Series Introduction

Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum

Armenian is the state language of exactly just what in current memory was the tiniest republic associated with the previous Soviet Union, now the southernmost republic associated with Commonwealth of Independent States. The language is talked by about four million individuals nevertheless residing in the boundaries of this republic. a group that is small of are now living in north-western Iran, plus some communities dot the countryside of eastern Turkey. Countless emigrees have spread the language to all or any corners around the globe. The initial documentary evidence of this Armenians is a century that is sixth inscription in Behistun because of the Persian king Darius I. It had been nearly a lot of years, nevertheless, prior to the Armenians by themselves begun to place their language to composing, when in 406 or 407 A.D. a priest MaЕЎtКїocКї (also referred to as Mesrop) developed an alphabet that is armenian. One also finds mention of the a previous alphabet produced because of the Syriac bishop Daniel, purportedly abandoned since it had been ill-suited to your audio system regarding the language. The language whose documents date back into this era is termed traditional Armenian. Much later on, within the twelfth to seventeenth hundreds of years, one discovers the legacy of Middle Armenian, whose authors attemptedto emulate the form of the Golden Age of Classical Armenian. Between these two time periods one further differentiates two phases associated with the Armenian language: post-Classical, spanning the sixth and 7th centuries, and Pre-Middle Armenian, through the eighth to twelfth centuries. Following the century that is seventeenth Armenian progressed into a contemporary kind which includes split up into two varieties: West Armenian and East Armenian.

Note: this set of classes is for systems/browsers with Unicode В® support, but fonts lacking Armenian figures. Classes rendered in alternative character sets can be found via links (Romanized and Unicode 3) within the margin that is upper-left and also at the base of this site.

Note: this group of classes in Armenian uses Romanized letters rather than the conventional alphabet that is armenian. Classes rendered within the conventional alphabet may be accessed through the menu item that is armenian.

Origin and Geographical Location

According to Greek tradition that is mythic Armenia ended up being called after Armenus, certainly one of Jason’s Argonauts. Herodotus, composing within the fifth century B.C., states that the Armenians lived in Thrace after which relocated into Phrygia, from where they crossed into the subsequent Armenian territory. Strabo, composing when you look at the century that is first, states that the Armenians joined the territory from two guidelines, one team originating from Phrygia into the western, one other originating from Mesopotamia into the southeast. Although by neither account had been they the first inhabitants associated with area, Xenophon records in 400 B.C. which they appear to have consumed all the regional dwellers.

Armenian tradition, recorded between your 5th and eighth centuries A.D., relates the Armenian individuals to the descendants of Noah. Following the Flood, Noah’s family members settled in Armenia before going south to Babylon in successive generations. Certainly one of Noah’s descendants, Haik, returned and revolted to Armenia, pursued by the Babylonian Bel. Haik killed Bel and became ruler of this Armenian land, and the descendants of Haik later defended Armenia through the forces of Assyria.

Contemporary scholarly views are only as wide-ranging. a typical view is that the Armenians had been of Indo-European stock and joined the region either along because of the Phrygians from the Balkan area or aided by the Mitanni through the https://hookupdate.net/nl/ourtime-recenzja/ section of the Aral Sea. They encountered the culture that is urartuan a period of decrease and in the end arrived to rule over them as well as other Caucasian teams in your community. Another concept attracts on linguistic similarities between your language that is armenian the Caucasian languages associated with area to express that the Armenians had initially been by themselves a Caucasian tribe which adopted an Indo-European tongue, and this Caucasian substrate is in charge of the truth that Armenian is pretty genetically separated on the list of Indo-European languages. Just one more concept is that the Armenians will be the many inactive people of the first speakers of Proto-Indo-European; that the Indo-European languages originated from the region that is transcaucasian nevertheless the Armenians, whom decided on never to migrate out from the area, were marginalized during durations of Hittite and Urartuan dominance. Suffice it to express, the origin that is true of Armenian peoples will remain shrouded in obscurity for a while in the future.

The land that is really armenian is a plateau positioned approximately 5000 legs above ocean degree and hemmed in by mountainous areas. It lies roughly southeast of the Ebony Sea and southwest for the Caspian Sea. The ancient homeland that is armenian somewhat more expansive compared to the modern Armenian Republic, also including a lot of eastern Turkey, the northeastern part of Iran, and components of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Kur River separates the highland region from lowlands which sweep to the Caspian Sea in the northeast. The border that is northern proceeded by the Pontus mountain range, which stretches west through the way to obtain the Kur and shields Armenia through the Ebony water. The Taurus and Zagros hill ranges produce a boundary that is natural over the whole southern expanse and cutting Armenia faraway from Mesopotamia. The Armenian plateau it self is split by a number of smaller hill ranges that furnish the sources for many unnavigable streams. The section that is northermost of Euphrates would be to form the boundary between Greater and Lesser Armenia into the subsequent imperial battles.