Coptic Capital Letter Vida

It marks a consonant in Coptic words; its reading varies by tradition. Vida is a Bohairic name for it, also called Coptic beta.

Its value is usually written as b or v in Latin transliteration. For b, both lips close; for v, the lower lip touches the upper teeth. Bohairic teaching gives it the v sound before a vowel and the b sound otherwise. Sahidic and Bohairic sources can differ, and some transliterations write the same word with b, f, or p. Those are variations in reading or transcription, not different Coptic letters.

Why does Coptic use Greek letters?

It grew from efforts to write Egyptian with Greek letters. Greek-letter glosses for Egyptian appear in the first and second centuries CE, while a recognizable Old Coptic form is dated to the end of the first century CE. These dates describe the evolving script, not a separately dated first appearance of capital Ⲃ.

Early Old Coptic used Greek letters to make Egyptian sounds and vowels more explicit, including in magical and astrological writing. Later, Coptic carried Christian translations, letters, and accounts. Its alphabet added letters from Demotic, an older Egyptian script, for sounds Greek letters could not represent.

How do I type uppercase Coptic vida?

Use a Coptic Unicode keyboard's Shift or Caps Lock layer for capitals. That avoids accidentally entering Greek Β, which may look identical but is a different character. If Ⲃ shows as a box, the receiving font may lack Coptic coverage; Bohairic and Sahidic font styles can also look different. Traditional Coptic writing did not use uppercase and lowercase as a regular case distinction, so a larger initial in a manuscript transcription may reflect page layout.