Kircher learned Coptic in 1633, and in1636 published his Prodromus coptus sive aegyptiacus, the first grammar in Coptic by a European. In 1643, he published his Lingua aegyptiaca restituta.[1] Kircher saw the connection between ancient Egyptian and Coptic before the Rosetta Stone was discovered, and before Jean-François Champollion (1790 – 1832) was later able, in 1822, to decipher Hieroglyphics by the help of Coptic.
The full title of Prodromus coptus sive aegyptiacusis Prodromus coptus sive aegyptiacus: … in quo cum linguae Coptae, sive Aegyptiacae, quondam Pharaonicae, origo, aetas, vicissitudo, inclinatio, tum hieroglyphicae literaturae instauratio … exhibentur .
