Classical Armenian

Classical Armenian (, , ; meaning "literary anguage; 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. Classical Armenian itself, in turn, was heavily influenced by the Iranian languages, in particular by Parthian.

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.

Phonology

Vowels

There are seven monophthongs:
* (Ա), (Ի), (Ը), or open ''e'' (Ե), or closed ''e'' (Է), (Ո), and (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.

Numbers in Old Armenian

Personal pronouns in 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

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''.

An example of noun in Old Armenian

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.

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.

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

See also

* List of Armenian writers
* Proto-Armenian language
* Armenian alphabet

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 ()
* Meillet, Antoine. (1903) ''Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique'' utline of a comparative grammar of classical Armenian
* Schmitt, Rüdiger. (1981) ''Grammatik des Klassisch-Armenischen mit sprachlichen Erläuterungen'' rammar of Classical Armenian with linguistic explications (1981, second edition 2007).
* Thomson, Robert W. (1989) ''An Introduction to Classical Armenian''. Caravan Books. ()

References

External links

Classical Armenian Online
by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at th
Linguistics Research Center
at the University of Texas at Austin
New Dictionary of the Armenian Language
(Nor Bargirk Haekazian Lezvi, Նոր Բառգիրք Հայկազեան Լեզուի), Venice 1836–1837. The seminal dictionary of Classical Armenian. Includes Armenian to Latin, and Armenian to Greek.
Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language
(Arrdzern Barraran Haekazian Lezvi, Առձեռն Բառարան Հայկազնեան Լեզուի), Venice 1865 (second edition).
New Dictionary Armenian-English
(Նոր Բառգիրք Հայ-Անգլիարէն), Venice, 1875-9.
Grabar Dictionary
(Գրաբարի Բառարան), Ruben Ghazarian, Yerevan, 2000.
Grabar Thesaurus
(Գրաբարի Հոմանիշների Բառարան), Ruben Ghazarian, Yerevan, 2006.
A grammar, Armenian and English by Paschal Aucher and Lord Byron. Venice 1873Brief introduction to Classical Armenian also known as Grabar


an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen

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Armenian languages
Armenian, Classical
Armenian
Armenian
Armenian Apostolic Church
Languages attested from the 5th century