Proto-Armenian language
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| Reconstruction of | Proto-Indo-European
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| History of the Armenian language |
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Armenian alphabet Romanization of Armenian |
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Proto-Indo-European and other branches, has allowed linguists to piece together the earlier history of Armenian.
DefinitionProto-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-ArmenianThe 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 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 otn vs. Greek (accusative) póda, Proto-Indo-European *tréyes "three" > Armenian erekʿ vs. Greek treis.
HistoryThe origin of the Proto-Armenian language is subject to scholarly debate. The more genetically backed 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 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:
Findings in Armenian genetics from 2019 reveal heavy mixing of groups from the 3000s BC until 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]
The Armenian hypothesis also suggests that speakers of Proto-Armenian were tribes indigenous to the northern Armenian highlands, such as the Hayasans, Nairi, Shupria, Etiuni and by extent the Diauehi. Although these groups are only known from references left by neighboring peoples (such as Hittites, and Assyrians), Armenian etymologies have been proposed for their names.[26] See also
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