Classical Armenian (original) (raw)

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Oldest attested form of the Armenian language

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 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.

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

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).

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.

| | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar /Uvular | Glottal | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | ----- | | | plain | velar. | | | | | | | | Nasals | /m/ Մ | /n/ Ն | | | | | | | Stops | voiced | /b/ Բ | /d/ Դ | | | /ɡ/ Գ | | | unvoiced | /p/ Պ | /t/ Տ | | | /k/ Կ | | | | aspirated | /pʰ/ Փ | /tʰ/ Թ | | | /kʰ/ Ք | | | | Affricates | voiced | | /dz/ Ձ | | /dʒ/ Ջ | | | | unvoiced / ejective | | /ts/ Ծ | | /tʃ/ Ճ | | | | | aspirated | | /tsʰ/ Ց | | /tʃʰ/ Չ | | | | | Fricatives | voiced | /v/ Վ | /z/ Զ | | /ʒ/ Ժ | | | | unvoiced | /f/ Ֆ [a] | /s/ Ս | | /ʃ/ Շ | /χ/ Խ | /h/ Հ | | | Approximants | lateral | | /l/ Լ | /ɫ/ Ղ | | | | | central | | /ɹ/ Ր | | /j/ Յ | | | | | Trill | | /r/ Ռ | | | | | |

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.[2]

Numbers in Old Armenian

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Personal pronouns in Old Armenian

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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

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բերել (berel, "to bear")

կարդալ (kardal, "to write")

In the second and third person singular of the present, the pluralization suffix -k' can be noticed again instead of the final part of the original PIE ending. The first person suffix -em comes from the PIE suffix in athematic verbs *-mi.

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.

արտ (art, "field"), o-type

An example of adjective in Old Armenian

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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.

երկար (erkar, "long")

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

• List of Armenian writers
• Proto-Armenian language
• Armenian alphabet
• Adjarian, Hrachia. (1971–9) Etymological Root Dictionary of the Armenian Language. Vol. I – IV. Yerevan: Yerevan State University.
• Meillet, Antoine. (1903) Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique.
• Thomson, Robert W. (1989) An Introduction to Classical Armenian. Caravan Books. (ISBN 0-88206-072-4)
• Godel, Robert. (1975) An Introduction to the Study of Classical Armenian. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag (ISBN 9783920153377)

1. ^ "Armenian Language Program | Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations". nelc.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
2. ^ Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009). Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 18. ISBN 9789027238146. Retrieved 19 May 2021.

• Classical Armenian Online by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the 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 1873
• Brief introduction to Classical Armenian also known as Grabar
• glottothèque – Ancient Indo-European Grammars online, an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen