One of them I found interesting. The last Coptic miracle in the encomium begins as follows (tr. Johnson, p. 61):
While the Arabic (3rd miracle, tr. Zanetti, p. 92) has:There was a man in this city, Antinoe, who was from the foreign country of Isauria.
Zanetti doesn't say much about this discrepancy:Il y avait un commerçant dans la ville d'Antinoe ‒ il était de la ville des trésors (مدينة الكنوز).
[There was a trader in the city of Antinoe ‒ he was from the city of treasures.]
This explanation sort of supposes two things:Le copte dit que ce commerçant était originaire d'Isaurie, et Thompson remarque que, selon Diodore (18: 22), la capitale d'Isaurie regorgeait de richesses (cf. Thompson, note 65 à la traduction [§ 98], CSCO 545, p. 61).
[The Coptic text says that this trader was from Isauria, and Thompson notes that, according to Diodorus (18:22), Isauria's capital city abounded in riches (cf. Thompson, note 65 to the translation [§ 98], CSCO 545, p. 61).]
- that the capital city of Isauria, or Isauria itself, was widely known as a place full of riches. Diodorus' text doesn't really seem to be enough to support this (οὗτοι δὲ τὴν φλόγα κατασβέσαντες πολὺν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χρυσὸν εὗρον, ὡς ἂν πόλεως γεγενημένης εὐδαίμονος ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων.)
- that this fame, even if we accept it existed at the time of Diodorus, was still around when the Coptic text was translated into Arabic (probably sometime between the 11th and the 16th c.), enough anyway for the translator to readily translate "Isauria" as "the city of treasures".
As I see it, there is a simpler explanation. The Coptic texts here reads:
It seems more likely that the Arabic translator, unfamiliar with the name "Isauria" or simply absent minded, took ⲑⲓⲥⲁⲩⲣⲓⲁ (<ⲧ.ϩⲓⲥⲁⲩⲣⲓⲁ "the-Isauria") for the word ⲑⲏⲥⲁⲩⲣⲓⲁ, linking it to Greco-Coptic ⲑⲏⲥⲁⲩⲣⲟⲥ "treasure". It's all the more easy since the letters ⲏ, ⲩ, and ⲓ are often used one for another in Greco-Coptic words.ⲛⲉⲩⲛ ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲇⲉ ϩⲛ ⲧⲉⲓⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲁⲛⲧⲓⲛⲟⲟⲩ ⲉⲩⲣⲙⲧⲉⲭⲱⲣⲁ ⲙⲡⲥⲁ ⲛⲃⲟⲗ ⲡⲉ ⲛⲧⲉⲑⲓⲥⲁⲩⲣⲓⲁ
There was a man in this city, Antinoe, who was a foreigner of Isauria.