258 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Clearly, the Coptic language is not concerned with this order of specu- 

 lation ! 



And why should he render : Bieii a donne la langue a Vhomme avec 

 deux murailles pour la proteger, when the Copt says [185, lo], ere 

 snau nsabt mpefbal, "with two walls outside it". 



And cf. his rendering of [184, lo], il lex(,r a Idti une ville^ where 

 he has hati, because the Coptic word for "wall" is sobt, and the 

 text here has safsobte nau! But that means, '^he prepareth for 

 them ". 



Nor is his phrase, comprends done cela aiissi, a satisfactory version 

 of ksown hook inpai [185, x], which means, "thou thyself 

 knowest this". 



87. And I am smitten with amazement to see how little feeling for 

 the elements of Coptic grammar M. Bouriant must have when [185, 5] 

 he edits 6 p anhosios , and renders, 6 saint Jiomme ! I do not dispute 

 of course the possibility of a word Traj/ocrtos ; but, what about the case? 

 It is vocative case, and so must have the def. article, i. e. p - anhosios , 

 " oh, thou unholy" ! 



And again [186, y], he has exhibited the same want of knowledge 

 in rendering : il a dit aux rois de la terre, ' attachez-vous &c.' But the 

 text has pejaf nfrow, "he saith, ye Icings &c." 



88. But obviously, these minor matters would have been justly 

 passed over with the mere mention, if they had been the only defects in 

 the work now under examination. They are emphasized here, because 

 they are of a piece with the whole of the work : when M. Bouriant is 

 right, it is certainly not owing to his familiarity with Coptic grammar 

 and structure. Therefore it is not surprising to read his ' version ' 

 of the Second Psalm. He subsequently corrected parts of this curiosity 

 of literature in his Corrigenda, but eveji so, it is not all correct. 



When he renders (^pourquoi) les nations s' attachent-elles a des 

 clioses vaines, of which the Coptic is [186, 7], auo nlaos aumarw 

 nhnpetsweit, he is, one may feel quite certain, unaware that the 

 Greek verb //.eXerdv is such a stumbling-block to the Egyptian, that 

 he always renders it hy itself [at all events cf. Job vi. 30 ; xxvii. 4 ; 

 Ps. i. 2 ; ii. 1 ; xxxvi. 30 ; xxxvii. 13 ; Ixii. 7 ; Ixx. 24 ; Ixxvi. 13 ; 

 Ixxxis. 9 ; Prov. viii. 7 ; xxiv. 2 ; Isai. xvi. 7] ; and one feels also 

 tolerably sure that he does not know the construction of mwr, 'to 

 bind', for aumorw n would mean "they girded themselves zvith 

 vanities". 



And further on, when he renders les liens dont ils veulent nous 

 charger (which he has »o^ corrected) [!], for the Coptic ntnnajw ebol 



