the managing editor for later editions of ‘The Nag Hammadi Library in English’ (1st Edition 1977; 4th Revised Edition, 1996, available from Logos, with James Robinson of CGU as General Editor). Smith has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Program in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, known informally as the Iowa Writers' Workshop. As he described his academic qualifications in a published 2005 interview, “I don’t have a degree in Coptic. My degrees, a Bachelor’s and a Master’s, are in English Literature with a specialty in creative writing and a minor in Art History.” In other roles, he taught an art writing course in the CGU Master of Fine Arts studio art program and during the ‘80s and ‘90s, was West Coast editor or a contributing editor for various art publications and published many reviews and essays on contemporary art. Also, for the Adult Division of the Los Angeles School District, he taught advanced ESL and writing courses in downtown Los Angeles to immigrants from around the world. Retired from all these jobs, in 2010 he began taking classes at the University of the West in Indian Languages and Religions.Manuel Fernández Martín
1/2/2015
DMB
8/2/2013
