Thus Wrote Onchsheshonqy: An Introductory Grammar of Demotic (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization : No. 45)

Introduction to Demotic Grammar: Demotic is the name applied to both a script and a stage in the development of the Egyptian language. The stage of the language called Demotic shows affinities with both Late Egyptian, its predecessor, and Coptic, its successor. It was presumably much closer to the spoken language, especially when it first came into use, than was the archaic "classical" language preserved in religious texts and hieroglyphic inscriptions