Series Introduction
Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum
Armenian is the state language of just exactly what in present memory was the republic that is smallest associated with the previous Soviet Union, now the southernmost republic of this Commonwealth of Independent States. The language is talked by about four million individuals nevertheless residing inside the edges for the republic. a tiny selection of speakers reside in north-western Iran, plus some communities dot the countryside of eastern Turkey. Many emigrees have actually spread the language to any or all corners regarding the globe. The first documentary evidence of this Armenians is just a century that is sixth inscription in Behistun because of the Persian master Darius we. It had been almost a lot of years, but, ahead of the Armenians by themselves begun to place their language to composing, when in 406 or 407 A.D. a priest MaЕЎtКїocКї (also called Mesrop) developed A armenian alphabet. One also discovers mention of the an alphabet that is prior because of the Syriac bishop Daniel, purportedly abandoned as it ended up being ill-suited to your audio system of this language. The language whose documents date back again to this era is termed traditional Armenian. Much later on, within the twelfth to centuries that are seventeenth one finds the legacy of Middle Armenian, whose writers attemptedto emulate the design of the Golden Age of Classical Armenian. Between those two cycles one further differentiates two phases associated with language that is armenian post-Classical, spanning the sixth and 7th hundreds of years, and Pre-Middle Armenian, through the eighth to twelfth centuries. Following the century that is seventeenth Armenian progressed into a contemporary kind which includes divided into two varieties: West Armenian and East Armenian.
Note: this group of classes is for systems/browsers with Unicode В® support, but fonts lacking characters that are armenian. Classes rendered in alternative character sets can be found via links (Romanized and Unicode 3) within the upper-left margin, and also at the base of this site.
Note: this group of classes in Armenian uses Romanized letters as opposed to the old-fashioned alphabet that is armenian. Classes rendered within the conventional alphabet could be accessed through the Armenian menu product.
Origin and Geographical Location
Relating to Greek mythic tradition, Armenia ended up being known as 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 into the century that is first, states that the Armenians joined the territory from two instructions, one team originating from Phrygia within the western, one other originating from Mesopotamia when you look at the southeast. Although by neither account were they the initial inhabitants associated with the area, Xenophon documents in 400 B.C. which they appear to have consumed the majority of the dwellers that are local.
Armenian tradition, recorded between your 5th and centuries that are eighth, 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 associated with the land that is armenian and the descendants of Haik later defended Armenia through the forces of Assyria.
Contemporary scholarly views are only as wide-ranging. a common view is the fact that Armenians had been of Indo-European stock and joined the region either along with all the Phrygians from the Balkan area or aided by the Mitanni through the part of the Aral Sea. They encountered the Urartuan tradition in an amount of decrease and finally arrived to rule over them along with other Caucasian teams in the area. Another theory attracts on linguistic similarities involving the Armenian language and the Caucasian languages associated with the area to express that the Armenians Three Day Rule had initially been by themselves a Caucasian tribe which adopted an Indo-European tongue, and this Caucasian substrate is in charge of the reality that Armenian is pretty genetically separated on the list of Indo-European languages. Just one more concept is the fact that Armenians would be the many inactive people of the initial speakers of Proto-Indo-European; that the Indo-European languages originated from the region that is transcaucasian nevertheless the Armenians, whom selected to not migrate out from the area, had been marginalized during durations of Hittite and Urartuan dominance. Suffice it to state, the true beginning associated with the Armenian peoples will remain shrouded in obscurity for a while in the future.
The land that is just armenian is a plateau positioned approximately 5000 legs above ocean level and hemmed in by mountainous areas. It lies roughly southeast of the Ebony Sea and southwest associated with the Caspian Sea. The ancient Armenian homeland was somewhat more expansive compared to the modern Armenian Republic, also including a lot of eastern Turkey, the northeastern part of Iran, and elements of Azerbaijan and Georgia. When you look at the northeast the Kur River separates the highland area from lowlands which sweep into the Caspian Sea. The north edge is continued because of the Pontus mountain range, which expands west through the supply of the Kur and shields Armenia through the Ebony water. The Taurus and Zagros hill ranges create a boundary that is natural over the whole southern expanse and cutting Armenia removed 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 when you look at the subsequent imperial battles.
