Language family of the Armenian language. Armenian language: history, alphabet and interesting facts

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 a simple copying of already 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 - all the 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 changed, the sound composition turned out to be stable, and together phonetics and vocabulary create a unique speech sound, which is embodied in the alphabet of the Armenian people.

An interesting fact is that Mesrop Mashtots is the author of the Georgian alphabet. Some historical sources contain information that Mashtots is the creator of Albanian (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. There was no evidence of the existence of ancient Armenian writing.

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 oldest alphabet of the Armenians!

According to some linguistic studies, even before Mesrop Mashtots the Armenian alphabet was used. 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, a former doctor, wrote a valuable work, “Consolation in Fever.” NersesKlaetsi is a famous patriarch, theologian, author of a poetic translation of the Bible; his latest work consists of 8,000 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 is a bishop who wrote a famous poetic work - the elegy “Lamentation for Etchmiadzin”. Vardan the Great described “The General History from the Creation of the World to 1267.” Kirakos Kanzaketsi dedicated 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, 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 accomplished a real feat - they 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, 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 also involved in 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.

As a result, he founded national schools in almost all regions of 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 is 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 various countries of the world.

We have already said that the Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. According to one version, it is a close relative of Phrygian, the inscriptions of which were found in ancient Anatolia.

The Armenian language has common features with other languages ​​- the 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. As examples of language we will name the following: 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 entered the vocabulary of Armenians during the period when Armenia was part of the 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, has been 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 different works of literature were created in Armenian 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 uppercase letters and slanted lowercase letters, they are executed with straight horizontal and vertical elements. The second is “notrgir” - an oblique cursive script 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.

The state language of Armenia (Eastern literary) is grammatically similar to the dialect group of the “um” branch. 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 there are synthetic forms of expressing grammatical meaning, and in the verb paradigm there are analytical forms.

The number of speakers of this language is estimated at 7-8 million people. all over the world. After all, it is one of the oldest 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 the western and eastern groups of Indo-European languages ​​over time.

Armenian came into contact with many ancient and modern dialects in its history: the Urartian language had an important influence on it, 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 is distinguished by a large number of 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 graphic forms and calligraphic variants prevailed, then later more functional fonts came to the fore.

Nowadays, excellent examples of writing from early centuries can be seen in the Matenadaran, a 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 of the Armenian nation ended. 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.

Nagorno-Karabakh and Southern Armenia stand out among the Eastern Armenian dialects for their uniqueness. 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 of the 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.

ARMENIAN, language spoken approx. 6 million Armenians. Most of them are residents of the Republic of Armenia, the rest live in the diaspora over a vast territory from Central Asia to Western Europe. More than 100,000 Armenian speakers live in the United States.

The existence of Armenia was attested several centuries before the appearance of the first written monuments (5th century AD). The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. The place of Armenian among other 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 the geographical location of 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, the Proto-Indo-European ébheret turned into ebhéret, which gave ebér in Armenian.

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; There are a few French words left that were borrowed during 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 has its own alphabet, invented in the 5th century. AD St. Mesrop Mashtots. One of the first monuments of writing is the translation of the Bible into the “classical” national language. Classical Armenian continued to exist as the language of the Armenian Church, and until the 19th century. was the language of secular literature. The modern Armenian language has two dialects: Eastern, spoken in Armenia and Iran; and western, used in Asia Minor, Europe and the USA. 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.

Moscow State Institute of Foreign Languages ​​named after. Maurice Teresa

Translation Faculty

Subject: Introduction to linguistics

Armenian Language Group

First year student

Hakhverdyan M.A.

Moscow 2003

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

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

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

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

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

II . Armenian

III . From the history of the Armenian language

IV . Modern Armenian language

V. Poem by Vahan Teryan

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

Armenian language in inscriptions of the 3rd – 1st millennia BC. e.

Armenian language as an ancient phenomenon

Addressing a speech in 1923 (“Armenian culture, its roots and prehistoric connections according to linguistic data”) to the Paris Armenian Student Union, academician N. Ya. Marr said: “...we are inspired and driven by a common very expensive thing, the only and the most powerful force of culture and progress, love for one and the same subject, for the Armenian people.” “...While preserving an inexhaustible treasury and creative environment, the Armenian language undoubtedly has a rich vocabulary and an endless choice of words.” According to Marr, through language “the Armenian people are connected by the closest ties not only with the now scattered various Japhetic tribes, with the modern peoples that have survived to us from antiquity, but also with all cultural humanity, with the indigenous layer of the Mediterranean humanity of Europe since the days of the emergence of human speech.” “But how many, how many millennia should we measure the period of time during which the Armenian complex 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 to a cultural tradition coming from a universal human 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 open up the exceptional linguistic riches of this amazing people... and what amazing materials they convey to expose the cultural connections and roots of their own and other peoples.”

It was no coincidence that we began our conversation about the Armenian language by quoting N. Ya. Marr, a man who has exceptional services to Armenian studies. His “Grammar of the Ancient Armenian Language” (1903) became “the midwife at the birth of Armenian studies.” Of the 213 publications by N. Ya. Marr between 1888 and 1915, over 100 are specifically devoted to the language and culture of the Armenians. This way you can see on what material the scientist’s linguistic talent grew.

The Armenian language occupies a special place in the 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 devoted to the problem of the origin of the Armenian language and its individual phenomena, on the pages of the journal “Questions of Linguistics”.

An indicator of the importance of the Armenian language for broad and deep comparative historical research was the numerous appeals of the discussion participants to the entire range of problems of Indo-European studies, including the problem of pre-Indo-European substrates. “The debates and discussions on various genetic problems of the Armenian language have gone beyond the boundaries of Armenian linguistics in their constructiveness and have acquired exceptionally great importance for Indo-European studies as a whole.”

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 .) record the Greek language 1), and the so-called Eteocritan inscriptions in Greek letters, which are not read in Greek (VI – IV centuries BC), are Paleo-Balkan (Greco-Thraco-Phrygian) 2).

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

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 in the Greek language allows us to use the Armenian language, which exhibits numerous Paleo-Balkan features, to interpret the inscriptions. We are talking about the proximity of the Armenian language to 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 with a more detailed comparison of them becomes more and more obvious. This striking closeness is manifested not only in the sound composition, but also in the material identity of the inflections, not to mention their functional identity” 7). Academician N. Marr 8) wrote about the Pelasgian layer of the Greek and Armenian languages ​​(although he considered the Pelasgians to be speakers of a 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 concern social life (pre-Greek. koiranos, Macedonian korannos“ruler” – Armenians. karan“prince”), and religious and mythological ideas (pre-Greek. cosmos“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-Paleo-Balkan dialects.

Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the names of the letters in the Greek and Armenian languages ​​turn out to be common: Greek. grapho"I'm writing" gramma"letter", grapheys, gropheys“scribe” – Armenians. grabar"letter", groh"scribe". In other Indo-European languages, this root conveys more archaic concepts not directly related to writing (Ukr. lot, German kerben etc.). So, the speakers of the Proto-Greek and Proto-Armenian dialects obviously had a common written tradition. Its traces must be looked for in Crete (and also, possibly, in Urartian hieroglyphs; we must also take into account the assumption of V.V. Ivanov: Asia Minor hieroglyphs in ancient times could record not only the Luwian, but also the Hurrian language, related to Armenian). Information about the use of non-literal writing in the past can be obtained not only by comparing Greek and Armenian writing terms with related Indo-European words, but also from Greek itself: graphiketekhne –“painting” (cf. modern use of the word graphics regarding both writing and drawing).

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

Name of the Cretan capital Knos(s)os comes from Greek gno(s)tos“famous” (as confirmed by the homonyms used to denote this name in Cretan hieroglyphs). 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 Linear A inscription 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), records the same Armenian language form canaut c.

Finally, in Cretan hieroglyphs of the late 3rd - early 2nd millennium BC. e. (on the so-called eight-sided seal) to record the name of Knossos, in particular, the image of a shell is used ( gonthos), which once again indicates 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”) precisely to the Armenian word.

This means that Cretan Linear A (XX-XV centuries BC) and even Cretan hieroglyphics (XXII-XVII centuries BC) record, along with Greek linguistic forms, those forms that are explained only in the Armenian language . So, the proto-Armenian language forms were recorded in writing 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 (VII–I centuries BC) have always aroused intense interest. Now we can confidently say that this is an Indo-European language, with material and typological parallels in Hittite-Luvian, Greek and other Paleo-Balkan, Latin and other Italic (research by B. Grozny, V. Georgiev, A. I. Kharsekin and others, incl. . Part of the author of these lines; we also identified Etruscan-Iranian parallels).

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 unscientific versions exist, each more exotic than the other!

For example, from Bible it follows that the Armenians trace their ancestry back to Japheth- one of the sons Nov. By the way, "Old Testament genealogy" makes Armenians and Jews related who also consider themselves descendants of the only righteous man on earth. The Armenian historiographers themselves, until the 19th century, had a popular theory according to which the ancestors of the people were a certain Haik- 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 Thessalos. And some scientists believe that the roots of Armenians go back to the Middle Eastern state Urartu.

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

The unique Armenian language

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 alphabetical 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 - reading and understanding the meaning of old texts, knowing the modern language, is not so difficult. This helps scientists parse ancient manuscripts without any problems.

A curious feature of the Armenian language is the absence of a grammatical gender category in it - both “he” and “she” and “it” are designated by one word.

Armenians in Russia

Despite the fact that there are at least 14 million Armenians around 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 even live in Turkey, and this despite the Armenian genocide that occurred in this country more than a hundred years ago.

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

It is interesting that after their expulsion from Crimean peninsula Empress Catherine II, Armenians in Russia even founded their own special city - Nakhchivan-on-Don, which only in 1928 became part of the expanding Rostov-on-Don.

Cultural and festive traditions of Armenians

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

However, like the Russians, despite such an ancient involvement in the religious Christian tradition, echoes of the pagan heritage remain in the everyday life of many Armenians.

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

The wedding still occupies a very important place in traditional rituals: it is nationally unique even among the most " Russified"Armenians

During the preparatory period, young people choose a matchmaker ( midjnord keen), whose duty is to persuade the girl’s parents to marry. Only after this do the relatives of the future husband (matchmakers) come to meet the bride, and, according to the ritual, they have to persuade the bride and her parents twice. After these ceremonies have been observed, the time comes engagement.

The engagement itself turns into a mini-holiday: on a certain day, relatives of the two families gather at the groom’s house, with luxurious jewelry gifts for the bride. 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 bride’s ritual dance “Uzundara,” the groom’s ritual “taking away” of his beloved away from her father’s house takes place.

But all this is just a hint to the fairy tale itself - the triumph itself, which amazes even the most developed imagination. On the appointed day (preferably in the fall or early winter), a huge number of guests, including honorary ones, gather in the groom’s house. The ceremony is conducted by the host - makarapet, a man whom everyone gathered during the evening obeys unquestioningly. And under his leadership, dancing, singing 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 newlyweds will be!

The fun is also enhanced by the skill of winemaking, another traditional art of this people. The Armenians believe that excellent wine has been made by their ancestors since the time of Noah himself, and since the 19th century, winemakers have also added famous Armenian cognac.

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