ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N1658
DATE: 1997-12-08

DOC TYPE:Expert contribution
TITLE:Proposal to encode Coptic in ISO/IEC 10646
SOURCE:Michael Everson, EGT (IE)
PROJECT:JTC1.02.18.01
STATUS:Proposal.
ACTION ID:FYI
DUE DATE:--
DISTRIBUTION:Worldwide
MEDIUM:Paper and web
NO. OF PAGES:4

A. Administrative

1. TitleProposal to encode Coptic in ISO/IEC 10646
2. Requester's nameMichael Everson
3. Requester typeExpert request
4. Submission date1997-12-08
5. Requester's reference 
6a. CompletionThis is not a complete proposal.
6b. More information to be provided?Yes

B. Technical -- General

1a. New script? Name?No. There are some Coptic characters already in the standard.
1b. Addition of characters to existing block? Name?No. Addition of cheracters of an existing script to a new block, or extension of the Greek Symbols and Coptic block
2. Number of characters57+
3. Proposed categoryCategory C
4. Proposed level of implementation and rationaleLevel 3, because of combining marks used
5a. Character names included in proposal?Yes
5b. Character names in accordance with guidelines?Yes
5c. Character shapes reviewable?Yes
6a. Who will provide computerized font?Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta
6b. Font currently available?Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta
6c. Font format?TrueType
7a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts, etc.) provided?No.
7b. Are published examples (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of use of proposed characters attached?No
8. Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing?No

C. Technical -- Justification

1. Contact with the user community?Yes. Tito Orlandi, John Fiscella, Kamal Mansour
2. Information on the user community?Scholarly and ecclesiastical community.
3a. The context of use for the proposed characters?Used to write Coptic.
3b. Reference 
4a. Proposed characters in current use?Yes
4b. Where?By scholars and churchmen.
5a. Characters should be encoded entirely in BMP?Yes.
5b. RationaleOther Coptic characters are already in the BMP.
6. Should characters be kept in a continuous range?No
7a. Can the characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character sequence? Like Cyrillic and Gothic, Coptic is derived from Greek, but is a unique alphabetic writing system.
7b. Where? 
7c. Reference 
8a. Can any of the characters be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing character?No
8b. Where? 
8c. Reference 
9a. Combining characters or use of composite sequences included?Yes, but further research is required on the combining characters used in Coptic.
9b. List of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images provided?No
10. Characters with any special properties such as control function, etc. included?No

D. SC2/WG2 Administrative

To be completed by SC2/WG2
1. Relevant SC 2/WG 2 document numbers: 
2. Status (list of meeting number and corresponding action or disposition) 
3. Additional contact to user communities, liaison organizations etc.TC46/SC2
4. Assigned category and assigned priority/time frame 
Other Comments 

Issues

Further research is required on the signs and punctuation marks used with Coptic. These should be added to the proposal. The code table shows (in the last two columns) samples of precomposed characters in current coded character sets (fonts) for Coptic. The possibility of encoding these characters as fully composed characters for compatibility with existing encodings should be discussed. The code table also shows the existing Coptic characters in the standard in their correct alphabetical order. Obviously these will not appear in the final code table.

Names and code table

xx00	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER ALFA
xx01	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER VIDA
xx02	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA
xx03	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER DALDA
xx04	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER EIE
xx05	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER SOU
xx06	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER ZATA
xx07	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER HATE
xx08	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER THETHE
xx09	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER IAUDA
xx0A	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER KAPA
xx0B	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER LAULA
xx0C	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER MI
xx0D	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER NI
xx0E	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER KSI
xx0F	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER O
xx10	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER PI
xx11	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER RO
xx12	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER SIMA
xx13	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER TAU
xx14	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER UA
xx15	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER FI
xx16	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER KHI
xx17	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER PSI
xx18	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER OOU
03E2	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER SHEI
03E4	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER FEI
03E6	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER KHEI
xx1C	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER AKHMIMIC KHEI
03E8	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER HORI
03EA	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER GANGIA
03EC	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER SHIMA
03EE	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER DEI
xx21	COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER STAUROS
xx22	(This position shall not be used)
xx23	(This position shall not be used)
xx24	(This position shall not be used)
xx25	(This position shall not be used)
xx26	(This position shall not be used)
xx27	(This position shall not be used)
xx28	(This position shall not be used)
xx29	(This position shall not be used)
xx2A	(This position shall not be used)
xx2B	(This position shall not be used)
xx2C	(This position shall not be used)
xx2D	(This position shall not be used)
xx2E	(This position shall not be used)
xx2F	(This position shall not be used)
xx30	COPTIC SMALL LETTER ALFA
xx31	COPTIC SMALL LETTER VIDA
xx32	COPTIC SMALL LETTER GAMMA
xx33	COPTIC SMALL LETTER DALDA
xx34	COPTIC SMALL LETTER EIE
xx35	COPTIC SMALL LETTER SOU
xx36	COPTIC SMALL LETTER ZATA
xx37	COPTIC SMALL LETTER HATE
xx38	COPTIC SMALL LETTER THETHE
xx39	COPTIC SMALL LETTER IAUDA
xx3A	COPTIC SMALL LETTER KAPA
xx3B	COPTIC SMALL LETTER LAULA
xx3C	COPTIC SMALL LETTER MI
xx3D	COPTIC SMALL LETTER NI
xx3E	COPTIC SMALL LETTER KSI
xx3F	COPTIC SMALL LETTER O
xx40	COPTIC SMALL LETTER PI
xx41	COPTIC SMALL LETTER RO
xx42	COPTIC SMALL LETTER SIMA
xx43	COPTIC SMALL LETTER TAU
xx44	COPTIC SMALL LETTER UA
xx45	COPTIC SMALL LETTER FI
xx46	COPTIC SMALL LETTER KHI
xx47	COPTIC SMALL LETTER PSI
xx48	COPTIC SMALL LETTER OOU
03E3	COPTIC SMALL LETTER SHEI
03E5	COPTIC SMALL LETTER FEI
03E7	COPTIC SMALL LETTER KHEI
xx4C	COPTIC SMALL LETTER AKHMIMIC KHEI
03E9	COPTIC SMALL LETTER HORI
03EB	COPTIC SMALL LETTER GANGIA
03ED	COPTIC SMALL LETTER SHIMA
03EF	COPTIC SMALL LETTER DEI
xx51	COPTIC SMALL LETTER STAUROS
xx52	(This position shall not be used)
xx53	(This position shall not be used)
xx54	(This position shall not be used)
xx55	(This position shall not be used)
xx56	(This position shall not be used)
xx57	(This position shall not be used)
xx58	(This position shall not be used)
xx59	(This position shall not be used)
xx5A	(This position shall not be used)
xx5B	COPTIC SYLLABIC MARK
xx5C	COPTIC HYPHEN
xx5D	COPTIC DIVISOR
xx5E	COPTIC DOUBLE PUNCTUATION
xx5F	COPTIC SINGLE PUNCTUATION

HTML Michael Everson, everson@indigo.ie, http://www.indigo.ie/egt, Dublin, 1997-12-08