Introduction
Coptic means Egyptian.
The name of our land in our Egyptian Language is “KEMIT “meaning the “black soil” since this is the color of the Nile’s sediment that constitutes the fertile delta and valley of the river Nile. Greeks used to visit our land in (B.C.) time and get educated in our institutions of learning. They were mostly taught in a temple called “Ha Ka Ptah” meaning the “The house of the spirit of Ptah”. The said temple was located near Memphis the ancient capital of our land (at the junction between the Nile’s delta and its valley). Their pronunciation of the name “Ka Ptah” evolved to “Copt”, which the Greeks used to identify the entire country; hence we are called “Copts” according to the Greek language. The name “Egypt” is derived from that Greek designation of our country.But in our original language the designation “Egyptian”= “Kame”.
Our Race:
We can trace our human roots to the earliest possible times of the Bible. After the great flood “Genesis Chapter 7”, the earth was repopulated through Noah’s descendents. We can retrace our ancestry in the Bible’s to chapter 10 of Genesis.
The Bible scholars say that the first inhabitants of North-East Africa after the great flood were Mizraim the second son of Ham son of Noah and his offspring. This make our ancestors are Ludim, Ananim, Lehabim, Nephtahim, Petrhusim and Casluhim “Genesis 10:13”. This group of names became the leaders of tribes that settled the north of the Nile Valley that we call today “Egypt”.
We are thus a Hamitic race called a white race belonging to the Mediterranean Sea basin. Hence, during American censuses we precisely and proudly identify our race as “Coptic”.
How ancient is our Race?
In fact our ancestry is so ancient in history, when Abram the Patriarch and his entourage visited Egypt around 2000 BC as one family; we were already a nation. Egypt was already a unified kingdom with a monarchist system of government for more than nine hundred and fifty years (950) when Abram visited Egypt.
Sister Races:
According to the Bible Scholars, Mizraim brothers settled around his land. Put settled North Africa. This makes us “Copts” cousins to the original inhabitants of North Africa (i.e. The Berbers”). Cush settled East Africa and the balance of the Valley of the Nile, which make us “Copts” cousins to The Ethiopian, Eritrean and Nubian nation’s original populations. Canaan settled the Holy Land. He was cursed by Noah due to Ham’s sin against his father (Genesis 9:25).