KYP T-877

KYPRIANOS DATABASE OF ANCIENT RITUAL TEXTS

KYPRIANOS T877

Manuscript:	M9
Sigla:	P. Mich. Inv. 593
Text no. Position of the text within the manuscript.	16
Coptic Scriptorium:
Date:	401 – 700

Text position:	p. 7 ll. 12-14
Type of text:	Healing from pustules (magical, formulary)

Original title:	ⲉⲧⲃⲉ ⲧⲡⲓϣⲉ ⲛ̅ϩⲱⲗ︦
Original title (translated):	For bursting (?) pustules
Conventional title:	For bursting (?) pustules

Language:	Egyptian (Coptic)
Dialect:	Sahidic (non-standard)
Script:	Coptic
Image:	https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-APIS-X-2601%5D593_1R.TIF

Text:	Translation:
p. 7 (→) 12. [preceding text] ⲉⲧⲃⲉ ⲧⲡⲓ- 13. ϣⲉ ⲛ̅ϩⲱⲗ︦ ⲧⲁⲩⲟⲥ ⲉϫⲛ︦ ⲟⲩⲙⲟⲟⲩ 14. ⲛ̅ⲅⲛⲟϫϥ̅ ⲉⲣⲟϥ̣ · [following text]	[12] For [13] bursting (?) pustules. Recite it over some water [14] and throw it over him.

Tableau:
Tracing by:

Apparatus:

12-13. ⲧⲡⲓϣⲉ ⲛ̅ϩⲱⲗ︦ : translate “pishe n hol” Worrell : translate : “strep throat” Mirecki 1994 & 1999
14. ⲛ̅ⲅⲛⲟϫϥ̅ ⲉⲣⲟϥ̣ : translate “sprinkle it down (his throat)” Mirecki 1994 & 1999

Notes:

Parallel text: P. Mich. inv. 594 ro ll. 15-16 (KYP M15; KYP T919)

12-13 ⲡⲓϣⲉ cf. Crum CD 278b “a disease producing pustules”. For pustules (ⲡⲁⲓϣⲉ) in other magical and pharmacological texts, see P. Mich. inv. 593 (KYP M9, T876), p. 7 ll. 10-12; P. Mich. inv. 594 (KYP M15, T918, 919) ro ll. 14-16; C.Pharm.Copt. 11 (KYP M694), ro ll. 25, 28; C.Pharm.Copt. 21 (KYP M4030) kopt 838 l. 1; C.Pharm.Copt. 28 (KYP M643) p. 241 ll. 7, 10, p. 242 l. 25; C.Pharm.Copt. 32 (KYP M941) l. 215.
13. Ϩⲱⲗ “bursting” cf. Crum CD 667a “meaning uncertain” for ϩⲱⲗ 3o, but compared to ϩⲱⲗ 2 (“throw”, 666b). Ϩⲱⲗ is not attested in the Coptic pharmacological texts, but appears in the Coptic magical corpus with the sense “throw”, cf. P.Heid.inv.Kopt. 686 (PCM I 26; KYP M166; KYP T1324) l. 5. We interpret this as referring to a pustule “throwing” pus, that is, bursting, but we have not found an exact parallel.

Bibliography:

Grons, Medizinische Rezepttexte in koptischer Sprache (C.Pharm.Copt.). Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete – Beiheft 56. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2025

Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton (New Jersey): Princeton University Press, 1999, p. 304–310, no. 133.

Mirecki, Paul. “The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The Harvard Theological Review vol. 87 no. 4 (1994): 435–460.

Worrell, W. H. “A Coptic Wizard’s Hoard.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 46 no. 4 (1930): 239–262.

Editor:

EL’s transcript from Worrell (29/1/20); preliminary translation by KD (31/1/2020); KD, MPS, RBS (23/7/2026)

How to cite:

[Editor names]. "KYP T877: For bursting (?) pustules," Kyprianos Database of Ancient Ritual Texts and Objects, Korshi Dosoo, Markéta Preininger, & Roxanne Bélanger Sarrazin (principal editors), www.coptic-magic.phil.uni-wuerzburg.de/index.php/text/kyp-t-877. Accessed on 11/10/2026
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