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Classical Armenian

Oldest attested form of the Armenian language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Classical Armenian
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Classical Armenian (Armenian: գրաբար, romanized: grabar, Eastern Armenian pronunciation [ɡəɾɑˈpʰɑɾ], Western Armenian pronunciation [kʰəɾɑˈpʰɑɾ]; meaning "literary [language]"; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the Armenian language. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and most Armenian literature from then through the 18th century is in Classical Armenian. Many ancient manuscripts originally written in Ancient Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Latin survive only in Armenian translation.[1] Classical Armenian itself, in turn, was heavily influenced by the Iranian languages, in particular by Parthian.[2]

Quick Facts Region, Era ...
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Classical Armenian continues to be the liturgical language of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian Catholic Church and is often learned by Biblical, Intertestamental, and Patristic scholars dedicated to textual studies. Classical Armenian is also important for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language.

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Phonology

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Epitaph in Classical Armenian for Jakub and Marianna Minasowicz at St. Hyacinth's Church in Warsaw

Vowels

There are seven monophthongs:

  • /a/ (Ա), /i/ (Ի), /ə/ (Ը), /ɛ/ or open e (Ե), /e/ or closed e (Է), /o/ (Ո), and /u/ (ՈՒ) (transcribed as a, i, ə, e, ē, o, and u respectively). The vowel transcribed u is spelled using the Armenian letters for ow (ՈՒ) but it is not actually a diphthong.

There are also traditionally six diphthongs:

  • ay (ԱՅ), aw (ԱՒ, later Օ), ea (ԵԱ), ew (ԵՒ), iw (ԻՒ), oy (ՈՅ).

Consonants

In the following table is the Classical Armenian consonantal system. The stops and affricate consonants have, in addition to the more common voiced and unvoiced series, also a separate aspirated series, transcribed with the notation used for Ancient Greek rough breathing after the letter: p῾, t῾, c῾, č῾, k῾. Each phoneme has two symbols in the table. The left indicates the pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); the right one is the corresponding symbol in the Armenian alphabet.

More information Labial, Alveolar ...
  1. The letter f (or Ֆ) was introduced in the Medieval Period to represent the foreign sound /f/, the voiceless labiodental fricative; it was not originally a letter in the alphabet.[3]
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Numbers in Old Armenian

More information Number, Old Armenian ...
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Personal pronouns in Old Armenian

More information Pronoun, Old Armenian ...

The pluralization suffix -k', which since Old Armenian was used form the nominative plural, could be linked to the final -s in PIE *tréyes > Old Armenian երեք (erekʻ) and չորք (čʻorkʻ), which then can point to a pre-Armenian *kʷtwr̥s (< *kʷetwóres). Otherwise, it derives from the number "two", երկու (erku) and was originally used as a mark for the dual number.

There are no dual prefixes or dual plurals in Old Armenian.

Two examples of verb in Old Armenian

More information Pronoun, Old Armenian ...
More information Pronoun, Old Armenian ...

The pluralization suffix -k' can again be seen in the forms of the first and second person plural. The first person suffix -em comes from the PIE suffix in athematic verbs *-mi.

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An example of noun in Old Armenian

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Nouns in Old Armenian can belong to three models of declinations: o-type, i-type and i-a-type. Nouns can show more than one model of conjugation and retain all cases from PIE except for the vocative, which merged with the nominative and the accusative. All the strong cases lost their suffix in the singular; by contrast, almost every weak case in the singular keep a suffix. The cases are: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, locative and instrumental. The o-type model shows an extremely simplified paradigm with many instances of syncretism and the constant use of the pluralization suffix -k' in the plural; not only do strong cases tend to converge in the singular, but most of the weak cases converge into -oy, perhaps from the PIE dative *-oey. There is no suffix for the dual number.

More information Case, Old Armenian (singular) ...
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An example of adjective in Old Armenian

Adjectives in Old Armenian have at least two models of declension: i-a-type and i-type. An adjective, provided that it is not indeclinable, can show both models. Most of the declension show a great deal of syncretism and the plural shows again the pluralization suffix -k'. The instrumental plural has two possible forms.

More information Case, Old Armenian (singular) ...

The adjective "long" shows the same sound changes of the numeral "two": PIE *dweh₂rós / *dwoy- > erkar / erku.

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See also

Bibliography

  • Adjarian, Hrachia. (1971–9) Etymological Root Dictionary of the Armenian Language. Vol. I – IV. Yerevan: Yerevan State University.
  • Godel, Robert. (1975) An Introduction to the Study of Classical Armenian. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (ISBN 9783920153377)
  • Meillet, Antoine. (1903) Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique [Outline of a comparative grammar of classical Armenian].
  • Schmitt, Rüdiger. (1981) Grammatik des Klassisch-Armenischen mit sprachlichen Erläuterungen [Grammar of Classical Armenian with linguistic explications]. (1981, second edition 2007).
  • Thomson, Robert W. (1989) An Introduction to Classical Armenian. Caravan Books. (ISBN 0-88206-072-4)
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References

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