How old is the Armenian language. Armenian language. Local dialects in different regions

Armenian language ()- the Indo-European language is usually distinguished into a separate group, rarely combined with Greek and Phrygian. Among the Indo-European languages, it is one of the ancient written languages. The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405-406. The total number of speakers around the world is about 6.7 million people. During its long history, the Armenian language has been in contact with many languages. Being a branch of the Indo-European language, Armenian later came into contact with various Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages ​​- both living and now dead, adopting from them and bringing to our days much of what direct written evidence could not preserve. At different times, Hittite and hieroglyphic Luwian, Hurrian and Urartian, Akkadian, Aramaic and Syriac, Parthian and Persian, Georgian and Zan, Greek and Latin came into contact with the Armenian language at different times. For the history of these languages ​​and their speakers, the data of the Armenian language are in many cases of paramount importance. These data are especially important for urartologists, Iranianists, Kartvelists, who draw many facts of the history of the languages ​​they study from Armenian.

Armenian language

The Armenian language is one of the Indo-European languages, constituting a special group of this family. Number of speakers - 6.5 million. Distributed in Armenia (3 million people), USA and Russia (1 million each), France (250,000), Georgia, Iran, Syria (200,000 each), Turkey, Azerbaijan (150,000 each), Lebanon , Ukraine (100.000 each), Argentina (70.000), Uzbekistan (50.000) and other countries.
Belongs to a group Indo-European languages, among which is one of the ancient written. The history of the literary Armenian language is divided into 3 periods: ancient, middle and new. Ancient - from the 5th to the 11th centuries. The language of this period is called ancient Armenian, and the language of written monuments is called Grabar. The language of the middle period (11th-17th centuries) is called Middle Armenian. The new period (starting in the 17th century) is characterized by the formation of modern A. Ya., which already from the end of the 19th century. acquires the features of the new Armenian literary language. It is represented by eastern and western variants, breaking up into many dialects. The population of Armenia uses the eastern version - Ashkharabar.

The Armenian language began to form, in all likelihood, already in the 7th century. BC, and its Indo-European elements were layered on the language of the ancient population of Armenia, alien to it from time immemorial - the Urartians (Khalds, Alarodians), preserved in the so-called Van cuneiform.
Most scientists (cf. Prof. P. Kretschmer, "Einleitung in die Geschichte d. Griechischen Sprache", 1896) believe that this stratification was the result of an invasion of the foreign language region of Armenia by a nation that was a group that broke away from the Thracian-Phrygian branch of the Indo - European languages.
The separation of the future "Armenian" group was caused by the invasion (in the second half of the 8th century BC) of the Cimmerians into the territory occupied by the Phrygian people. This theory is based on the information conveyed by Herodotus (book VII, ch. 73) that "Armenians are a colony of Phrygians".

In the Bagistan inscription of Darius I, son of Hystaspes, both Armenians and Armenia are already mentioned as one of the regions that were part of the ancient Persian Achaemenid monarchy. The formation of the Armenian language took place through assimilation, which the languages ​​of the old population of the future Armenia underwent.
In addition to the Urartians (Khalds, Alarodians), the Armenians, with their consistent advancement in the eastern and northeastern direction, undoubtedly assimilated into a number of other nationalities. This process took place gradually over several centuries. Although Strabo (book XI, ch. 14) conveys that in his time the peoples that were part of Armenia spoke the same language (“they were monolingual”), however, one must think that in places, especially on the peripheries, native speech.

Thus, the Armenian language is a language of a mixed type, in which native non-Indo-European linguistic elements were combined with the facts of the Indo-European speech of the new colonial conquerors.
These non-Indo-European elements dominate mainly the vocabulary. They are comparatively less noticeable in grammar [cf. L. Mseriants, "On the so-called "Van" (Urartian) lexical and suffixal elements in the Armenian language.", M., 1902]. According to acad. N. Ya. Marr, the non-Indo-European part of the Armenian language, revealed under the Indo-European layer, is related to the Japhetic languages ​​(cf. Marr, "Japhetic Elements in the Language of Armenia", Publishing House of Ak. Sciences, 1911, etc. work).
As a result of linguistic mixing, the Indo-European character of the Armenian language has undergone significant modification both in grammar and in vocabulary.

About the fate of the Armenian language before the 5th century. after the RH, we have no evidence, with the exception of a few individual words (mainly proper names) that have come down in the writings of the ancient classics. Thus, we are deprived of the opportunity to trace the history of the development of the Armenian language over the millennia (from the end of the 7th century BC to the beginning of the 5th century after the Christian era). The language of the cuneiform inscriptions of the kings of Urartu or the Kingdom of Van, which was replaced by the Armenian statehood, has nothing genetically in common with the Armenian language.
We get acquainted with ancient Armenian from written monuments dating back to the first half of the 5th century BC. after the Christian era, when Mesrop-Mashtots compiled a new alphabet for the Armenian language. This ancient Armenian literary language (the so-called "grabar", that is, "written") is already integral in grammatical and lexical terms, having as its basis one of the ancient Armenian dialects, which has risen to the stage of literary speech. Perhaps this dialect was the dialect of the ancient Taron region, which played a very important role in the history of ancient Armenian culture (see L. Mseriants, "Etudes on Armenian Dialectology", part I, M., 1897, p. XII et seq.). We know almost nothing about other ancient Armenian dialects and get acquainted only with their descendants already in the new Armenian era.

Ancient Armenian literary language (" grabar") received its processing mainly thanks to the Armenian clergy. While the "grabar", having received a certain grammatical canon, was kept at a certain stage of its development, the living, folk Armenian speech continued to develop freely. In a certain era, it enters a new phase of its evolution, which is usually called the Middle Armenian.
The Middle Armenian period is clearly found in the written monuments, starting only from the 12th century. Middle Armenian for the most part served as the organ of works intended for a wider readership (poetry, works of legal, medical and agricultural content).
In the Cilician period of Armenian history, in connection with the strengthening of urban life, the development of trade with the East and West, relations with European states, the Europeanization of the political system and life, folk speech becomes an organ of writing, almost equal in rights with classical ancient Armenian.

A further step in the history of the evolution of the Armenian language. represents the New Armenian, which developed from the Middle Armenian. He received citizenship rights in literature only in the first half of the 19th century. Two new Armenian literary languages ​​are distinguished - one "Western" (Turkish Armenia and its colonies in Western Europe), another "eastern" (Armenia and its colonies in Russia, etc.). Middle and New Armenian differ significantly from Old Armenian both in grammatical and vocabulary terms. In morphology, we have a lot of new formations (for example, in the formation of the plural of names, forms of the passive voice, etc.), as well as a simplification of the formal composition in general. Syntax, in turn, has many peculiar features.

There are 6 vowels and 30 consonant phonemes in the Armenian language. The noun has 2 numbers. In some dialects traces of the dual number remain. The grammatical gender has disappeared. There is a postpositive definite article. There are 7 cases and 8 types of declension. The verb has categories of voice, aspect, person, number, mood, tense. Analytical constructions of verb forms are widespread. Morphology is predominantly agglutinative, with elements of analyticity.

Armenian sound writing, created by an Armenian bishop Mesrop Mashtots based on Greek (Byzantine) and North Aramaic writing. Initially, the alphabet consisted of 36 letters, of which 7 were vowels, and 29 were consonants. Around the 12th century, two more were added: a vowel and a consonant.
Modern Armenian writing includes 39 letters. The graphics of the Armenian writing has historically undergone significant changes - from angular to more rounded and cursive forms.
There are good reasons to believe that its backbone, dating back to the ancient Semitic script, was used in Armenia long before Mashtots, but was banned with the adoption of Christianity. Mashtots was, apparently, only the initiator of its restoration, giving it the status of a state and the author of the reform. The Armenian alphabet, along with the Georgian and Korean, is considered by many researchers to be one of the most perfect.

Essay on the history of the Armenian language.

The place of the Armenian language among other Indo-European languages ​​has been the subject of much debate; the opinion was expressed that Armenian may be a descendant of a language closely related to Phrygian (known from inscriptions found on the territory of ancient Anatolia).

The Armenian language belongs to the eastern (“Satem”) group of Indo-European languages ​​and shows some similarities with the Baltic, Slavic and Indo-Iranian languages. However, given the geographical position of Armenia, there is nothing surprising in the fact that Armenian is also close to some Western ("centum") Indo-European languages, primarily to Greek.

The Armenian language is characterized by changes in the field of consonantism, which can be illustrated by the following examples: Latin dens, Greek o-don, Armenian a-tamn "tooth"; lat. genus, Greek genos, arm. cin "birth". The promotion of stress on the penultimate syllable in the Indo-European languages ​​led to the disappearance of the stressed syllable in Armenian: the Proto-Indo-European bheret turned into ebhret, which gave ebr in Armenian.

The Armenian ethnos was formed in the 7th century. BC. in the Armenian Highlands.
There are 3 stages in the history of the Armenian written and literary language: ancient (5th-11th centuries), middle (12th-16th centuries) and new (from the 17th century). The latter is represented by 2 variants: western (with the Constantinopolitan dialect at the core) and eastern (with the Ararat dialect as the basis).
The Eastern version is the language of the indigenous population of the Republic of Armenia, located in the eastern region of historical Armenia, and part of the Armenian population of Iran. The eastern version of the literary language is multifunctional: it is the language of science, culture, all levels of education, the media, it has a rich literature.

The Western version of the literary language is common among the Armenian population of the United States, France, Italy, Syria, Lebanon and other countries, immigrants from the western part of historical Armenia (the territory of modern Turkey). In the Western version of the Armenian language, there is literature of various genres, teaching is conducted in Armenian educational institutions (Venice, Cyprus, Beirut, etc.), but it is limited in a number of areas of use, in particular in the field of natural and technical sciences, which are taught in the main languages ​​of the respective regions.

Features of phonetics and grammar of both variants are considered separately. As a result of centuries of Persian domination, many Persian words entered the Armenian language. Christianity brought with it Greek and Syriac words. In the Armenian lexicon, there is also a large proportion of Turkish elements that penetrated during the long period when Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire. There are also a few French words borrowed during the era of the Crusades.

The oldest written monuments in Armenian date back to the 5th century BC. One of the first is the translation of the Bible into the "classical" national language, which continued to exist as the language of the Armenian Church, and until the 19th century. was also the language of secular literature.

History of the development of the Armenian alphabet

The history of the creation of the Armenian alphabet is told to us, first of all, by one of the favorite students of Mashtots Koryun in his book "The Life of Mashtots" and Movses Khorenatsi in his "History of Armenia". Other historians operated on their information. We learn from them that Mashtots was from the village of Khatsekats of the Taron region, the son of a noble man named Vardan. As a child, he studied Greek literacy. Then, having arrived at the court of Arshakuni, the kings of Great Armenia, he entered the service of the royal office and was the executor of royal orders. The name Mashtots in its ancient form is referred to as Mazhdots. The well-known historian G. Alishan derives it from the root "Mazd", which, in his opinion, "should have had a sacred meaning." The root "Mazd", "Majd" can be seen in the names Aramazd and Mazhan (Maj(d)an, followed by dropping out "d"). The last name is mentioned by Khorenatsi as the name of the high priest.
It seems to us correct that A. Martirosyan’s assumption that “the name Mashtots comes, apparently, from the preferences of the priestly-pagan period of his family. It is known that after the adoption of Christianity by the Armenians, the sons of the priests were given into the service of the Christian church. Armenia - S.B.) was of priestly origin. Vardan's family could have been of the same origin, and the name Mashtots is a relic of the memory of this." It is indisputable that Mashtots was from a high class, as evidenced by his education and activities at the royal court.
Let us now listen to Koryun’s testimony: “He (Mashtots) became knowledgeable and skillful in worldly ways, and with the knowledge of military affairs he won the love of his soldiers ... And then, ... having renounced worldly aspirations, he soon joined the ranks of hermits. After some time he and his disciples went to Gavar Goghtn, where, with the assistance of the local prince, he again converted those who had departed from the true faith to the bosom of Christianity, "rescued everyone from the influence of the pagan traditions of their ancestors and the devilish worship of Satan, brought them into subjection to Christ." Thus begins his main activity. , so he entered church history as the second enlightener.To understand the motives of his educational activities, and then the motives for creating the alphabet, one must imagine the situation in which Armenia found itself at that period of its history, its external and internal atmosphere.
Armenia at that time was between the two strong powers of the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. In the 3rd century in Persia, the Arsacids were replaced by the Sassanid dynasty, which intended to carry out a religious reform. Under King Shapuh I in Persia, Zoroastrianism became the state religion, which the Sassanids wanted to impose by force on Armenia. The answer was the adoption of Christianity by the Armenian king Trdat in 301. On this occasion, A. Martirosyan accurately notes: “The conversion of Armenia to Christianity at the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 4th centuries was a response to the religious reform of Iran. Both in Iran and in Armenia they were introduced by special royal decrees, as an act of political will. In the first case, religion dictated aggression, in the second resistance".
In 387 Armenia was divided between Byzantium and Persia. The Armenian people did not want to put up with such a situation. The Armenian Arshakid dynasty sought to restore the integrity of their kingdom. At that time, only the church was her ally, since the nakhararstvo, being strong separately, led internecine hostility. Thus, the church was the force that could, becoming an intermediary between the nakharars, raise the people.
At this time, the idea of ​​the nationalization of Christianity was born. After all, Christianity, which came to Armenia from Mesopotamia under the conditions of Hellenism, was in an alien language and was incomprehensible to the people. There was a need for national Christian literature in the native language, so that it would be understandable to the people. If for a whole century after the adoption of Christianity, the church did not need a national script due to its cosmopolitan nature, then in the new conditions, after the partition of the country, the role of the church changed. At this time, she sought to nationalize in order to become a consolidating core in society. It was at this time that the need for national writing arose.

Thus, the political situation of Armenia forced Mashtots to leave the service at court and become a hermit. He commissioned essays against Zoroastrianism to one of the prominent people of his time, Fyodor Momsuetsky. At the same time, he goes to the region of Gokhtn, located in the immediate vicinity of Persia and, therefore, more subject to its influence. In this regard, A. Martirosyan in his book comes to the following conclusion: "Mashtots leaves the court not out of disappointment, but with a very definite intention - to organize resistance against the growing Persian influence, the strengthening of Zoroastrianism in the part of divided Armenia that came under Persian rule" - and further concludes: "Thus, although Mashtots began his preaching activity for the sake of spreading Christianity, however, even with the clear intention of fighting against Zoroastrianism, Christianity had already taken root in Armenia and existed as a state religion for a century, so there seemed to be no special need to preach Christianity. - if not for this question.
Christianity had to be given a special direction, to arouse it against Zoroastrianism, the doctrine, the bearer of which was a hostile Persian state. Religious teaching turned into a weapon. "Having seething energy, Mashtots saw that his efforts in preaching did not give the result he would like. An additional means of struggle was needed. This tool should have been national literature. According to Koryun, after a mission to Goghtn Mashtots "thought to take even more care of the consolation of the whole country, and therefore multiplied his uninterrupted prayers, with outstretched hands (offering) prayers to God, shed tears, remembering the words of the apostle, and anxiously said: "Great for me is sorrow and unceasing torment to my heart for my brothers and relatives..."

So, besieged by sad worries, as if in a network of thoughts, he was in the abyss of reflections on how to find a way out of a difficult situation. It was at this time, apparently, that Mashtots had the idea of ​​creating an alphabet. He shares his thoughts with Patriarch Sahak the Great, who approved his idea and expressed readiness to help in this matter.
It was decided to convene a council so that the higher clergy would approve the idea of ​​creating a national alphabet. Koryun states: "For a long time they were engaged in inquiries and searches and suffered many difficulties, then they announced the incessant search for their Armenian king Vramshapuh." The king, who was previously outside the country, upon his return to Armenia, finds Sahak the Great and Mashtots, together with the bishops, who are concerned about finding the Armenian alphabet. Then the king told the audience that while in Mesopotamia, he learned from the priest Abel a certain Syrian bishop Daniel, who has Armenian letters. This Daniel, as if, unexpectedly found the forgotten old letters of the Armenian alphabet. Having heard this message, they asked the king to send a messenger to Daniel so that he would bring them these letters, which was done.
Having received the desired letters from the messenger, the king, together with the Catholicos Sahak and Mashtots, were very happy. Youths were gathered from all places to learn new scripts. After their training, the king ordered that they be taught everywhere with the same scripts.
Koryun narrates "For about two years, Mashtots taught and taught these letters. But ... it turned out that these letters are not enough to express all the sounds of the Armenian language." After that, these letters are discarded.
Such is the history of the so-called Daniel writings, which, unfortunately, have not been preserved in the annals and therefore cause a lot of misunderstandings among scientists. First, the dispute is about the meaning of the phrase "suddenly found." Whether these were really "forgotten Armenian letters" or he confused them with Aramaic (in writing, the word Armenian and Aramaic in Syriac are written almost the same). R. Acharyan believes that it could be an ancient Aramaic letter, which was no longer used in the 4th-5th centuries. These are all assumptions that do not clear the picture. The very interesting hypothesis about Daniil's writings by S. Muravyov, which will be discussed later, did not clarify the picture either.

Let's leave Daniel's letters, to which we will return later, and follow the further actions of Mashtots. Movses Khorenatsi narrates that "Following this, Mesrop personally goes to Mesopotamia, accompanied by his disciples, to the aforementioned Daniel, and, not finding anything else from him," decides to deal with this problem on his own. To this end, he, being in one of the cultural centers - in Edessa, visits the Edessa Library, where, apparently, there were ancient sources about writings, about their construction principles (this idea seems convincing, since in principle, proposed for trial readers, the most ancient view on writings is seen). After searching for the necessary principle and graphics for a certain time, Mashtots finally achieves the goal of inventing the alphabet of the Armenian language, and, adhering to the ancient secret principles of creating alphabets, he improved them. As a result, he got an original, perfect alphabet, both in terms of graphics and in terms of phonetics, which is recognized by many famous scientists. Even time could not significantly affect him.

The very act of creation of the Khorenatsi alphabet by Mashtots in his "History" describes as follows: "And sees (Mesrop) not a vision in a dream and a dream while awake, but in his heart, with pre-spiritual eyes, presented to him the right hand, writing, on a stone, for the stone kept the inscriptions, like footprints in the snow. And not only (this) appeared to him, but all the circumstances gathered in his mind, as in a certain vessel. Here is an amazing description of Mashtots' moment of insight (it is known that insight accompanies creative discovery, which occurs at the moment of the highest tension of the mind). It is similar to cases known in science. This is a description of a creative discovery that occurs at the moment of the highest tension of the mind through illumination, similar to cases known in science, although many researchers interpreted it as a direct divine suggestion to Mesrop. A striking example for comparison is the discovery of the periodic system of elements by Mendeleev in a dream. From this example, the meaning of the word "vessel" in Khorenatsi becomes clear - it is a system in which all the letters of the Mesropian alphabet are collected.
In this regard, it is necessary to emphasize one important idea: if Mashtots made a discovery (and there is no doubt about it) and the whole table with letters appeared before him, then, as in the case of the Mendeleev table, there must be a principle linking all the letters in logical system. After all, a set of incoherent signs, firstly, cannot be opened, and, secondly, does not require a long search.
And further. This principle, no matter how individual, subjective it may be, must correspond to the principles of constructing ancient alphabets and, therefore, reflect the objective evolution of writing in general and alphabets in particular. This is what some researchers did not take into account when they argued that the main merit of Mashtots is that he revealed all the sounds of the Armenian language, and the graphics, signs do not matter. A. Martirosyan even cites a case when the Dutch scientist Grott suggested that a nine-year-old girl come up with a new letter, which she did in three minutes. It is clear that in this case there was a set of random signs. Most people can accomplish this task in less time. If from the point of view of philology such a statement is true, then from the point of view of the history of written culture it is erroneous.

So, Mashtots, according to Koryun, created the Armenian alphabet in Edessa, ordering and giving names to the letters. Upon completion of his main mission in Edessa, he went to another Syrian city of Samosat, where he had previously sent some of his students to master the Greek sciences. Koryun reports the following about Mashtots's stay in Samosat: "Then ... he went to the city of Samosat, where he was received with honors by the bishop of the city and the church. There, in the same city, he found a certain Greek calligrapher named Ropanos, with the help of whom designed and finally outlined all the differences in letters (letters) - thin and bold, short and long, separate and double - and began translations together with two husbands, his disciples ... They began translating the Bible with the parable of Solomon, where at the very beginning he (Solomon) offers to know wisdom."
From this story, the purpose of visiting Samosat becomes clear - the newly created letters had to be given a beautiful look in accordance with all the rules of calligraphy. From the same story it is known that the first sentence written in the newly created alphabet was the opening sentence of the book of parables: "Know wisdom and instruction, understand sayings." Having finished his business in Samosat, Mashtots sets off with his students on the way back.

At home, he was greeted with great joy and enthusiasm. According to Koryun, when the news of the return of Mashtots with new letters reached the king and the Catholicos, they, accompanied by many noble nakharars, left the city, met the blessed one on the banks of the Rakh (Araks - S.B.). "In the capital - Vagharshapat, this is joyful the event was solemnly celebrated.
Immediately after returning to his homeland, Mashtots launched a vigorous activity. Schools were founded with teaching in the Armenian language, where young men from various regions of Armenia were accepted. Mashtots and Sahak the Great set to work on translation, which required great efforts, given that fundamental books of theology and philosophy were being translated.
At the same time, Mashtots continued his preaching activities in various regions of the country. So, with great energy, he continued to work in three directions for the rest of his life.
This is a brief history of the creation of the Armenian alphabet.

Moscow State Institute foreign languages them. Maurice Teresa

Translation faculty

Subject: Introduction to linguistics

Armenian Language Group

1st year student

Akhverdyan M.A.

Moscow 2003

I. The first written record of the Armenian language 2500 years before Mesrop Mashtots

1) Armenian language in the inscriptions of the 3rd - 1st millennium BC. e.

2) Armenian language in the Cretan inscriptions of the 3rd–2nd millennium BC

3) Armenian language in Etruscan inscriptions of the 1st millennium BC.

4) Armenian language and the Hurrian-Urartian group of the Indo-European family

II . Armenian language

III . From the history of the Armenian language

IV . Modern Armenian language

v. Vahan Teryan's poem

THE FIRST WRITTEN RECORDATION OF THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE 2500 YEARS BEFORE MESROP MASHTOTS

Armenian language in the inscriptions of the 3rd - 1st millennium BC. e.

Armenian language as an ancient phenomenon

Speaking in 1923 (“Armenian culture, its roots and prehistoric connections according to linguistics”) to the Parisian Armenian Student Union, Academician N. Ya. and the most powerful force of culture and progress, love for one and the same subject, for the Armenian people. "... Preserving an inexhaustible treasury and creative environment, the Armenian language undoubtedly has the richest vocabulary, an unlimited choice of words." According to Marr, through the language “the Armenian people are connected with the closest ties not only with the various Japhetic tribes now scattered, with modern peoples that have survived to us from antiquity, but also with all cultural humanity, with the root layer of the Mediterranean humanity of Europe since the days of the emergence of the human word.” “But how many, how many millennia should we measure the period of time during which the Armenian complex type of language was formed ..?”. Throughout its long history, “the Armenian people, not only one of the eldest heirs of the Japhetic epic, but also the eldest of all the others, was the heir of a cultural tradition coming from a universal source, was a faithful guardian of its integrity, a grower and sower in the East and West.” Concluding the lecture, Marr talks about “what fabulous horizons are opened by the exceptional linguistic riches of this amazing people ... and what amazing materials he transmits to expose the cultural ties and roots of his own and other peoples.”

It was no coincidence that we started talking about the Armenian language by quoting N.Ya. Marr, a man who has exceptional services to Armenian studies. His "Grammar of the Old Armenian Language" (1903) became "a midwife at the birth of Armenian studies." Of the 213 publications of N. Ya. Marr in 1888-1915, more than 100 are specially devoted to the language and culture of the Armenians. So you can see on what material the linguistic talent of the scientist grew.

The Armenian language occupies a special place in Indo-European family. Its material is very important for elucidating the genesis and spread of Indo-European dialects, ancient phonetic phenomena, etc. Indicative in this regard was the linguistic discussion on the problem of the origin of the Armenian language and its individual phenomena, on the pages of the journal “Problems of Linguistics”.

An indicator of the importance of the Armenian language for broad and deep comparative historical studies was the numerous appeals of the participants in the discussion to the whole range of problems of Indo-European studies, including the problem of pre-Indo-European substrates. “Disputes and discussions on various genetic problems of the Armenian language have gone beyond the boundaries of Armenian linguistics proper in their constructiveness and have acquired exclusively great importance for Indo-European studies in general.

Armenian language in Cretan inscriptions of the 3rd–2nd millennium BC .

Implemented by us in 1997-2001. intensive studies of ancient Cretan writings have shown that the hieroglyphics of the island of Crete (XXII - XVII centuries BC), Cretan Linear A (XX - XV centuries BC) and the Phaistos disc (traditional dating - XVII century BC .) fix the Greek language 1), and the so-called Eteocretan inscriptions in Greek letters, which are not readable in Greek (VI-IV centuries BC), are Paleo-Balkan (Greek-Thraco-Phrygian) 2) .

Researchers note the proximity of the Armenian language to Greek 3) , pointing out that the Greek-Armenian parallels of Indo-European origin are very archaic and date back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. 4), that is, to the era of the studied Cretan inscriptions.

The presence in the language of ancient Cretan writings of expressive Paleo-Balkan (Macedonian-Thraco-Phrygian) features that are different from the classical Greek language, the impossibility of explaining all the linguistic facts recorded by these writings only Greek allow for the interpretation of the inscriptions to involve the Armenian language, which exhibits numerous paleo-Balkan features. We are talking about the closeness of the Armenian language to the Phrygian 5) , Thracian 6) and the pre-Greek Indo-European substrate - the so-called Pelasgian language. “... The closeness of individual dialects of the pre-Greek language to Armenian becomes more and more obvious when compared in more detail. This conspicuous closeness is manifested not only in the sound composition, but also in the material identity of inflections, not to mention their functional identity. Academician N. Marr 8) wrote about the Pelasgian layer of the Greek and Armenian languages ​​(although he considered the Pelasgians to be carriers of the pre-Indo-European language).

Among the possible pre-Greek-Armenian parallels, one of the most striking is pre-Greek. asp-is"snake", asp-al-os"fish" - Armenians. visap"dragon fish". Pre-Greek-Armenian parallels also apply to public life (pre-Greek. koiranos, Macedonian. Korannos"ruler" - Armenians. Karan"prince"), and religious and mythological ideas (pre-Greek. space"universe" - Armenians. kazm, pre-greek ouranos"sky" - Armenians. Veran"tent" 9)). Proto-Armenian dialects, as evidenced by linguistic correspondences, were both genetically and territorially close to the Greek and Pelasgian-Paleobalkan dialects.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the names of the letters in Greek and Armenian are common: Greek. grapho"writing", gramma"letter", grapheys, gropheys"scribe" - Armenians. grabar"letter", groh"scribe". In other Indo-European languages, this root conveys more archaic concepts that are not directly related to writing (Ukr. lot, German kerben and etc.). So, the speakers of Proto-Greek and Proto-Armenian dialects apparently had a common written tradition. Its traces must be sought in Crete (and also, possibly, in the Urartian hieroglyphs; one must also take into account the assumption of V.V. Ivanov: the Asia Minor hieroglyphics in antiquity could fix not only the Luvian, but also the Hurrian language, related to the Armenian). Information about the use of non-alphabetic writing in the past can be obtained not only by comparing the Greek and Armenian terms of writing with related Indo-European words, but also from the Greek itself: graphitetechne-"painting" (cf. modern usage of the word graphics regarding both writing and drawing).

The application of Armenian data to the analysis of Cretan inscriptions yields a very important positive result. Yes, syllabary da-ku on the Cretan ax from Selakonos 10) can be confidently interpreted as Armenian daku"axe" (cognate with the Greek verb thego, thago"to sharpen, sharpen").

Name of the Cretan capital Knos(s)os comes from Greek gno(s)tos"famous" (which is confirmed by the homonyms used to designate this name in Cretan hieroglyphics). However, in Linear A, the name of this city has the form ka-nu-ti, which is explained only in connection with the Armenian language, where we have canaut c"familiar" (cognate with Greek gno(s)tos).

Cretan inscription in Linear A from Knossos, which begins with a group of characters a-ka-nu-we-ti(PopeM. TheLinearAQuestion // Antiquity. - Vol. XXXII. - N 126. - June 1958. - P. 99), fixes the same Armenian language form canaut c.

Finally, in the Cretan hieroglyphics of the late III - early II millennium BC. e. (on the so-called eight-sided seal) to record the name of Knossos, in particular, the image of a shell ( gonthos), which once again testifies to the closeness of the sound of the name of the Cretan capital (the meaning of this name - "famous, famous" - is known and confirmed by the meanings of the names of other Cretan cities - Festus "bright", Kydonia "glorious") exactly to the Armenian word.

The above means that Cretan Linear A (XX-XV centuries BC) and even Cretan hieroglyphics (XXII-XVII centuries BC) fix, along with Greek language forms, those forms that can be explained only in the Armenian language. . So, the proto-Armenian language forms were recorded in Cretan inscriptions already at the end of the third millennium BC. e.

Armenian language in Etruscan inscriptions of the 1st millennium BC

Mysterious inscriptions in the Etruscan language (7th-1st centuries BC) have always aroused great interest. Now we can confidently assert that this is an Indo-European language, with material and typological parallels in the Hitto-Luvian, Greek and other Paleo-Balkan, Latin and other Italic languages ​​(studies by B. Grozny, V. Georgiev, A. I. Harsekin and others, including part of the author of these lines, we have also identified Etruscan-Iranian parallels).

1. Armenian is the only living language from the Paleo-Balkan language family(besides Armenian, it includes the dead Phrygian, Thracian, Illyrian, Dacian and Paeonian). Related to French, Lithuanian, Russian and English. And you can't say right now...

2. Classical (written general literary) Armenian language emerged (was codified) in the fifth century AD.

3. But there are theories that the writing of the Armenians existed before (at least if one of the ancient Armenian rulers wrote in ancient Greek, and also if the Aramaic language was in use at the Armenian court for some time).

4. Modern Armenian is divided into two main dialects: eastern (actually in Armenia) and western (the language of the Armenian diaspora outside the country). There will be facts mainly about modern Eastern Armenian (but not only).

5. The Western Armenian dialect is closest to the Armenian of the Cilician principality (11-14 centuries), where, along with Latin and French, it was one of the official languages.

6. Even Middle Armenian was a language of an inflectional-agglutinative type (that is, similar in grammatical type into the same modern Russian and Lithuanian), and modern Armenian is an agglutinative-analytical language.

7. Unlike modern Armenian, in Old Armenian the demonstrative pronoun and the qualitative adjective agreed in number and case with the noun they describe.

8. According to the rules of agreement, in ancient Armenian the numeral also agreed in the number, and therefore the numeral 1 could only be used in the singular; numerals from 2 to 5 inclusive - only in the plural. Starting from 6 inclusive, it was possible to choose between singular and plural the number of the numeral.

9. The category of grammatical gender did not yet exist in ancient Armenian. In modern Armenian, a special suffix is ​​used to designate the feminine form in words like "Armenian", "Russian".

10. There is also a special word of collective meaning, corresponding to the concepts of "all Armenians", "Armenianism".

11. The types and number of cases are the same in both ancient and modern Armenian, but their number in modern Armenian is inaccurate, according to various estimates - from six (if we combine the nominative and accusative cases into the direct case, and the dative - with the genitive) to seven ( the same six Russian cases known to us with the local instead of the prepositional - in modern Russian they usually coincide - plus the deferred/separative case).

12. There were three forms in ancient Armenian imperative mood: prohibitive, indicative and pleading.

13. The alphabet of classical Armenian created in the fifth century is called "Erkataghir", literally translated - "steel alphabet", "iron alphabet".

14. The Armenian language uses its own system of punctuation marks, more exotic than, for example, mirror-inverted Arabic punctuation marks or double exclamations and interrogatives in Spanish. Of these, only one of the options for a comma, quotation marks and dashes coincides with those familiar to us. Against this background, even the designation "y" with a ligature does not seem so unusual.

15. Yes, yes, exactly “one of the options”, because in the Armenian language there are actually three different options for a comma.

16. And question or exclamation marks are placed above the vowel in the word on which the emotional stress falls.

17. There are two letters (and sounds) in the Armenian language r, because these are different sounds: “rolling”, similar to the deaf Spanish or Russian er, and “melodious”, as in English or Sanskrit.

18. All forms of the present tense in Eastern Armenian are formed by the combination of the infinitive and the auxiliary verb "to be".

19. Moreover, all infinitives have the same indicator: -l. How native Armenian speakers manage to use Russian verbs correctly is still a mystery to me.

20. Both in modern and in ancient Armenian there are two main types of declension: "internal" and "external".

21. But at the same time, the words "love" (sir) and "girl" (ahjik) refer to a special declension. Yes, that's right, just those two words.

22. Previously, Armenian numbers were denoted by letters, while theoretically they could be written in any sequence (really, what difference does it make how to write the number 111 if different signs are used for 100, 10 and 1 - almost like in ancient Egyptian?). But it is customary to write down all the same in descending order.

23. Now, oddly enough, the "Arabic" familiar to us is used - except for those cases when most languages ​​use Roman (Peter I and Charles XII, etc.), and also in some other cases.

24. The post-positive definite article and the present tense singular linking verb of the third person are the same in pronunciation and spelling (“e”). However, the Armenian article deserves special attention.

25. The Armenian article is so Armenian that it is used with personal names, and not only in phrases like Peter the Great.

26. At the same time, the Armenian article is so Armenian that it can convey the category of a person.

27. The syntactic branching of the Armenian language is opposite to that in Russian, at least with a syntagma, but with a relatively free word order, the presence of SOV prevails in the sentence (this is when "the hand washes the hand" and not "the hand washes the hand" or "the hand washes the hand ").

29. The verb has an indicative, subjunctive, obligatory (English) and imperative mood.

30. As well as a special form in cases where the infinitive is used in Russian and most other Indo-European languages ​​(like the constructions "I want to know", "we can say" and so on).

31. The Armenian language coincides with Turkish not only in the presence of an obligatory mood (used to ask, insist, encourage (sya), wish, express consequences, and so on), but also the future participle.

32. Based on the results of the 2015 MIT research, the Armenian language was included in the fifty most influential world languages ​​(forty-eighth place).

On the KDPV: the Armenian word written in Armenian is "deer" ("ekhzheru").

Very few of the existing nations can, like the Armenians, consider themselves to be the "original" people. The beautiful biblical story about the amazing salvation of Noah on the peak of Mount Ararat is the basis of the theory of the formation of the Armenian nation. According to biblical tradition, one of the great-great-grandchildren of Noah Hayk received the territory of today's Armenia as an inheritance. He founded the family of the first rulers - the Gaikids.

The evolution of the Armenian language went parallel to the course of the birth and formation of the people themselves. The ancestors of the Armenians are considered to be the inhabitants of the north-east of Asia Minor. In the written evidence of the Hittites, dating back to the 17th-16th centuries. BC, this area was called Armatana.

The Armenian language dates back to the 7th century BC. Indo-European fragments were superimposed on the linguistic elements of the ancient inhabitants of modern Armenia - the Urartians. A number of scientific works contain the theory that such layering was the result of the intervention of an invading group that spoke the Thracian-Phrygian variation of the Indo-European languages. Later, the Cimmerians entered the territory, which also had its consequences for the creation of vocabulary.

In the VI century BC. Armenia is designated in the historical chronicles as a component of the ancient Persian monarchy. Subsequently, during the displacement to the east, the Armenians assimilated with other nationalities. As a result of linguistic mixing, the Indo-European mannerism of the Armenian has significantly changed its grammatical and lexical canons. Therefore, Armenian cannot be unambiguously attributed to a certain ancient language group. It is completely different from Greek or Persian.

Linguists who study this language have revealed that initially Armenian was divided into Western and Eastern. The first was used by the Armenians living in Turkey, and the second was used on the territory of Armenia and by the Armenians who were in Russia. Variations of languages ​​did not differ very significantly, but had some nuances. Over time, the words of both dialects were distorted and intertwined.

In the 5th century AD Mesrop Mashtots developed the Armenian alphabet, the formation of which was not the usual repetition of the existing graphic styles. Mashtots carried out deep scientific research. His students traveled to various countries, having the task of studying foreign phonetics, sound structure and corresponding alphabetic graphics. Based on the results of these lengthy linguistic studies, the obtained materials were processed, on the basis of which the original Armenian alphabet was born. At first, the alphabet contained 36 letters (7 were vowels and 29 were consonants). Two more were added in the 12th century. The way of writing has changed significantly over time - from an angular style they switched to rounded shapes, which are written much faster.

From this period, the entry of the national language into all spheres of life begins. Children are taught to read and write, the alphabet - they are forced to calligraphically display each letter. Church ministers, pundits and writers create their works in the Armenian language, extolling and praising it. Gradually, the Armenian language confidently entered the daily life of people.

The first book in Armenian appeared in the 16th century. With the development of book printing, the progress of Armenian literature became more active. Everywhere where the Armenians lived, a printing house was opened. Until the end of the 18th century, more than a thousand titles of books were published. Many masterpieces of ancient literature have reached contemporaries exclusively translated into Armenian. According to experts, the works of Aristotle and Plato, translated into Armenian, are most similar to the original source.

Armenians one of the oldest peoples in the world. At the same time, the question of their origin is still considered controversial in the scientific community. And non-scientific versions are one more exotic than the other!

For example, from bible it follows that the Armenians trace their ancestry from Japheth- one of the sons But I. By the way, "Old Testament genealogy" links Armenians with Jews who also consider themselves descendants of the only righteous man on earth. Until the 19th century, the Armenian historiographers themselves had a popular theory, according to which the ancestors of the people had a certain Hayk- a titan who won a fierce battle Bela, one of the tyrants Mesopotamia. Ancient sources claim that the beginning of the Armenian original civilization was laid by one of the participants in the famous mythological expedition of the Argonauts Armenos of Thessaly. And some scientists believe that the roots of the Armenians go back to the Middle Eastern state. Urartu.

From the point of view of modern ethnography, the most probable theory seems to be that the proto-Armenian people formed around the 6th century BC on the basis of several Indo-European And Middle Eastern tribes (among which there are Phrygians, Hurrians, Urartians And Luwians).

Armenian language like nothing else

Scientists had to rack their brains about Armenian language: all attempts by linguists to attribute it to any language group did not bring results, and then it was simply allocated to a separate group Indo-European language family.

Even the alphabet, invented in the 4th century AD by the translator Mesrop Mashtots, is unlike any of those known to us today - it traces the alphabetic nuances of ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome.

By the way, among many other ancient languages ​​that became "dead" over time (Latin, Ancient Greek), ancient Armenian is still alive - it is not so difficult to read and understand the meaning of old texts, knowing the modern language. This helps scientists easily disassemble ancient manuscripts.

A curious feature of the Armenian language is the absence of the category of grammatical gender in it - both "he", and "she", and "it" are denoted by one word.

Armenians in Russia

Despite the fact that there are at least 14 million Armenians in the world today, only 3 million of them live directly in the state of Armenia.

Among the main countries of settlement are Russia, France, the USA, Iran and Georgia. Some of the assimilated Armenians live even in Turkey, despite the Armenian genocide that took place more than a hundred years ago in this country.

In Russia, according to the chronicles, the Armenians first appear in the 9th century AD, in Moscow - since 1390. In Russia, the Armenians were mainly engaged in crafts and trade, linking their new homeland with the countries of the East through international merchant relations.

Interestingly, after their expulsion from Crimean peninsula Empress Catherine II, Armenians in Russia even founded their own special city - Nakhichevan-on-Don, which only in 1928 became part of the expanded Rostov-on-Don.

Cultural and holiday traditions of Armenians

Armenia is considered one of the first countries, and many argue that the very first, which officially, at the state level, adopted Christianity: during the reign of King Trdat III, in 301. A hundred years later, the Bible was translated into Armenian, and another hundred years later, the Armenian Apostolic Church actually separated its cultural religious tradition from Byzantine dogma. The autocephaly (that is, independence) of the Armenian Church laid the foundation for popular ideas about the chosenness of the entire people of Armenians.

However, like the Russians, despite such an ancient initiation into the religious Christian tradition, echoes of the pagan heritage are preserved in the life of many Armenians.

Armenian "brothers" Shrovetide, Palm Sunday And Ivan Kupala Day - Terendez(winter wire holiday), Tsarzardar(on this day, in honor of spring, people go to church with willow branches) and Vardavar(celebrations of water pouring in August).

A very important place in traditional rites is still occupied by a wedding: nationally unique even among the most " Russified"Armenians.

In the preparatory period, young people choose a matchmaker ( midjnord kin), whose duties include persuading the girl's parents to marry. Only after that, relatives of the future husband (matchmakers) come to the bride to get acquainted, while, according to the ritual, they have to persuade the bride and her parents twice. After observing these ceremonies, the time comes betrothal.

The engagement itself turns into a mini-holiday: on a certain day, relatives of two families gather at the groom's house, with luxurious jewelry gifts for the young woman. After a short but plentiful feast, the guests go to the house of the parents of the future wife, where, immediately after the performance of the ritual dance of the bride "Uzundara", the ritual "taking away" of the beloved away from the father's house by the groom takes place.

But all this is just a hint to the fairy tale itself, to the very triumph that strikes even the most developed imagination. On the appointed day (preferably in autumn or early winter), a huge number of guests, including honorary ones, gather in the groom's house. The ceremony is hosted by makarapet, a man whom all those gathered during the evening obey unquestioningly. And under his leadership, dances, songs and exciting wedding competitions do not stop for a minute. By the way, the more musicians there are at the wedding, the more fun the holiday will be and the happier the life of the young will be!

Helps fun and the skill of winemaking - another traditional art of this people. Excellent wine, Armenians believe, their ancestors have been making since the time of Noah himself, and since the 19th century, winemakers have added famous armenian cognac.

However, there are practically no drunks at weddings: Armenians not only love to drink, but also know how.