Proto-Armenian language

Last updated
Proto-Armenian
Reconstruction of Armenian languages
Reconstructed
ancestor

Proto-Armenian is the earlier, unattested stage of the Armenian language which has been reconstructed by linguists. As Armenian is the only known language of its branch of the Indo-European languages, the comparative method cannot be used to reconstruct its earlier stages. Instead, a combination of internal and external reconstruction, by reconstructions of Proto-Indo-European and other branches, has allowed linguists to piece together the earlier history of Armenian.

Contents

Definition

Proto-Armenian, as the ancestor of only one living language, has no clear definition of the term. It is generally held to include a variety of ancestral stages of Armenian between Proto-Indo-European and the earliest attestations of Classical Armenian.

It is thus not a proto-language in the strict sense, but "Proto-Armenian" is a term that has become common in the field.

The earliest testimony of Armenian is the 5th-century Bible translation of Mesrop Mashtots. The earlier history of the language is unclear and the subject of much speculation. It is clear that Armenian is an Indo-European language, but its development is opaque.

In any case, Armenian has many layers of loanwords and shows traces of long language contact with Anatolian languages such as Luwian and Hittite, Hattic, Hurro-Urartian languages, Semitic languages such as Akkadian and Aramaic, and Iranian languages such as Persian and Parthian. Armenian also has been influenced to a lesser extent by Greek and Arabic. [1]

Phonological development of Proto-Armenian

The Proto-Armenian sound changes are varied and eccentric (such as *dw- yielding erk-) and, in many cases, uncertain. That prevented Armenian from being immediately recognized as an Indo-European branch in its own right, and it was assumed to be simply a very divergent Iranian language until Heinrich Hübschmann established its independent character in 1874. [2]

The development of voicing contrasts in Armenian is notable in being quite similar to that seen in Germanic, a fact that was significant in the formation of the Glottalic Theory. The Armenian Consonant Shift has often been compared to the famous Grimm's Law in Germanic, because in both cases, Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops became voiceless aspirates (with some complications with regard to Proto-Indo-European *p), the voiced stops became voiceless, and the voiced aspirates became voiced stops. [3] Meanwhile, Armenian shares the vocalization of word initial laryngeals before consonants with Greek and Phrygian: [4] Proto-Indo-European *h₂nḗr ("man", "force") renders Greek anḗr, Armenian ayr from a Proto-Armenian *aynr [5] and Phrygian anar ("man"), which may be compared to Latin Nero and neriōsus ("strict"), Albanian njeri, Persian nar, Sanskrit nara, and Welsh nerth.

In certain contexts, the aspirated stops are further reduced to w, h or zero in Armenian: Proto-Indo-European (accusative) *pódm̥ "foot" > Armenian ոտն otn vs. Greek (accusative) póda, Proto-Indo-European *tréyes "three" > Armenian երեք [erekʿ] vs. Greek treis.

PIE consonants in Armenian [6] [pdf]
PIE→ ArmenianSpecial developments and exceptions
*pհ∅ (before օ); ⟨ւ⟩ (after vowel); ⟨փ⟩
*tթ⟨տ⟩ (after sibilant); ⟨յ⟩ (between vowels);

⟨դ⟩ (after ⟨ր⟩); ∅ (before consonant);

⟨ւ⟩ (before ⟨ր⟩ and between back-vowels);

⟨ն⟩ (PIE *-nt → Arm. ն [n])

*ḱս⟨շ⟩ (PIE *ḱw → Arm. ⟨շ⟩); ⟨ւ⟩ (before ⟨ր⟩);

∅ (before consonant)

*kք⟨խ⟩ (PIE *kH → Arm. ⟨խ⟩);

⟨գ⟩ (PIE *[R]k → Arm. ⟨գ⟩);

⟨չ⟩ (PIE *ky → Arm. ⟨չ⟩)

*kʷչ⟨խ, գ, ք⟩
*bպ
*dտ⟨[ր]կ⟩ (PIE *dw → Arm. ⟨[ր]կ⟩
*ǵծ
*g(ʷ)կ⟨ծ⟩
*bʰբ⟨ւ⟩ (between vowels)
*dʰդ⟨ջ⟩ (PIE *dʰy → Arm. ⟨ջ⟩)
*ǵʰձ⟨զ⟩
*gʰգ⟨ջ⟩
*gʷʰ⟨ջ; ժ⟩
*sհ⟨ս⟩ (after consonant or before obstruent); ∅; ⟨-ք⟩
*h₁∅⟨է-⟩
*h₂,

*h₃

հ⟨ա-⟩; ∅
PIE vowels in Armenian [6]
PIEArmenianSpecial Developments
*a⟨ա⟩
*e⟨է⟩⟨ա⟩ (adjacent to *h₂);
⟨ի⟩ (before h₁ or nasals);
⟨օ⟩ (after *h₃);
⟨ու⟩ (before *h₃)
*i⟨ի⟩
*o⟨օ⟩
*u⟨ու⟩

History

The origin of the Proto-Armenian language is subject to scholarly debate. The Armenian hypothesis would postulate the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language, [7] while the Kurgan hypothesis suggests it arrived in the Armenian Highlands either from the Balkans or through the Caucasus. The arrival of such a population who spoke Proto-Armenian in the Armenian Highlands is assumed to have occurred sometime during the Bronze Age [8] [9] or at the latest, during the Bronze Age Collapse around 1200 BC, according to this theory. [10]

One of the theories about the emergence of Armenian in the region is that Paleo-Balkan-speaking settlers related to Phrygians (the Mushki or the retroactively named Armeno-Phrygians), who had already settled in the western parts of the region before the Kingdom of Van was established in Urartu, [11] [12] [13] had become the ruling elite under the Median Empire, followed by the Achaemenid Empire. [14] The existence of Urartian words in the Armenian language and Armenian loanwords into Urartian [15] suggests early contact between the two languages and long periods of bilingualism. [8] [10] [9]

According to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture :

The Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrian (and Urartians), Luvians [Luwians] and the Proto-Armenian Mushki who carried their IE [Indo-European] language eastwards across Anatolia. After arriving in its historical territory, Proto-Armenian would appear to have undergone massive influence by the languages it eventually replaced. Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism. [16]

Findings in Armenian genetics from 2019 reveal heavy mixing of groups from the 3000s BC until the Bronze Age Collapse. Admixture signals seem to have decreased to insignificant levels after c. 1200 BC, after which Armenian DNA remained stable, which appears to have been caused by Armenians' isolation from their surroundings, and subsequently sustained by the cultural, linguistic and religious distinctiveness that persists until today. [17] The connection between the Mushki and Armenians is unclear as nothing is known of the Mushki language. Most modern scholars have rejected a direct linguistic relationship with Proto-Armenian if the Mushki were Thracians or Phrygians. [18] [19] [20] [21] Additionally, recent findings in genetic research does not support significant admixture into the Armenian nation after 1200 BC, making the Mushki, if they indeed migrated from a Balkan or western Anatolian homeland during or after the Bronze Age Collapse, unlikely candidates for the Proto-Armenians. [22] [23]

However, as others have placed (at least the Eastern) Mushki homeland in the Armenian Highlands and South Caucasus region, it is possible that at least some of the Mushki were Armenian-speakers or speakers of a closely related language. [24] Some modern studies show that Armenian is as close to Indo-Iranian as it is to Greek and Phrygian. [25] [18] [19]

An alternate theory suggests that speakers of Proto-Armenian were tribes indigenous to the northern Armenian highlands, such as the Hayasans, Diauehi or Etiuni. Although these groups are only known from references left by neighboring peoples (such as Hittites, Urartians, and Assyrians), Armenian etymologies have been proposed for their names. [26] While the Urartian language was used by the royal elite, the population they ruled was likely multi-lingual, and some of these peoples would have spoken Armenian. This can be reconciled with the Phrygian/Mushki theory if those groups originally came from the Caucasus region or Armenian Highlands. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian language</span> Indo-European language

Armenian is an Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenian people and the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian highlands, today Armenian is also widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Saint Mesrop Mashtots. The estimated number of Armenian speakers worldwide is between five and seven million.

The Alarodian languages are a proposed language family that encompasses the Northeast Caucasian (Nakh–Dagestanian) languages and the extinct Hurro-Urartian languages.

Hurro-Urartian is an extinct language family of the Ancient Near East, comprising only two known languages: Hurrian and Urartian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urartian language</span> Language spoken by inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu

Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, near the site of the modern town of Van in the Armenian highlands, now in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. Its past prevalence is unknown. While some believe it was probably dominant around Lake Van and in the areas along the upper Zab valley, others believe it was spoken by a relatively small population who comprised a ruling class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phrygians</span> Ancient Indo-European-speaking people of Anatolia

The Phrygians were an ancient Indo-European speaking people who inhabited central-western Anatolia in antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mushki</span> Iron Age people of Anatolia

The Mushki were an Iron Age people of Anatolia who appear in sources from Assyria but not from the Hittites. Several authors have connected them with the Moschoi (Μόσχοι) of Greek sources and the Georgian tribe of the Meskhi. Josephus Flavius identified the Moschoi with the Biblical Meshech. Two different groups are called Muški in Assyrian sources, one from the 12th to the 9th centuries BC near the confluence of the Arsanias and the Euphrates and the other from the 8th to the 7th centuries BC in Cappadocia and Cilicia. Assyrian sources clearly identify the Western Mushki with the Phrygians, but later Greek sources then distinguish between the Phrygians and the Moschoi.

Moschia is a mountainous region of Georgia between Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis. The Moschian Mountains were the connecting chain between the Caucasus and Anti-Taurus Mountains. The people of that area were known as the Moschi. They may have been connected to the Mushki.

Graeco-Aryan, or Graeco-Armeno-Aryan, is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family that would be the ancestor of Hellenic, Armenian, and the Indo-Iranian languages, which spans Southern Europe, Armenian highlands and Southern Asian regions of Eurasia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian mythology</span>

Armenian mythology originated in ancient Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurro-Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities.

Graeco-Armenian is the hypothetical common ancestor of Greek and Armenian branches that postdates Proto-Indo-European language. Its status is somewhat similar to that of the Italo-Celtic grouping: each is widely considered plausible without being generally accepted. The hypothetical Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage would need to date to the 3rd millennium BC and would be only barely different from either late Proto-Indo-European or Graeco-Armeno-Aryan.

The origin of the Armenians is a topic concerned with the emergence of the Armenian people and the country called Armenia. The earliest universally accepted reference to the people and the country dates back to the 6th century BC Behistun Inscription, followed by several Greek fragments and books. The earliest known reference to a geopolitical entity where Armenians originated from is dated to the 13th century BC as Uruatri in Old Assyrian. Historians and Armenologists have speculated about the earlier origin of the Armenian people, but no consensus has been achieved as of yet. Genetic studies show that Armenian people are indigenous to historical Armenia, showing little to no signs of admixture since around the 13th century BC.

The name Armenia entered English via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀρμενία.

Shubria or Shupria was a kingdom in the southern Armenian highlands, known from Assyrian sources in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. It was located north of the upper Tigris River and to the southwest of Lake Van, extending eastwards to the frontiers of Urartu. It appears in the 1st millennium BC as an independent kingdom, succeeding the people earlier called Shubaru in Assyrian sources in the later centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. It was located between the powerful states of Assyria and Urartu and came into conflict with both. It was conquered by Assyria in 673–672 BC but likely regained its independence towards the end of the 7th century BC with the collapse of Assyrian power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urartu</span> Iron-Age kingdom of the Ancient Near East

The Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the Republic of Armenia. Its kings left behind cuneiform inscriptions in the Urartian language, a member of the Hurro-Urartian language family. Since its re-discovery in the 19th century, Urartu, which is commonly believed to have been at least partially Armenian-speaking, has played a significant role in Armenian nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armeno-Phrygians</span>

The Armeno-Phrygians are a hypothetical people of West Asia during the Bronze Age, the Bronze Age collapse, and its aftermath. They would be the common ancestors of both Phrygians and Proto-Armenians. In turn, Armeno-Phrygians would be the descendants of the Graeco-Phrygians, common ancestors of Greeks, Phrygians, and also of Armenians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armeno-Phrygian languages</span> Hypothetical branch of Indo-European

The name Armeno-Phrygian is used for a hypothetical language branch, which would include the languages spoken by the Phrygians and the Armenians, and would be a branch of the Indo-European language family, or a sub-branch of either the proposed "Graeco-Armeno-Aryan" or "Armeno-Aryan" branches. According to this hypothesis, Proto-Armenian was a language descendant from a common ancestor with Phrygian and was closely related to it. Proto-Armenian differentiated from Phrygian by language evolution over time but also by the Hurro-Urartian language substrate influence. Classification is difficult because little is known of Phrygian, but Proto-Armenian arguably forms a subgroup with Greek and Indo-Iranian.

Etiuni was the name of an early Iron Age tribal confederation in northern parts of Araxes River, roughly corresponding to the subsequent Ayrarat Province of the Kingdom of Armenia. Etiuni was frequently mentioned in the records of Urartian kings, who led numerous campaigns into Etiuni territory. It is very likely it was the "Etuna" or "Etina" which contributed to the fall of Urartu, according to Assyrian texts. Some scholars believe it had an Armenian-speaking population.

The Urumu were a tribe attested in cuneiform sources in the Bronze Age. They are often considered to be one of the ancestors of the Armenians being one of the tribes which were part of the Armenian Hayasa-Azzi confederation.

References

  1. ↑ "Armenian language resources | Etymology of Armenian language".
  2. ↑ Karl Brugmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen (1897) Das Armenische (II), früher fälschlicherweise für iranisch ausgegeben, von H. Hübschmann KZ. 23, 5 ff. 400 ff. als ein selbständiges Glied der idg. Sprachfamilie erwiesen
  3. ↑ Fortson, Benjamin W. 2004. Indo-European Language and Culture. Page 340-41.
  4. ↑ Fortson, Benjamin W. 2004. Indo-European Language and Culture. Page 342, 402
  5. ↑ Fortson, Benjamin W. 2004. Indo-European Language and Culture. Page 342.
  6. 1 2 Matasovic, Ranko (2009). A Grammatical Sketch Of Classical Armenian. Zagreb. pp. 10–15.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ↑ Gamkrelidze, Tamaz V.; Ivanov, Vyacheslav (1995). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture. Part I: The Text. Part II: Bibliography, Indexes. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   978-3-11-081503-0.
  8. 1 2 Mallory, J. P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 30. ISBN   978-1884964985. OCLC   37931209. Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; [...] Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.
  9. 1 2 Robert Drews. Militarism and the Indo-Europeanizing of Europe. Routledge. 2017. p. 228.|quote="The vernacular of the Great Kingdom of Biainili was quite certainly Armenian. The Armenian language was obviously the region's vernacular in the fifth century BC, when Persian commanders and Greek writers paired it with Phrygian. That it as brought into the region between the early sixth and the early fifth century BC, and that it immediately obliterated whatever else had been spoken there, can hardly be supposed; [...] Because Proto-Armenian speakers seem to have lived not far from Hurrian speakers our conclusion must be that the Armenian language of Mesrop Mashtots was descended from an Indo-European language that had been spoken in southern Caucasia in the Bronze Age."
  10. 1 2 Greppin, John A.C. and Igor Diakonoff Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians, Oct–Dec 1991, pp. 727.
  11. ↑ (in Armenian) Katvalyan, M. and Karo Ghafadaryan. Ուրարտու [Urartu]. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, vol. 12, pp. 276–283.
  12. ↑ Samuelian, Thomas J. (2000). Armenian origins: an overview of ancient and modern sources and theories. Iravunq Pub. House.
  13. ↑ Uchicago.edu
  14. ↑ Redgate, Anne Elizabeth (2000). The Armenians. Wiley. ISBN   978-0-631-22037-4., p. 50
  15. ↑ Petrosyan, Armen. The Armenian Elements in the Language and Onomastics of Urartu. Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 2010. (https://www.academia.edu/2939663/The_Armenian_Elements_in_the_Language_and_Onomastics_of_Urartu)
  16. ↑ "Armenians" in Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-884964-98-5.
  17. ↑ Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Xue, Yali; Comas, David; Gasparini, Paolo; Zalloua, Pierre; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2019-12-30). "Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations | European Journal of Human Genetics". European Journal of Human Genetics. 24 (6): 931–936. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2015.206. PMC   4820045 . PMID   26486470. S2CID   3331584.
  18. 1 2 Vavroušek P. (2010). "Frýžština". Jazyky starého Orientu. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze. p. 129. ISBN   978-80-7308-312-0.
  19. 1 2 J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 419. ISBN   9781884964985.
  20. ↑ Brixhe C. (2008). "Phrygian". The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 72.
  21. ↑ Kim Ronald I. Greco-Armenian. The persistence of a myth // Indogermanische Forschungen. — 2018. — 123. Band. — S. 247–271.
  22. ↑ Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Xue, Yali; Comas, David; Gasparini, Paolo; Zalloua, Pierre; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2015). "Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations". European Journal of Human Genetics. 24 (6): 931–6. bioRxiv   10.1101/015396 . doi:10.1038/ejhg.2015.206. PMC   4820045 . PMID   26486470.
  23. ↑ Wade, Nicholas (2015-03-10). "Date of Armenia's Birth, Given in 5th Century, Gains Credence". The New York Times.
  24. 1 2 The Mushki Problem Reconsidered
  25. ↑ Clackson, James P.T. (2008). "Classical Armenian". The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 124.
  26. ↑ Armen Petrosyan (January 1, 2007). The Problem Of Identification Of The Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review. Society For Armenian Studies. pp. 46, 49. Retrieved 23 November 2018.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.