Paleo-Balkan languages in Eastern Europe between 5th and 1st century BC

The Armeno-Phrygians are a hypothetical people of

West Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

(specifically of

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and the

Armenian Highlands The Armenian highlands (; also known as the Armenian upland, Armenian plateau, or Armenian tableland)Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: ...

) during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, the

Bronze Age collapse The Late Bronze Age collapse was a period of societal collapse in the Mediterranean basin during the 12th century BC. It is thought to have affected much of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Egypt, Anatolia, the Aege ...

, and its aftermath. They would be the common ancestors of both

Phrygians The Phrygians (Greek: Φρύγες, ''Phruges'' or ''Phryges'') were an ancient Indo-European speaking people who inhabited central-western Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) in antiquity. Ancient Greek authors used "Phrygian" as an umbrella term t ...

and Proto-Armenians.I. M. Diakonoff
"The Problem of the Mushki"
. In ''The Prehistory of the Armenian People'' In turn, Armeno-Phrygians would be the descendants of the Graeco-Phrygians, common ancestors of

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

, and also of Armenians. The term "Armeno-Phrygian" is also used for a hypothetical language branch, which would include the languages spoken by the Phrygians and the Armenians, and would be a branch of the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

language family, or a sub-branch of either the proposed " Graeco-Armeno-Aryan" or " Armeno-Aryan" branches. There are two conflicting theories regarding the potential origins of the Armeno-Phrygians: * Ancient Greek historian

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

stated that Armenians were colonists from

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

("the Armenians were equipped like Phrygians, being Phrygian colonists" (Ἀρμένιοι δὲ κατά περ Φρύγες ἐσεσάχατο, ἐόντες Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι)(7.73). Phrygia encompassed much of western and central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to Ancient Greeks, the Phrygians had originated in the Balkans as Bryges. This led some scholars to suggest that Armenians also originated in the Balkans. According to

Igor Diakonoff Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, ; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East and its languages. His brothers were also distinguis ...

, the

and the Proto-Armenians migrated eastward during the

(at the end of the 13th century and the first half of 12th century). This theory suggests that Proto-Armenians were known by the name of

Mushki The Mushki (sometimes transliterated as Muški) were an Iron Age people of Anatolia who appear in sources from Assyria but not from the Hittites. Several authors have connected them with the Moschoi (Μόσχοι) of Greek sources and the Geor ...

to the

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

and that they blended with the ancient populations of the

, including speakers of

Hurro-Urartian languages Hurro-Urartian is an extinct language, extinct language family of the Ancient Near East, comprising only two known languages: Hurrian language, Hurrian and Urartian language, Urartian. Origins It is often assumed that the Hurro-Urartian languag ...

, to create Armenians. Assyrian sources identify the Mushki with the Phrygians, but later Greek sources then distinguish between the Phrygians and the Moschoi (commonly thought to be a variation of "Mushki"). * Some modern scholars instead believe that a proto-Armeno-Phrygian population originated in eastern Anatolia and/or the Armenian Highlands, from where the Phrygians later migrated westward. According to some scholars, there is evidence of language borrowings (Armenisms) from the

Proto-Armenian Proto-Armenian is the earlier, unattested stage of the Armenian language which has been reconstructed by linguists. As Armenian is the only known language of its branch of the Indo-European languages, the comparative method cannot be used to re ...

language into Hittite and Urartian,Hrach Martirosyan. "Origins and historical development of the Armenian language" (pp. 7–9) in ''Journal of Language Relationship, International Scientific Periodical'', no. 10 (2013). Russian State University for the Humanities, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. what would prove the presence of Proto-Armenians in the Armenian Highlands, in the lands of

ancient Armenia Ancient Armenia refers to the history of Armenia during Classical antiquity, Antiquity. It follows Prehistoric Armenia and covers a period of approximately one thousand years, beginning at the end of the Iron Age with the events that led to the dis ...

, since at least the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

Criticism

A number of linguists have rejected a close relationship between Armenian and Phrygian, despite saying that the two languages do share some features. Phrygian is now classified as a centum language more closely related to Greek than Armenian, whereas Armenian is mostly

satem Languages of the Indo-European family are classified as either centum languages or satem languages according to how the dorsal consonants (sounds of "K", "G" and "Y" type) of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) developed. An ...

. Recent research suggests that there is lack of archaeologicalKossian, Aram V. (1997), "The Mushki Problem Reconsidered." pp. 260-261 and genetic evidence for a group from the Balkans entering eastern

or the

during or after the Bronze Age Collapse (as was suggested by Diakonoff). Some scholars have suggested that the Mushki (whether they were speakers of Armenian or another language) originated in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

region and moved westward.Kopanias, Konstantinos (2015), "The Mushki/Phrygian Problem from the Near Eastern Point of View." pp. 220-222

Criticism

See also

References

Further reading