Spoken by about 6.7 million people, mainly in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (actually an unrecognized independent republic in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Transcaucasia). In addition, carriers Armenian language live in many other countries, including Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. The Armenian equivalent of the language name is Hayren. Many words in the Armenian language come from similar words Old Persian language, indicating their common Indo-European origin.
The Armenian language is the official language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and also has the status of an official ethnic minority language in Cyprus, Poland and Romania. Until the early 1990s. Education in schools in Armenia was conducted in Armenian and , but after the collapse of the USSR, Armenian became the main language of instruction, and Russian-language schools were closed. In 2010, education in Russian was resumed in Armenia.
A Brief History of the Armenian Language
Little is known about the Armenian language before it first appeared in in writing in V century. However, mentions of the Armenian people were found in records dating back to the 6th century. BC e.
The type of Armenian language that was used in spoken and writing in the 5th century, is called the classical Armenian language, or գրաբար ( grabar- “written”). It contains many loanwords from the Parthian language, as well as Greek, Syriac, Latin, Urartian and other languages. Grabar was used as a literary language until late XIX V.
The Armenian language, which was used between the 11th and 15th centuries, is called Middle Armenian, or միջինհայերեն (mijinhayeren), and contains many loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Latin.
The two main modern forms of the Armenian language emerged during the 19th century, when the territory of Armenia was divided between the Russian and Ottoman empires. The Western version of the Armenian language was used by the Armenians who moved to Constantinople, and the Eastern version of the Armenian language was spoken by the Armenians living in Tbilisi (Georgia). Both dialects were used in newspapers and for teaching in schools. As a result of this, the level of literacy increased, and in literature the modern Armenian language began to be used more often than the classical one.
Armenian alphabet
At the end of the 4th century. King Vramshapuh of Armenia asked Mesrop Mashtots, an outstanding scientist, to create a new alphabet for the Armenian language. Before this, the “cuneiform script” was used to write in the Armenian language, which, according to the Armenian clergy, was not suitable for writing works on religion.
Mashtots went to Alexandria, where he studied the basics of writing and came to the conclusion that the Greek alphabet was the best at that time, since it had an almost one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters. He used the Greek alphabet as a model for a new alphabet and showed it to the king in 405 when he returned to Armenia. New alphabet received recognition and was published in 405 new translation Bibles in Armenian. Soon after, other literary works appeared.
There are two commonly accepted forms of the Armenian language: Eastern Armenian, which is used primarily in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia and Iran; and Western Armenian, spoken by the Armenian diaspora in many countries. They are more or less similar to each other.
Peculiarities:
- Writing type: alphabet
- Writing direction: left to right, horizontal
- In the main dialects of the Armenian language (Western and Eastern) there is a slight difference in the pronunciation of letters
- Most letters also have a numerical value
- How many letters are in the Armenian alphabet: initially the alphabet consisted of 36 letters, and in the 12th century two more letters Օ and Ֆ were added
Russian-speaking tourists traveling in Armenia easily manage to communicate with local residents without Russian-Armenian phrasebook. Armenians themselves are very friendly and friendly people who are ready to help any foreigner, but they have a particularly warm attitude towards Russians. After all, Russia has been a reliable patron and ally of Armenia for two centuries, and once saved the Armenians from total destruction.
However, when going to Armenia, it is better to learn a few of the most common Armenian expressions or at least use a Russian-Armenian phrasebook. This way, the traveler will not only make his life easier, but will also win the sympathy of the Armenians, because most of them are sensitive to their language. He helped this small Christian country maintain its internal integrity, culture and faith.
The history of Armenia is a history of incessant trials and attacks by powerful neighbors who sought to conquer, divide into parts and dissolve the proud Armenians. But mutual language, along with the Christian faith, became a stronghold that allowed the Armenians to survive all the hardships and disasters, remaining a single unique people.
General information
Armenian is the native language of 6.5 million Armenians. Approximately 3 million of them live in Armenia, one million each in Russian Federation and the USA, another one and a half million are scattered around the world. The largest diasporas are in Georgia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Syria, Ukraine, and Argentina. Armenians truly love their language; for them it is an indicator of national kinship. Therefore, in any diaspora, learning the Armenian language is considered mandatory.
Armenian belongs to the eastern group of the large family of Indo-European languages, which includes about 140 of them. More than two billion earthlings speak these languages. Armenian is considered one of the oldest written languages, and the history of Armenian writing dates back to the beginning of the 4th century. Armenia has always been surrounded by many foreign-language neighbors, so the language of the Armenians contains words from Urartian, Aramaic, Persian, Georgian, Syriac, Latin, Greek and other languages.
Variations
There are two main dialects of the Armenian language:
- West. The language of foreign diasporas and some Russian Armenian settlements in Crimea and the Rostov region. This is the language of the Armenians who fled the Turkish genocide or left for a better life in distant countries.
- Oriental. The literary and official language of the Armenian Republic, most books, newspapers and official documents are published in it. It is also spoken in the Russian diaspora. It is the eastern dialect that, as a rule, is taught by self-teachers of the Armenian language.
There is no significant difference between the dialects. Western just borrowed more foreign words. Grammar and phonetics remained common. Therefore, Armenians easily understand each other anywhere in the world.
History of the Armenian language: main stages
Experts divide the history of the development of the Armenian spoken language into four large periods:
- colloquial before the advent of writing, approximately 7th century BC. - 5th century AD
- the ancient language of the Armenians (the appearance of writing), 5th - 11th centuries;
- middle, 11th - 17th centuries;
- new, from the 17th century to the present day.
The emergence of language
There is no exact information about the date of the appearance of a single language among the ancient Armenians. The most stable version claims that around the 7th century BC, the ancestors of modern Armenians came from the west and settled on the Armenian Highlands, where at that time the Urartian kingdom was located, which, in fact, was a union of multilingual tribes.
The ancient Armenians carefully preserved their Indo-European language, which largely allowed them to create in the 4th century BC. e. own Ancient Armenian kingdom on the foundation of the Urartian state. However, soon the young Armenian kingdom was conquered first by the Persians, and then by the Hellenistic Seleucid state, which was formed after conquests Macedonian.
Only the fall of the Seleucid kingdom under the blows of the Roman Empire of Armenia in 189 BC. e. regained independence. Artashes the First became king, he began a great monarchical dynasty and united the lands in which they spoke the same language. It was the Armenian language that became link for the nascent state. For two centuries, Armenia flourished and developed, which was noted in the Greek chronicles.
But at the beginning of the new millennium, the young and rich kingdom again became desired goal for stronger states: the Persians and the Roman Empire. Armenia supported the Romans in all conflicts, but this did not save it. At the end of the 4th century, the Persians and Romans divided the ancient Armenian kingdom into two parts, depriving it of independence, and in 428, Armenia, betrayed by its Roman allies, ceased to exist altogether.
History of the Armenian alphabet
The Armenians were the first to adopt Christianity in the region, in 301, making new religion state It was the Christian faith and language that became salvation for a small people in difficult times. The emergence of writing was a huge help for the preservation of national Armenian unity and culture.
The lion's share The credit for this lies with the Armenian clergy and the Italian Mesrop Mashtots, who began his activities in Armenia as a simple Christian preacher and ended life path in 440 as the founder of Armenian writing. Mashtots and the higher clergy understood perfectly well that the spread and strengthening of Christianity in Armenia vitally needed the emergence of a national written language. A state that had lost its independence, divided between pagan Rome and the Persians, who professed Zoroastrianism, could also lose its faith.
A church council headed by Catholicos Sahak entrusted Mashtots with the creation of Armenian writing. At first, he decided to use the ancient “Daniel letters” for the alphabet, but this attempt was unsuccessful, since the alphabet could not accommodate all the phonetic diversity of the Armenian language. Mashtots and his assistants tried many language systems and alphabets, until he created in 406 the first Armenian alphabet that met the phonetic requirements of the language.
Church books were the first to be copied into Armenian, then came the turn of philosophical and historical works. Armenian writing is one of the oldest, with more than 25,000 handwritten Armenian books and manuscripts preserved, written between the 5th and 17th centuries. Book printing in Armenian began in 1512; by 1800, 1154 books were published.
Ancient literary language: 5th - 11th centuries
Thanks to the clergy, the norms of the ancient literary language quickly took hold among the Armenians, which was very timely. In the 7th century, the rapid march of the young and aggressive Islamic religion began around the world. Wave after wave on Armenian Highlands devastating Arab invasions rolled in. In the mid-7th century, Armenians became subjects of the Arab Caliphate.
Armenia was fragmented into principalities, uprisings against Arab rule constantly broke out, the princes either flirted with the Caliphate or fought against it. Among other princely houses, the house of the Bagratids stood out, which in 744 was able to take power in Armenia into its own hands. The reign of the Bagratid dynasty was so successful that in the 9th century the Arab armies did not dare to engage in direct battle with the strengthened Armenian army. Calm and prosperous life returned to the state for some time.
But in the 11th century, centuries-old hardships of the Armenians began. The country was again divided into parts, now between Byzantium and the Turks. The raids of the Seljuk Turks led Armenia into decline, the cities became empty, trade practically ceased, rich Armenians preferred to move to more peaceful places: to the Cilician Taurus and to the shores of Mediterranean Sea. The Principality of Cilicia was formed there, and then a state, which largely helped preserve and even enhance the cultural heritage of the Armenians and the Armenian language.
Middle language: 11th - 17th centuries
While chaos and devastation reigned in the Armenian Highlands, a new kingdom of the Armenians was emerging in Cilicia. It was relatively calm in these lands; in addition, they passed through trade routes from Europe and Byzantium to the countries of the Middle East. It was through Cilicia that the soldiers of the first Crusade marched. Armenian culture and language have again found excellent soil for development.
Middle Armenian is no longer the language of the clergy, but the language of poets, scientists, and lawyers. Poems, agricultural works, historical essays, legal and medical work. Many of these manuscripts have survived to this day and serve as priceless monuments of Armenian writing.
New language: since the 17th century
The Cilician state was conquered in 1375 by the Mamluks and ceased to exist. The Armenian Highlands have been the scene of successive conquerors. And since the 15th century West Side Armenia finally fell under the heel of the young Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans considered Christian Armenians to be second-class citizens. On the eastern Armenian lands The Persians were in charge.
The Armenian language and Christianity again became the only hope for salvation for the long-suffering people. True, in the 19th century the Armenians had a powerful protector - the Russian Empire. In 1828, after a series of victorious wars, Russia annexed Eastern Armenia. Unfortunately, Western Armenia went to Turkey. That's how it started completely different destinies two Armenias, at the same time a clear branching of a single language into eastern and western dialects appeared.
Laws were in force in Eastern Armenia Russian Empire, schools and hospitals were built, there was freedom of religion and education. The Turks carried out outrages in Western Armenia, trying in every possible way to reduce the Armenians to a humiliated, barbaric state. For the time being, the Ottomans managed only with humiliation and oppression of freedoms, but at the end of the 19th century, a twenty-year genocide broke out on Turkish lands. Armenians were destroyed by families, slaughtered by entire villages, regardless of age and gender. The terrible massacre claimed more than two million Armenian lives.
Our days
Armenians remember very well Turkish genocide, they do not forget and honor what helped them survive: the Christian faith, common language, the help of Russian co-religionists, the ability to support each other. That is why Armenians so easily form strong and friendly diasporas in any country. For this reason, learning the Armenian language for them is not just a tribute to tradition, but an acquired collective instinct that many times saved them from extinction as a people.
When meeting, Armenians are usually happy to communicate in Armenian, even if they were born in another country. Differences in dialects or long life in a foreign language environment do not become an obstacle. In diasporas, schools are set up to study the national language and writing. Not everyone sends their children there, but almost all Armenians from childhood teach their children not a few phrases in the Armenian language, but a confident command of Armenian. Even though such children cannot write correctly in the language of their ancestors, they will always understand it and will be able to communicate with their fellow countryman.
The Armenian language is unique: it has no close “relatives” within the Indo-European family, so numerous attempts to assign it to any group have been unsuccessful.
What Mesrop Mashtots did for the Armenian language. New discoveries of 2017
The authorship of the modern alphabet belongs to Mesrop Mashtots (IV century). Its creation was not simply copying existing alphabets. Linguists testify that the Armenian language has retained the features of its Indo-European ancestor to a greater extent than other languages of this language family.
The creation of the Armenian language is associated with a kind of long-term linguistic expedition: young men, students of Mashtots, went to Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, with the goal of in-depth study of the language, its sound composition and letter designation. Returning back, they all provided language material, then processed all the information. It was on this basis that the unique Armenian alphabet was created.
In fact, Mashtots and his students, among them Movses Khorenatsi, carried out real scientific research in the field of linguistics in a fairly short period.
Note that the Armenian language did not become “dead”, like, for example, ancient Greek and Latin. And this is also the merit of Mashtots: phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, syntax - everything structural links of the Armenian language - are organized and correlated in such a way that it has not yet lost its relevance and linguists, for example, can freely read and speak ancient Armenian and study ancient Armenian manuscripts.
Over time, the lexical composition of the language has changed, sound composition turned out to be stable; together, their phonetics and vocabulary create a unique speech sound, which is embodied in the alphabet of the Armenian people.
Interesting fact is also that Mesrop Mashtots is the author of the Georgian alphabet. Some historical sources contain information that Mashtots is the creator of the Albanian alphabet ( Caucasian Albania).
There was a version that before the creation of the alphabet by Mashtots, the Armenian people used a language associated with Persian letters, and before that they allegedly did not have a written language.
This fact is partly a reality: during the reign of the Arsacids, all documents and correspondence were conducted in the Persian language. Evidence of the existence ancient writing there were no Armenians.
However, at the end of 2017, young scientists from Yerevan tried to decipher the most complex writings of Urartu, which almost no one had previously been able to decipher.
It is noteworthy that the key to the writings of Urartu was the ancient Armenian language. Currently, the research results have not yet been published. However, there is a hypothesis - the Urartu cuneiform was the most ancient alphabet Armenians!
According to some linguistic research, even before Mesrop Mashtots they used the Armenian alphabet. It included 28 letters. This, of course, did not correspond to the sound series of the Armenian language - the Mashtots alphabet includes 36 letters.
Names that are important to remember
The first Armenian historians and writers played a special place in the process of the formation of writing: thanks to them, the written culture of antiquity reached its contemporaries.
The first name that comes to mind among Armenian historians of antiquity is Mar Abbas Katina, secretary of King Vagharshak I.
With the permission of the Persian king Arshak, he worked in the archives of Nineveh, where the libraries of Babylon were kept. Mar Abbas, relying on Chaldean sources, described the history of Armenia in the period from the first kings to Tigran I. This work reached his contemporaries only in copies.
Agatangekhos - secretary of King Trdat, author of the history of Christianity in Armenia (IV century), Gregory the Illuminator - created a collection of sermons and prayers in the Armenian language. Pavstos Byuzand is the creator of the history of Armenia from 344 - 392. These are just a few names on a long list.
Mesrop Mashtots and Sahak Partev translated the Holy Scriptures into Armenian. Movses Hirenatsi described the history of Armenia, his work is a collection of works in four volumes. Yeghishe described the wars of the Armenians with Persia from 439 to 463 years. David the Invincible gave Armenia philosophical works on principles.
Authors from the 7th century are widely represented. Among them is Hovhannes Mamikonyan, who described the history of the Mamikonyan princes. Anania Shirakatsi, also known as the Arithmetician, is a famous astronomer; Armenia owes him the compiler of the calendar. The author of grammar and rhetorical knowledge was Moses II.
Let's name the famous figure of the 8th century. HovnanOtsnetsi wrote teachings directed against heresies.
In the 11th century, many people glorified Armenia through their labors. TovmaArtsruni wrote the history of Artsruni's house. The grammar of the Armenian language was described in detail by Gregory Magistros, who is also the author of the poetic transcription “The History of the Old and New Testaments”; AristakesLasdiverdzi created the “History of Armenia and neighboring cities.”
Let us recall the names of scientists in the 12th century. Samuel compiled a chronology in the period from the creation of the world to 1179. Mkhitar, former doctor, wrote a valuable work, “Consolation in Fever.” NersesKlaetsi - famous patriarch, theologian, author of a poetic translation of the Bible, his last work consists of 8000 verses. Mkhitar Gosh is the author of 190 fables, the Code of Church and Civil Laws.
In the 13th century, the culture and science of Armenia were enriched by scientists, historians and writers. Stefan Orbelian - bishop who wrote the famous poetic work- the elegy “Lament for Etchmiadzin.” Vartan the Great described “The General History from the Creation of the World to 1267.” Kirakos Kanzaketsi devoted his work to describing the devastation of the city of Ani by the Mongols in 1230, as well as the flight of the Armenians to Astrakhan, Trebizond, and Poland. Magakia is a monk who described the Tatar invasion of Asia before 1272. Mkhitar Anetsi created a work, rich in information presented in it, on the history of Armenia, Georgia, Persia, and he is also the author of the translation of astronomical research from Persian. Aristakes wrote a work related to rhetorical knowledge, “the science or instructions on how to write correctly,” as well as a “Dictionary of the Armenian Language.”
The 14th century became extremely difficult for the Armenian people: it was full of formidable trials for Armenia.
Armenians were forced to seek refuge in other countries. The reason for this was persecution and mass extermination
No matter how difficult it was for the Armenian people during this period, they preserved the most valuable thing - the culture reflected in books. It was books that Armenians saved first of all when leaving their homes and native land. Sometimes they gave their lives for a book. Matenadaran is a real treasury of Armenia, where all the saved books are collected.
There are books in it that were rewritten, or rather redrawn. Such work was sometimes performed by illiterate people. They could neither read nor write, but they did real feat– gave future generations the opportunity to become acquainted with ancient works. If not for them, much would have sunk into oblivion.
A new round in the development of Armenian culture is associated with book printing. Since the 16th century. Everywhere they tried to open printing houses where the Armenians settled. So in 1568 a printing house was founded even in Venice, and in the 17th century. - already in Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Leipzig, Constantinople, and a little later - in London, Smyrna, Madras, Etchmiadzin, Trieste, Tiflis, Shusha, Astrakhan, in St. Petersburg (1783), Nakhichevan.
America is another country where many printing houses were opened.
Mashtots Bible: the best of seven
At a time when Armenia had become Christian almost a hundred years ago, the Bible was still not translated; it was distributed in Greek and Assyrian, so monks and only some enlightened and literate citizens could familiarize themselves with it. The primary task was to translate the Holy Scriptures into the native language. This is exactly what Mashtots and Partev did brilliantly.
Mashtots’ translation was the seventh in a row, but to this day it is considered the best of all for its brevity, special expressiveness and clarity. Now the common people were able to attend services in churches, understanding the priests, and therefore perceive Christianity consciously.
Mashtots was engaged and educational activities: he and his followers traveled to villages and taught the illiterate. It is he who we can rightfully call the first literature teacher in Armenia. His student, Koryun, described his activities, and he himself later became a historian. In the Middle Ages, only schools at monasteries became few, and the first universities began to be formed in Armenia.
He eventually founded national schools in almost all regions Ancient Armenia. Mashtots is the author of the first Armenian textbook, he was also the first in the history of Armenian linguistics to develop a methodology for teaching the language. In addition, he laid the foundations of Armenian poetry and music.
A great date for the language – a great milestone in the culture of Armenia
Let us recall that thirteen years ago the Armenian people celebrated the 1600th anniversary of the alphabet. The Armenian alphabet is one of the oldest in the world. The Armenian language is surprisingly stable: over such a long period of existence, no significant changes have been made to it. On the eastern slope of Mount Aragats, a monument was created dedicated to this significant event - all 39 letters of the Armenian alphabet, carved from stones. This unique monument- the only one in the world!
Nowadays, more than 10 million Armenians speak Armenian. About five million live on the territory of Armenia, the rest form a diaspora, parts of which are located in the most different countries peace.
We have already said that the Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. According to one version, it is a close relative of the Phrygian, the inscriptions of which were found in ancient Anatolia.
The Armenian language has common features with other languages - Baltic, Slavic, Iranian and Indian languages, since they are all part of the eastern group of the Indo-European family. The geographical location of Armenia contributes to the fact that the Armenian language is also close to Western (“centum”) Indo-European languages, the first closest being Greek.
Phonetics of the Armenian language and its features. From the history of borrowings
Grammatical structure
The Armenian language is characterized by changes in the system of consonant sounds, that is, in the area of consonantism. In quality language examples let's call these: lat. dens, Greek o-don, Armenian a-tamn "tooth"; lat. genus, Greek genos, Armenian cin "birth".
Thanks to the shift of stress to the penultimate syllable k, the overstressed syllable fell away: thus, Proto-Indo-European bheret turned into ebhret, which gave in Armenian ebr.
Persian rule over a long period of time gave the Armenian language many Persian borrowings. Thanks to Christianity, Greek and Syriac words appeared in Armenian. Turkish words replenished the vocabulary of Armenians during the period when Armenia was part of Ottoman Empire. Even thanks to the Crusades, it was possible to add several French words to the language.
The grammatical system of the Armenian language has seven cases, two numbers, four types of conjugation and nine tenses. There is no category of gender, like in English. Grammatical gender, as in English, is lost. Several types of nominal inflection have been preserved.
About the stages of formation of the Armenian language
In the first half of the 5th century, more than 40 various works literature. All of them are written in Grabar, the ancient Armenian language. This language has much in common with Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language), Latin, Greek, ancient Slavic, and ancient Germanic. The peculiarity of ancient Armenian is its more advanced linguistic system.
Varieties of writing are known. The first letter is “bolorgir” - . This is a letter that uses round capital letters and inclined lowercase letters, they are made with straight horizontal and vertical elements. The second is “notrgir” - slanted cursive writing using rounded elements.
The Middle Armenian language emerged in the 10th century. It developed in parallel with the grabar until the 15th century. In the XIV-XIX centuries. Another version of the language arose - living and popular - “Ashkharabar”, the so-called “secular language”. As a result, Grabar became the language of the church.
Ashkharabar became the basis for the development of the modern Armenian national literary language, which developed since the 50s of the 19th century. Two dialects are distinguished in modern Armenian: eastern, spoken in both Armenia and Iran; the second dialect is Western, it is used in the countries of Asia Minor, Europe and the USA.
Official language Armenia (eastern literary) is grammatically similar to dialect group branches of "mind". The Western Armenian literary language is grammatically close to the dialect group called the “ke” branch.
What is the difference? In the Western dialect, there is a secondary devoicing of voiced plosives: b, d, g have become p, t, k. The differences between Eastern and Western literary languages are insignificant. And spoken dialects have more significant differences.
All dialects are characterized by the following features: consonance of consonants in a word; 7 cases, 8 types of declension, 5 moods, 2 types of conjugation, 7 participles; 3 voices (active, passive, neuter), 3 persons (including binary), 3 numbers; 3 genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) in the Western dialect; in the eastern dialect there is no category of gender; 3 types of action for verbs (perfect, imperfect, to be committed). In the name paradigm - synthetic forms of expression grammatical meaning, and in the verb paradigm - analytical.
An attempt to attribute the Armenian language to any language group did not lead to anything. He compiled separate group Indo-European language family. Modern alphabet Armenians was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in the 4th century. Its creation was not a simple copying of already existing alphabets. Mashtots and his students, among whom was Moses Khorensky, carried out extensive scientific research. Young people were sent to Persia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, whose goal was to deeply study the language, its sound series and the correspondence of the sound with its letter designation.
It was a kind of multi-year linguistic expedition, at the end of which information was collected and processed, on the basis of which the original Armenian alphabet was created. Its accuracy and uniqueness have been proven for centuries: it is known that linguistic composition speech changes over time, the ancient language becomes “dead” (ancient Greek, Latin), but the uniqueness of the Mashtots alphabet allows us today to speak fluently in ancient Armenian and read ancient Armenian manuscripts. Although the vocabulary of the language has changed, its sound range has remained the same, and all the richness of speech sounds is embodied in the Armenian alphabet. Mesrop Mashtots is also the creator of the Georgian alphabet.
Until recently, it was believed that before the advent of the Mashtots alphabet, Armenians used Persian scripts, and previously did not have their own written language. Indeed, during the reign of the Arsacids, a dynasty that had close blood ties with Persian kings- official documents and correspondence were conducted in Persian, and there was no need to talk about the presence of more ancient writing among the Armenians due to the lack of “physical evidence”. More recently, at the end of last year, a group of young scientists from Yerevan made an attempt to decipher the previously almost unreadable writings of Urartu.
The key was the ancient Armenian language. Unfortunately, we don't have it in our press yet. official publications on this issue, but there is a high probability that the Urartu cuneiform was the oldest alphabet of the Armenians. There is also some information that before Mesrop Mashtots there was a certain Armenian alphabet consisting of 28 letters, which absolutely did not correspond to the sound series of the Armenian language. Mashtots' alphabet consists of 36 letters.
Speaking about Armenian writing, one cannot fail to mention the first Armenian historians and writers, thanks to whom much of antiquity has survived to this day. The oldest Armenian historian is considered to be Mar - Ibas - Katina, the secretary of King Vagharshak I. Having received permission from the Persian king Arshak to study in the archives of Nineveh, where the libraries of Babylon captured by the Persians were kept, Mar - Ibas, based on Chaldean sources, wrote the history of Armenia from the first kings to Tigran I. This work came to us only in lists.
Agafangel - secretary of King Trdat, who wrote the history of the spread of Christianity in Armenia (IV century). Gregory the Illuminator - author of a collection of sermons and prayers in Armenian. Postus Buzand - compiled the history of Armenia from 344 - 392. Mesrop Mashtots - in collaboration with Catholicos Sahak, translated the Holy Scriptures into Armenian, author of the Breviary (known as Mashdots) and the Festive Menaion. Moses Khorensky is the author of the history of Armenia in 4 books. Yeghishe - left to his descendants a description of the wars of the Armenians with the Persians between 439 - 463. Lazar Parbetsi - history of Armenia 388 - 484. David the Invincible - philosophical works on principles. Among the authors of the 7th century: Ioannes Mamikonyan - the history of the Mamikonian princes. Shirakatsi - nicknamed the Arithmetician, astronomer, compiler of the Armenian calendar. Moses II is the author of grammar and rhetoric. VIII century: John Ocnetziator of teachings against heresies. XI century: Thomas Artsruni - history of the house of Artsruni; historians John VI, Moses Kagkantovotsi; Gregory Magistros is the author of the Grammar of the Armenian language and the poetic transcription of the “history of the Old and New Testaments”; Aristakes Lasdiverdzi - “history of Armenia and neighboring cities” (988 - 1071). XII century: Samuel - compiler of chronologies from the creation of the world to 1179. Physician Mkhitar - “Consolation in fever.” Nerses Klaetsi - patriarch, theologian, author of a poetic translation of the Bible, including 8,000 verses. Mkhitar Gosh is the author of 190 fables, the Code of Church and Civil Laws. XIII century: Stefan Orbelian - Bishop of Syunik, author of the elegy “Lamentation for Etchmiadzin”. Vartan the Great - author of “ General history from the creation of the world to 1267. “Kirakos Kanzaketsi - described the devastation of the city of Ani by the Mongols in 1230 and the flight of the Armenians to Astrakhan, Trebizond, and Poland. Magakia Apega - described the Tatar invasions of Asia before 1272. Mkhitar Anetsi - gave rich information on the history of Armenia, Georgia, Persia and translated astronomy from Persian. Aristakes is the author of “the science or instructions on how to write correctly” and the “Dictionary of the Armenian Language”. The 14th century brought terrible trials to the Armenian people.
Subjected to continuous persecution and extermination, the Armenians sought salvation in other countries
When a person’s house is on fire, he unconsciously grabs the most valuable thing, trying to save it. Among the most valuable things that the Armenians saved, sometimes at the cost own life, there were books - guardians of the memory of the people, their language, history, culture. These books, saved from fire, water, and enemy desecration, are collected today in the treasury of Armenia - Matenodaran. Among them there are many that were rewritten, or rather redrawn, by absolutely illiterate people who can neither read nor write. But precisely thanks to their high patriotic feat, today we can read ancient sources, torn out of oblivion by the hands and labors of these people.
With the advent of printing in the 16th century. Armenian literature continued its development. Everywhere where the Armenians settled, they tried to open their own printing house. So, in 1568 such a printing house appeared in Venice, and in the 17th century. Printing houses were founded in Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Leipzig, Constantinople, and later in London, Smyrna, Madras, Echmiadzin, Trieste, Tiflis, Shusha, Astrakhan, in St. Petersburg (1783), Nakhichevan. With the resettlement of Armenians to America, printing houses appeared in many countries of the New World.
Until the beginning of the 5th century, Armenians wrote in Greek, Assyrian and Syriac, which was perceived quite naturally by many at that time. But thinking about the fate of Christianity in Armenia is difficult political situation led the warrior, scientist and monk Mesrop Mashtots to the idea of creating the Armenian alphabet. This is incredible difficult task Catholicos of All Armenians Sahak Partev, the great-great-grandson of Gregory the Illuminator, helped him a lot.
Having received an excellent education, Mashtots, in addition to Armenian, was also fluent in Greek, Persian, Assyrian and Georgian languages. Having carried out titanic work, traveling with his 40 students all over Armenia from Persia to Byzantium, Mashtots created Armenian writing bit by bit. He and Partev understood that without their alphabet our people would very soon lose their national identity, because in everyday life people began to communicate with each other in Persian or Greek.
The situation in religion was also unimportant: Armenia has adopted Christianity as a state religion, but only monks and a few literate secular citizens could read the Bible in Greek and Assyrian. Therefore, it was necessary to urgently translate the Holy Scripture into Armenian, which was brilliantly done by Mashtots and Partev.
For its accuracy, conciseness and expressiveness, their translation of the Bible (the seventh in a row) was recognized by experts as unsurpassed - it is known as the queen of translations. Thanks to this, services in churches began to be conducted in a manner understandable to the people. native language, which contributed to the conscious perception of Christianity.
Mashtots traveled with his students to villages and taught Armenian, becoming the first teacher native speech. One of his students, Koryun, who later became a historian, wrote in detail about all this. In the Middle Ages, in addition to schools at monasteries, universities began to be formed.
Translations of many works of Greek and Syrian scientists and philosophers into Armenian helped preserve them for posterity, since the originals were lost. And now they are being translated back from Armenian into the original language.
In 2005 The entire Armenian people celebrated the 1600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet - one of the oldest in the world. It is noteworthy that during this huge period it has not undergone significant changes. In honor of this significant event, all 39 stone letters of the Armenian alphabet were installed on the eastern slope of Mount Aragats. There is no such monument to letters anywhere in the world!
The Armenian language is a language spoken by about 10 million Armenians. Most of them are residents of the Republic of Armenia, the rest make up a huge diaspora and are settled all over the world.
The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. Place of Armenian among others Indo-European languages has been the subject of much debate; it has been suggested that Armenian may be a descendant of a language closely related to Phrygian (known from inscriptions found in ancient Anatolia). The Armenian language belongs to the eastern (“Satem”) group of Indo-European languages, and shows some commonality with other languages of this group - Baltic, Slavic, Iranian and Indian. However, given geographical position Armenia, it is not surprising that the Armenian language is also close to some Western (“centum”) Indo-European languages, primarily Greek.
The Armenian language is characterized by changes in the field of consonantism. which can be illustrated by the following examples: lat. dens, Greek o-don, Armenian a-tamn "tooth"; lat. genus, Greek genos, Armenian cin "birth". The advancement of stress on the penultimate syllable in Indo-European languages led to the disappearance of the overstressed syllable in Armenian; Thus, Proto-Indo-European bheret turned into ebhret, which gave in Armenian ebr.
As a result of centuries-old Persian domination, many Persian words entered the Armenian language. Christianity brought with it Greek and Syriac words; the Armenian lexicon also contains a large proportion of Turkish elements that penetrated during the long period when Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire; a few left French words, borrowed during the era of the Crusades. The grammatical system of the Armenian language preserves several types of nominal inflection, seven cases, two numbers, four types of conjugation and nine tenses. Grammatical gender, as in English, has been lost.
The Armenian language became a written language at the end of the 4th century AD thanks to the Armenian enlightener, scholar-monk, Mesrop Mashtots (362-440). In some historical documents it is said that Mesrop Mashtots is the creator of not only the Armenian alphabet, but also the Albanian (Caucasian Albania) and Georgian. Together with his students, he translated part of the Bible from Syriac into Armenian. Translation of the Bible into "classical" National language is one of the first monuments of Armenian writing. Mesrop Mashtots founded national schools in all regions of Ancient Armenia, wrote the first textbook of the Armenian language and developed teaching methods. He laid the foundation for Armenian professional poetry and music.
In the first half of the 5th century, Armenian literature consisted of more than 40 literary works written in the ancient Armenian language called “Grabar”. This ancient one written language in its structural features it is very similar to the ancient Indo-European languages: Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language), Latin, Greek, ancient Slavic, ancient Germanic, etc., differing from them in its completeness linguistic system.
Varieties of writing: “bolorgir” -<круглое>writing using round capital letters and slanted lowercase letters made with straight horizontal and vertical elements, and "notrgir" - slanted cursive writing using rounded elements.
The next stage in the development of the Armenian language is the Middle Armenian language, which arose in the 10th century and existed next to Grabar until the 15th century. In the XIV-XIX centuries. next to Grabar, a living national literary language emerged and developed, called “Ashkharabar”, i.e. “secular language”. Grabar began to be used only as the cult language of the church.
Since the 50s of the 19th century, the modern Armenian national literary language has been developing from Ashkharabar. In the modern Armenian language, two dialects are distinguished: eastern, which is spoken in Armenia and Iran; and western, used in Asia Minor, Europe and the USA. . The state language of Armenia (Eastern literary) is similar in its grammatical structure to the dialect group called the “um” branch, according to the principle of composing the forms of the present tense of the indicative mood. The Western Armenian literary language is similar in its grammatical structure to the dialect group called the “ke” branch, according to the same principle. The main difference between them is that in the Western dialect a secondary devoicing of voiced plosives occurred: b, d, g became p, t, k. The differences between the Eastern and Western literary languages are minor (unlike the spoken dialects). All dialects are characterized by: consonantism (consonance of consonants in a word); 7 cases, 8 types of declension, 5 moods, 2 types of conjugation, 7 participles; 3 voices (active, passive, neuter), 3 persons (incl. binary), 3 numbers; 3 genders (M.R., F.R., Middle R.) in Western. dial; to the east dial there is no genus category; 3 types of action for verbs (perfect, imperfect, to be committed). In the name paradigm, synthetic forms of expressing grammatical meaning predominate, and in the verb paradigm, analytical forms predominate.
The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 7-8 million people. Worldwide. After all, this is one of the ancient languages and belongs to the Indo-European language family. There were versions about the greatest closeness of Armenian to Greek, but they were later refuted by scientists, since Greek is part of the western group of Indo-European languages, and Armenian is classified as eastern, which is also called “satem”. Translated from Avestan, “satem” means “one hundred.” The evolution of the term for the numeral “one hundred” clearly demonstrates the differences that have arisen in Western and eastern groups Indo-European languages over time.
Armenian has come into contact with many ancient and modern dialects in its history: important influence influenced him Urartian language, since the gene pool of the Armenians was formed long before the arrival of the Indo-European tribes and the Urartian speech was dominant in those early times. Many facts from the history of other languages are discovered due to their connection with Armenian, which stands out big amount historical layers. The literary form has more than 150 thousand words, while there are a number of dialects, and that's tens of thousands of words more!
The archaic forms of writing were replaced by the modern Armenian alphabet: it was developed in 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, who was later canonized. Thanks to the invention of the alphabet, the Bible and liturgical books were translated, which truly made the language immortal! The Word of God and the preaching of Christianity in their native language saved the people from extinction.
The alphabet in Armenia has practically not undergone any large-scale changes since its invention. Only in the 11th century were 2 more letters added to the original 36. Over the centuries, only the most common fonts changed: if in the Middle Ages luxurious ones predominated graphic forms and calligraphic options, later more functional fonts came to the fore.
Now great writing samples early centuries can be seen in Matenadaran - the treasury of Armenian culture. More than 18 thousand handwritten books are collected here, which were created in different historical periods in monasteries throughout Armenia and in other countries where Armenians created and created. In the Matenadaran you can look at the Gospels, copied by monks and decorated with amazing miniatures, enclosed in precious frames.
Local dialects in different regions
The classical or ancient Armenian language is called Grabar. It traces its history back to the 4th century - from the time when the process of formation ended Armenian nation. Gradually, speech developed and evolved.
Modern Armenian has two main literary forms- Western and Eastern. They mainly differ in the pronunciation of consonants, verb conjugation and spelling. Each of them, in turn, has unique linguistic material from numerous dialects, dialects and dialects.
Dialects of the Western Armenian branch predominate in communities in Europe, America and the Middle East, and are also represented in the Armenian-populated region of Javakhk and partly in the historical Armenian diaspora communities of the south.
Eastern Armenian dialects are represented in the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and most Armenian communities in Iran and Russia. In addition, on the territory of Armenia there are large areas of Western Armenian dialects - the north-west of the country and the areas of the cities of Martuni and Gavar in the lake basin.
Among the Eastern Armenian dialects they stand out for their originality Nagorno-Karabakh and Southern Armenia. Here, almost every village has its own unique dialects, which are sometimes very different from each other. These differences enrich linguistic traditions, become the reason for many funny incidents and incidents, the topic of jokes and anecdotes.
Even in the conditions of unification of literary standards that every schoolchild knows, Armenians never forget the dialect of the region of their origin and pass it on to their children and grandchildren. Dialects are an important part cultural heritage, accumulated over almost 6 thousand years of history of the ancient people.
Russian-Armenian phrasebook
Most Armenians speak Russian well, and many communicate without the slightest accent. But many guests of the country will be interested in trying their hand at the Armenian language, and we decided to compile a small phrasebook - a dictionary of the most common words and expressions.
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Hello! |
Barev Dzez! |
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Goodbye |
Tstesutyun |
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How are you (your) doing? |
Vonz ek(es)? |
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I'm fine |
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Sorry |
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Shnorakalutyun They often say instead |
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Please |
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What is the price? |
Inch argy? |
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Where is? |
Worteh e gtnvum? |
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Andznagir |
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Kareli huh? |
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Hotel |
Hyuranots |
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Dear brother, little brother |
Akhper jan |
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What or what |
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Delicious |
Shat amov e |
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Could you come over? |
Kmotenak? |
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Could you help me? |
Karoh ek okontel? |
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Do you speak Russian? |
Hosum ek ruseren? |
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I love you, Armenia! |
Sirum em kez, Ayastan! |
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Do you understand me |
Haskanum ek indz? |
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I need a Historical Museum |
Indz petk a Patmutyan tangaran |
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Free? (about taxi) |