Spoken by about 6.7 million people, mainly in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh (actually an unrecognized independent republic in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the Transcaucasus). In addition, Armenian speakers live in many other countries, including Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. The Armenian equivalent of the name of the language is Hayeren. Many words in Armenian come from similar words ancient Persian, indicating their common Indo-European origin.

Armenian language is official language Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and also has the status of an official language ethnic minority in Cyprus, Poland and Romania. Until the early 1990s. education in Armenian schools was conducted in Armenian and, but after the collapse of the USSR, the Armenian language became the main language of teaching, and Russian-language schools were closed. In 2010, education in Russian in Armenia resumed.

A Brief History of the Armenian Language

Little is known about the Armenian language before it first appeared in writing in Vv. However, references to Armenian people found in records dating back to the 6th century. BC e.

The type of Armenian that was spoken and written in the 5th century is called Classical Armenian, or գրաբար ( grabar- "written"). It contains many loan words from the Parthian language, as well as Greek, Syriac, Latin, Urartian and other languages. Grabar was used as a literary language until late XIX in.

The Armenian language that was used during the period of the 11th-15th centuries is called Middle Armenian, or միջինհայերեն (mijinhayeren), and contains many loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Latin.

Two main modern forms Armenian language appeared during the 19th century, when the territory of Armenia was divided between the Russian and Ottoman empires. Western Armenian was used by Armenians who moved to Constantinople, while Eastern Armenian was spoken by Armenians living in Tbilisi (Georgia). Both dialects were used in newspapers and for teaching in schools. As a result, the level of literacy has increased, and the modern Armenian language has become more widely used in literature than the classical one.

Armenian alphabet

At the end of IV century. King Vramshapuh of Armenia asked Mesrop Mashtots, an outstanding scientist, to create a new alphabet for the Armenian language. Before that, “cuneiform” was used for writing in Armenian, which, according to the Armenian clergy, was not suitable for writing works on religion.

Mashtots went to Alexandria, where he studied the basics of writing and came to the conclusion that Greek alphabet was the best at the time, as it had an almost one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters. He used the Greek alphabet as a model for the new alphabet and showed it to the king in 405 when he returned to Armenia. New alphabet received recognition, and in 405 was printed new translation Bibles in Armenian. Shortly thereafter, other literary works appeared.

There are two generally accepted forms of the Armenian language: Eastern Armenian, which is used primarily in Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia and Iran; and Western Armenian, which is spoken by the Armenian diaspora in many countries. They are more or less similar to each other.

Peculiarities:

• Writing type: alphabet
• Writing direction: left to right, horizontal
• In the main dialects of the Armenian language (Western and Eastern) there is a slight difference in the pronunciation of letters
• Most letters also have a numeric value.
• How many letters are in the Armenian alphabet: initially the alphabet consisted of 36 letters, and in the 12th century two more letters Օ and Ֆ were added

An attempt to attribute the Armenian language to any language group did not lead to anything. He made up separate group Indo-European language family. The modern Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in the 4th century. Its creation was not a simple copying of already existing alphabets. Mashtots and his students, among whom was Moses Khorensky, extensive scientific research. Young people were sent to Persia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, whose goal was a deep study of the language, its sound range and the correspondence of sound with its letter designation.

It was a kind of long-term linguistic expedition, after which information was collected and processed, on the basis of which the original Armenian alphabet was created. Its accuracy and uniqueness have been proven for centuries: it is known that language composition speech changes over time, the ancient language becomes “dead” (Ancient Greek, Latin), but the uniqueness of the Mashtots alphabet allows today to freely speak ancient Armenian and read ancient Armenian manuscripts. Although the vocabulary of the language has changed, its sound range has remained the same, and all the richness of speech sounding has found its embodiment in the Armenian alphabet. Mesrop Mashtots is also the creator of the Georgian alphabet.

Until recently, it was believed that before the appearance of the Mashtots alphabet, Armenians used Persian scripts, and before that they did not have their own script. Indeed, during the reign of the Arshakids, a dynasty that had close blood ties with Persian kings- official documents, correspondence were conducted in Persian, and it was not necessary to talk about the presence of more ancient writing among the Armenians due to the lack of “material evidence”. Quite recently, at the end of last year, a group of young scientists from Yerevan made an attempt to decipher the hitherto almost unreadable writings of Urartu.

The key was the ancient Armenian language. Unfortunately, there are no official publications on this issue in our press yet, but there is a high probability that the Urartian cuneiform was the oldest alphabet of Armenians. There is also some information that before Mesrop Mashtots there was a certain Armenian alphabet, consisting of 28 letters, which absolutely did not correspond to the sound range of the Armenian language. The alphabet of Mashtots consists of 36 letters.

Speaking about the Armenian writing, one cannot fail to mention the first Armenian historians and writers, thanks to whom much of antiquity has come down to our days. Mar-Ibas-Katina, the secretary of King Vagharshak I, is considered the oldest Armenian historian. Having received permission from the Persian king Arshak to study in the archives of Nineveh, where the libraries of Babylon captured by the Persians were stored, Mar-Ibas wrote the history of Armenia from the first kings to Tigran I according to Chaldean sources. This work came down to us only in the lists.

Agafangel - the secretary of King Trdat, who wrote the history of the spread of Christianity in Armenia (4th century). Gregory the Illuminator - the author of a collection of sermons and prayers in Armenian. Postus Byuzand - compiled the history of Armenia from 344 - 392. Mesrop Mashtots - in collaboration with Catholicos Sahak, translated the Holy Scripture into Armenian, author of the Trebnik (known as Mashdots) and the Festive Menaion. Moses Khorensky is the author of the history of Armenia in 4 books. Yeghishe - left to posterity a description of the wars of the Armenians with the Persians between 439 - 463. Lazar Parbetsi - history of Armenia 388 - 484 David the Invincible - philosophical works on the beginnings. Among the authors of the 7th century: Ioannes Mamikonyan - the history of the princes Mamikonyan. Shirakatsi - nicknamed the Arithmetic, astronomer, compiler of the Armenian calendar. Moses II - the author of grammar and rhetoric. 8th century: John the Appraiser of teachings against heresies. XI century: Foma Artsruni - the history of the Artsruni family; historians John VI, Moses Kagkantovotsi; Gregory Magistros - the author of the Grammar of the Armenian language and the poetic transcription of the "history of the Old and New Testament"; Aristakes Lasdiverdtsi - "History of Armenia and neighboring cities" (988 - 1071). XII century: Samuel - compiler of chronologies from the creation of the world to 1179. Doctor Mkhitar - "Consolation in a fever." Nerses Klaetsi - patriarch, theologian, author of a verse transcription of the Bible, which includes 8000 verses. Mkhitar Gosh is the author of 190 fables, the Code of Church and Civil Laws. XIII century: Stefan Orbelian - Bishop of Syunik, author of the elegy "Lament for Etchmiadzin". Vartan the Great - author General History from the creation of the world to 1267. “Kirakos Kandzaketsi - described the devastation by the Mongols in 1230 of the city of Ani and the flight of Armenians to Astrakhan, Trebizond, Poland. Magakia Apega - described the invasions of the Tatars in Asia before 1272. Mkhitar Anetsi - gave rich information on the history of Armenia, Georgia, Persia and translated astronomy from the Persian language. Aristakes is the author of "science or instructions on how to write correctly" and "Dictionary of the Armenian language". The 14th century brought terrible trials to the Armenian people.

Subjected to continuous persecution, extermination, the Armenians sought salvation in other countries
When a person's house is on fire, he unconsciously grabs the most valuable thing, trying to save it. Among the most valuable things that the Armenians saved, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, were books - the keepers of the memory of the people, their language, history, culture. These books, saved from fire, water, enemy desecration, are collected today in the treasury of Armenia - Matenodaran. Among them there are quite a few that have been rewritten, or rather redrawn by absolutely illiterate people who can neither read nor write. But it is thanks to their high patriotic feat that today we can read ancient sources torn out of oblivion by the hands and labors of these people.

With the advent of printing in the 16th century Armenian literature continued its development. Everywhere where the Armenians settled, they tried to open their printing house. So, in 1568, such a printing house appeared in Venice, and in the 17th century. Printing houses were founded in Milan, Paris, Amsterdam, Leipzig, Constantinople, later in London, Smyrna, Madras, Etchmiadzin, Trieste, Tiflis, Shusha, Astrakhan, in St. Petersburg (1783), Nakhichevan. With the resettlement of Armenians in America, printing houses appeared in many countries of the New World.

Until the beginning of the 5th century, Armenians wrote in Greek, Assyrian and Syriac, which was then perceived by many as quite natural. But thoughts about the fate of Christianity in Armenia and the difficult political situation led the warrior, scientist and monk Mesrop Mashtots to the idea of ​​creating an Armenian alphabet. This is incredible difficult task he was greatly helped by the Catholicos of all Armenians Sahak Partev, the great-great-grandson of Gregory the Illuminator.

Having received an excellent education, Mashtots, in addition to Armenian, was also fluent in Greek, Persian, Assyrian and Georgian. Having carried out a titanic work, traveling with his 40 students all over Armenia from Persia to Byzantium, Mashtots created the Armenian script bit by bit. He and Partev understood that without their alphabet, our people would very soon lose their national identity, because in everyday life people began to communicate with each other in Persian or Greek.

Things were not very good in religion either: Armenia had adopted Christianity as the state religion for almost a hundred years, but only monks and a few literate secular citizens could read the Bible in Greek and Assyrian. Therefore, it was necessary to urgently translate the Holy Scripture into Armenian, which was brilliantly done by Mashtots and Partev.

For accuracy, conciseness and expressiveness, their translation of the Bible (the seventh in a row) was recognized by connoisseurs as unsurpassed - it is known as the queen of translations. Thanks to this, services in churches began to be held in the native language understandable to the people, which contributed to the conscious perception of Christianity.

Mashtots traveled around the villages with his students and taught the Armenian language, becoming the first teacher of his native language. All this was written in detail by one of his students Koryun, who later became a historian. In the Middle Ages, in addition to schools at monasteries, universities began to form.
Translations of many works of Greek and Syrian scientists and philosophers into Armenian helped to preserve them for posterity, since the originals were lost. And now they are being translated back from Armenian into the original language.

In 2005 the entire Armenian people celebrated the 1600th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet - one of the oldest in the world. It is noteworthy that during this huge period he did not undergo significant changes. In honor of this significant event on the eastern slope of Mount Aragats, all 39 stone letters Armenian alphabet. There is literally no such monument anywhere in the world!

Armenian is a language spoken by about 10 million Armenians. Most of them are residents of the Republic of Armenia, the rest make up a huge diaspora and are settled all over the world.
The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family. Place of Armenian among others Indo-European languages has been the subject of much debate; the opinion was expressed that Armenian may be a descendant of a language closely related to Phrygian (known from inscriptions found on the territory of ancient Anatolia). The Armenian language belongs to the eastern ("satem") group of Indo-European languages, and shows some commonality with other languages ​​​​of this group - Baltic, Slavic, Iranian and Indian. However, given the geographical position of Armenia, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the Armenian language is also close to some Western ("centum") Indo-European languages, primarily to Greek.
The Armenian language is characterized by changes in the field of consonantism. which can be illustrated the following examples: lat. dens, Greek o-don, armenian a-tamn "tooth"; lat. genus, Greek genos, armenian cin "birth". The advance in the Indo-European languages ​​of stress on the penultimate syllable led to the disappearance of the stressed syllable in Armenian; thus, the Proto-Indo-European bheret became ebhret, which gave the Armenian ebr.

As a result of centuries of Persian domination, many Persian words entered the Armenian language. Christianity brought with it Greek and Syriac words; in the Armenian lexicon, there is also a large proportion of Turkish elements that penetrated during the long period when Armenia was part of the Ottoman Empire; few left French words, borrowed in the era of the Crusades. The grammatical system of the Armenian language retains several types of nominal inflection, seven cases, two numbers, four types of conjugation and nine tenses. Grammatical gender, as in English, is lost.

The Armenian language became a written language at the end of the 4th century AD thanks to the Armenian educator, scholar-monk, Mesrop Mashtots (362-440). In some historical documents it is said that Mesrop Mashtots is the creator of not only the Armenian alphabet but also the Albanian one ( Caucasian Albania) and Georgian. Together with his students, he translated part of the Bible from Syriac into Armenian. The translation of the Bible into the "classical" national language is one of the first monuments of Armenian writing. Mesrop Mashtots founded national schools in all regions Ancient Armenia, wrote the first textbook of the Armenian language and developed a teaching methodology. He laid the foundation for Armenian professional poetry and music.

In the first half of the 5th century, Armenian literature included more than 40 literary works written in the ancient Armenian language called Grabar. This ancient written language in its own way structural features has a great similarity with the ancient Indo-European languages: Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language), Latin, Greek, Old Slavonic, Old Germanic, etc., differing from them in its completeness linguistic system.

Varieties of writing: "bolorgir" -<круглое>letter using round capital letters and oblique lowercase letters, made with straight horizontal and vertical elements, and "notrgir" - oblique cursive writing using rounded elements.
The next stage in the development of the Armenian language is the Middle Armenian language, which arose in the 10th century and existed next to the Grabar until the 15th century. In the XIV-XIX centuries. next to the Grabar, a living national literary language arose and developed, called "Ashkharabar", i.e. "secular language". Grabar began to be used only as a cult language of the church.

Since the 50s of the 19th century, the modern Armenian national literary language has been developing from Ashkharabar. In modern Armenian, two dialects are distinguished: eastern, which is spoken in Armenia and Iran; and western, used in Asia Minor, Europe and the USA. . The state language of Armenia (Oriental Literary) in its grammatical structure is similar to the dialect group called the “mind” branch, according to the principle of composing the forms of the present tense of the indicative mood. The Western Armenian literary language in its grammatical structure is similar to the dialect group called the “ke” branch, according to the same principle. The main difference between them is that in the Western dialect there was a secondary stunning of voiced plosives: b, d, g turned into p, t, k. Differences between eastern and western literary languages ​​are insignificant (unlike spoken dialects). All dialects are characterized by: consonantism (consonance of consonants in a word); 7 cases, 8 types of declension, 5 moods, 2 types of conjugation, 7 participles; 3 voices (active, passive, middle), 3 persons (incl. binary), 3 numbers; 3 genera (m.r., f.r., cf.r.) in app. dial.; in the east dial. the gender category is absent; 3 types of action for verbs (perfect, imperfect, to be performed). The name paradigm is dominated by synthetic forms expressions grammatical meaning, and in the paradigm of the verb - analytical.

Armenian is a language belonging to the Indo-European family, the Paleo-Balkan branch, the Greek-Phrygian-Armenian group, the Phrygian-Armenian subgroup. It is the state language of Armenia. The Armenian language has a very vast geography: the number of speakers of it around the world significantly exceeds the population of the country. Countries with largest number Armenian speakers outside of Armenia:

• Russia;
• France;
• Lebanon;
• Georgia;
• Iran.

Before the appearance of the first written sources about the Armenian language, little information was preserved. However, the first written references about the Armenian people are found in documents dating back to the 6th century. BC. Due to the fact that the periods of occurrence of oral and writing languages ​​do not coincide, it is not possible to unambiguously answer the question of where the history of the Armenian language originates. Most scientists distinguish several periods of language formation:

• pre-Grabar (from antiquity to the 5th century AD - pre-literate period);
• Grabar (from the 5th to the 12th centuries - the first centuries after the appearance of writing);
• middle Armenian (from the 12th to the 19th century);
• new Armenian (from the 19th to the present day).

Before the emergence of writing, Armenian documents have come down to us only using the letters of the Greek, Syriac, and Persian alphabets. In the 5th century AD linguist and priest Mesrop Mashtots developed . In this regard, Grabar, the classical or ancient Armenian language, has received significant development. ancient form Armenian language, preserved in written sources and survived to this day. First printed book in Armenian "Urbatagirk" was published by Hakob Megapart in 1512 in Venice.

Features of the Armenian language

The Armenian language has a number of features that significantly distinguish it from other languages:

• At the end of a sentence in Armenian, not a period, but a colon is put;
• Many sounds in the Armenian language have no analogues in any language of the world;
• There are not many languages ​​in the world that contain 39 letters in the alphabet;
• For almost two millennia, the Armenian alphabet has not undergone practically
• no significant changes;
• The Armenian language contains 120 roots, thanks to which material from any language can be translated into it;
• In Armenia, there is a special holiday dedicated to the Armenian language and writing and is called the “Translator's Holiday”. This fact indicates a high level written culture Armenian people;
• Armenian is the only language in which the title of the Bible refers to God. AT literal translation Astvatsashunch (arm. "Bible") means "Breath of God".

Modifiers and punctuation

In addition to having a special alphabet, the Armenian language differs from languages Indo-European family so is the punctuation system. Most of punctuation in modern Armenian goes back to Grabar punctuation. The end of a sentence is indicated by a colon, and the dot in Armenian functions as a comma in Russian. Interrogative and exclamation marks placed not at the end of the sentence, but above the vowel in last syllable intonationally emphasized word.

Numbers and numbers of the Armenian language

The Armenian numeral system uses capital letters of the alphabet. The old system did not have a zero. The last letters of the Armenian alphabet, "O" (Օ) and "fe" (Ֆ) were added to its composition after the appearance of Arabic numerals and therefore have no numerical value. In modern Armenia, familiar Arabic numerals are used.

Grammar

The grammar of the Armenian language also has a number of features. Nouns change in number and case, but do not have a gender characteristic. The postpositive article is used in Armenian. In most languages, the article is placed before the noun and is prepositive. If the article is used after a noun, then it is called postpositive.
Syntactic link between words in a sentence is expressed through agreement, control, partly word order. The Armenian language belongs to the group of languages ​​of the nominative system. Word order is quite variable. The stress is almost always placed on the last syllable.

Phonetics

The phonetics of the Armenian language implies the presence of:

• Affricate (compound consonants ձ, ծ, ց, ջ, ճ, չ).
• Aspirate (voiceless aspirated consonants փ, թ, ք).
• Back-lingual fricative consonants - deaf խ (х) and voiced ղ.
• Guttural aspiration - հ.

Dialect classification

The modern Armenian language has various dialects. In total, there are about 60 of their varieties. Some dialects of the Armenian language are so different from each other that speakers of it may well not understand each other. There are many principles for classifying Armenian dialects, but traditionally the language is divided into two directions: eastern and western.
The Eastern Armenian dialect is widespread in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran. The Western version of the Armenian language is used in the eastern part of Turkey, Europe and the USA. In addition to the traditional one, the Armenian linguist R.A. Acharyan also differentiated the Armenian dialects according to the following principle (using the example of the verb gnal - “to go”):

• um dialects (gnum em);
• kə dialects (kə gnam);
• l dialects (gnal em).

Russian-speaking tourists traveling around Armenia can easily communicate with local residents without a Russian-Armenian phrase book. Armenians themselves are very friendly and friendly people who are ready to help any foreigner, but they have a particularly warm attitude towards Russians. After all, Russia has been a reliable patroness and ally of Armenia for two centuries, and once saved the Armenians from total annihilation.

However, when going to Armenia, it is better to learn a few of the most common Armenian expressions or at least use a Russian-Armenian phrasebook. So the traveler will not only make his life easier, but also win the sympathy of the Armenians, because most of them are kind to their language. He helped this small Christian country to maintain internal integrity, culture and faith.

The history of Armenia is a history of constant trials and attacks by powerful neighbors who sought to conquer, divide into parts and dissolve the proud Armenians in themselves. But mutual language, along with the Christian faith, became a stronghold that allowed the Armenians to survive all the hardships and catastrophes, remaining one unique people.

General information

Armenian is the native language of 6.5 million Armenians. Approximately 3 million of them live in Armenia, one million each in Russian Federation and the United States, with another one and a half million scattered around the world. The largest diasporas are in Georgia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Syria, Ukraine, Argentina. Armenians truly love their language, for them it is an indicator of national kinship. Therefore, in any diaspora, the study of the Armenian language is considered mandatory.

Armenian refers to eastern group a large family of Indo-European languages, including about 140 of them. More than two billion earthlings speak these languages. Armenian is considered one of the oldest written languages, and the history of Armenian writing dates back to the beginning of the 4th century. Armenia has always been surrounded by many foreign-speaking neighbors, so in the Armenian language there are words from Urartian, Aramaic, Persian, Georgian, Syriac, Latin, Greek and other languages.

Variations

There are two main dialects of the Armenian language:

• West. The language of foreign diasporas and some Russian Armenian settlements in the Crimea and the Rostov region. This is the language of Armenians who fled the Turkish genocide or left for a better share in distant countries.
• Oriental. Literary and official language Republic of Armenia, it publishes most of the books, newspapers and official documents. It is also spoken in the Russian diasporas. It is the eastern dialect, as a rule, that is taught by self-taught books of the Armenian language.

There is no significant difference between dialects. Western just borrowed more foreign words. Grammar and phonetics remained common. Therefore, Armenians easily understand each other anywhere in the world.

History of the Armenian language: main stages

Experts divide the history of the development of the Armenian spoken language into four large period:

• colloquial before the advent of writing, approximately 7th century BC. - 5th century AD
• the ancient language of Armenians (appearance of writing), 5th-11th centuries;
• middle, 11th - 17th centuries;
• new, from the 17th century to the present day.

The emergence of language

There is no exact information about the date of the appearance of a single language among the ancient Armenians. The most stable version claims that approximately in the 7th century BC, the ancestors of modern Armenians came from the west and settled in the Armenian Highlands, where the Urartian kingdom was located at that time, which in fact was a union of multilingual tribes.

The ancient Armenians carefully preserved their Indo-European language, which in many ways allowed them to create in the 4th century BC. e. own ancient Armenian kingdom on the foundation of the Urartian state. However, soon the young Armenian kingdom was conquered first by the Persians, and then by the Hellenistic Seleucid state, which was formed after aggressive campaigns Macedonian.

Only the fall of the Seleucid kingdom under the blows of the Roman Empire Armenia in 189 BC. e. regained independence. Artashes the First became king, he started a great monarchical dynasty and united the lands where they spoke the same language. It was the Armenian language that became the link for the emerging state. For two centuries Armenia prospered and developed, which was noted in the Greek chronicles.

But at the beginning of the new millennium, the young and rich kingdom again became a desirable target for more strong states: Persians and Roman Empire. Armenia in all conflicts stood for the Romans, but this did not save her. At the end of the 4th century, the Persians and Romans divided the ancient Armenian kingdom into two parts, depriving it of its independence, and in 428 Armenia, betrayed by the Roman allies, completely ceased to exist.

History of the Armenian alphabet

The Armenians were the first to adopt Christianity in the region, in 301, making new religion state. It was the Christian faith and language that became the salvation for a small people in the most difficult times. The appearance of writing served as a huge help for the preservation of the national Armenian unity and culture.

The lion's share of merit in this lies with the Armenian clergy and the Italian Mesrop Mashtots, who began his activities in Armenia as a simple Christian preacher, and ended life path in 440 as the founder of Armenian writing. Mashtots and the higher clergy were well aware that the spread and strengthening of Christianity in Armenia vitally needed the appearance of a national script. The state that lost its independence, divided between pagan Rome and the Persians, who professed Zoroastrianism, could also lose faith.

The church council, headed by Catholicos Sahak, entrusted Mashtots with the creation of Armenian writing. At first, he decided to use the ancient "Daniel letters" for the alphabet, but this attempt was unsuccessful, since the alphabet could not contain all phonetic variety Armenian language. Mashtots and his assistants tried many language systems and alphabets, until he created in 406 the first Armenian alphabet that met the phonetic requirements of the language.

Church books were the first to be copied into Armenian, then the turn of philosophical and historical works came. Armenian writing is one of the most ancient, more than 25,000 handwritten Armenian handwritten books and manuscripts, written in the period from the 5th to the 17th century, have been preserved. Printing in Armenian began in 1512, until 1800 1154 books were published.

Ancient literary language: 5th - 11th centuries

Thanks to the clergy, the norms of the ancient literary language quickly gained a foothold among the Armenians, which was very timely. In the 7th century, a swift procession of a young and aggressive Islamic religion began around the world. Wave after wave of devastating Arab invasions rolled onto the Armenian Highlands. In the middle of the 7th century, the Armenians became subjects of the Arab Caliphate.

Armenia was divided into principalities, uprisings against Arab domination constantly flared up, the princes either flirted with the Caliphate or fought against it. Among other princely houses, the Bagratid house stood out, which in 744 was able to take power in Armenia into its own hands. The reign of the Bagratid dynasty was so successful that in the 9th century the Arab armies did not dare to fight directly with the strengthened Armenian army. A calm and fertile life returned to the state for some time.

But in the 11th century, the centuries-old hardships of the Armenians began. The country was again divided into parts, now between Byzantium and the Turks. The raids of the Seljuk Turks led Armenia into decline, the cities were empty, trade practically ceased, rich Armenians preferred to move to more peaceful places: to the Cilician Taurus and to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The Cilician Principality was formed there, and then the state, which in many ways helped to preserve and even increase cultural heritage Armenians and the Armenian language.

Middle language: 11th - 17th centuries

While chaos and devastation reigned in the Armenian Highlands, a new kingdom of Armenians was emerging in Cilicia. In these lands it was relatively calm, in addition, trade routes from Europe and Byzantium to the countries of the Middle East passed through them. It was through Cilicia that the warriors of the first Crusade marched. Armenian culture and language once again found excellent ground for development.

Middle Armenian is no longer the language of the clergy, but the language of poets, scientists, lawyers. Poems, agricultural works, historical essays, legal and medical work. Many of these manuscripts have survived to this day and serve as priceless monuments of Armenian writing.

New language: from the 17th century

The Cilician state was conquered in 1375 by the Mamluks and ceased to exist. The Armenian highland was an arena for successive conquerors. And since the 15th century West Side Armenia finally fell under the heel of the young Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans regarded Christian Armenians as second-class people. The Persians ruled in the eastern Armenian lands.

The Armenian language and Christianity again became the only hope for salvation for the long-suffering people. True, in the 19th century, the Armenians had a powerful protector - the Russian Empire. In 1828, after a series of victorious wars, Russia annexed Eastern Armenia. Unfortunately, Western Armenia went to Turkey. That's how it all started different fates two Armenias, at the same time there was a clear branching of a single language into eastern and western dialects.

Laws were in force in Eastern Armenia Russian Empire, schools, hospitals were built, there was freedom of religion and education. In Western Armenia, the Turks were outrageous, trying in every possible way to turn the Armenians into a humiliated, barbaric state. For the time being, the Ottomans managed only with humiliation and oppression of freedoms, but at the end of the 19th century, a twenty-year genocide erupted on Turkish lands. Armenians were destroyed by families, slaughtered by entire villages, regardless of age and gender. The nightmarish massacre claimed more than two million Armenian lives.

Our days

Armenians remember the Turkish genocide very well, they do not forget and honor what helped them to survive: the Christian faith, a single language, the help of Russian co-religionists, the ability to support each other. Therefore, Armenians so easily form strong and friendly diasporas in any country. For this reason, the study of the Armenian language for them is not just a tribute to traditions, but an acquired collective instinct that many times saved them from disappearing as a people.

When meeting, Armenians usually communicate with pleasure in Armenian, even if they were born in another country. The difference in dialects or a long life in a foreign-speaking environment does not become an obstacle. Schools are organized in the diaspora to study national language and writing. Not everyone sends their children there, but almost all Armenians from childhood teach their children not a few phrases in Armenian, but a confident command of Armenian. Even if such children cannot correctly write in the language of their ancestors, they will always understand it and be able to communicate with their countryman.

Language is a map of the development of culture.
It tells about how the people appeared and in what direction it develops.
Rita Mae Brown

Very often, it becomes problematic for linguists to start a study, since even at the beginning there must already be some kind of background. Paths of the past lead to the present. Sometimes scientific approach to research origin of the ancient language is purely hypothetical.
To establish language origin needed theoretical basis and the basic structure of the language. In the case of the Armenian language, the hypothesis is based on its relation to the Indo-European family, which, in addition to Armenian, includes more than 100 languages. The basic structure of a language is established through word analysis and sound composition, which go back to common roots Indo-European parent language. The study of the language for its origin and evolution is mainly associated with its speech characteristics. Most modern linguists in their work rely on the hypothesis that spoken language is more fundamental and therefore more important than written language. Thus, the Armenian language is considered predominantly a descendant of the Indo-Hittite group of languages. Linguists who support the belonging of the Armenian language to the Indo-European family of languages ​​agree that this language is a separate branch within the group.

From the very beginning, several hypotheses were put forward. European linguists of the past centuries have made attempts to study and classify this language. Mathurin Veysière de Lacroze(La Croze) (fr. Mathurin Veyssiere de La Croze 1661-1739) became one of the first European scientists of the modern era to seriously study Armenian language research, namely its religious side. The linguist wrote that the translation of the Bible into Armenian is "example of all translations". Mathurin Veissier de Lacroze compiled an impressive German-Armenian dictionary (approximately 1802 entries), but he limited himself to the study of lexicology only, without delving into the origins of the language.

Immediately after the principles of comparative linguistics were outlined Franz Bopp (Franz Bopp), Petermann in his work GrammaticalinguaeArmeniacae» (Berlin, 1837), on the basis of the etymological data on the Armenian language available in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, was able to suggest that Armenian belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. Nine years later in 1846, regardless of Petermann's research, Windischmann- a specialist in Zoroastrian inscriptions of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences - published in his scientific work Abhandlungen a wonderful monograph on the Armenian language, in which it was concluded that the Armenian language originated from an ancient dialect, which must have been very similar to Avestan(the language in which the Zoroastrian manuscripts were written) and Old Persian, in which, however, borrowings appeared much earlier.

Along with how Pott expressed doubts about the genetic relationship of the Armenian with Aryan languages, and allowed only a significant influence of the latter on the former, Diefenbach, on the contrary, noted that this hypothesis is not enough to explain the close relationship between the Armenian and Indian/Sanskrit and Old Persian languages. The same point of view was taken Gaucher (gosche) in his dissertation: DeArianalinguaegentisqueArmeniacaeindole» (Berlin, 1847). Three years later, in the periodical " ZeitschriftderDeutschenMorgenlä ndischenGesellschaft» , under the title "Vergleichung der armenischen consonanten mit denen des Sanskrit", de Lagarde published the results of his work: a list of 283 Armenian words with their etymological definitions, where the characteristics of the language itself were not touched upon in detail.

In the preface to the second edition, Comparative Grammar»(1857) bopp, a pioneer in the study of comparative linguistics, attributed the Armenian language to Iranian group and made an attempt, albeit unsuccessful, to explain the inflectional elements in the language. Fr.Müller which since 1861 engaged in etymological and grammatical research Armenian language in a series of his scientific articles ( SitzungsberichtederWienerAcademy), was able to penetrate much deeper into the essence of the Armenian language, which, in his opinion, definitely belonged to the Iranian group.

Russian linguist Patkanov following the German orientalists published his final work"Über die bildung der armenischen sprache" (" About the structure of the Armenian language”), which was translated from Russian into French and published in “ JournalAsiatique» (1870). De Lagarde in his work GesammeltenAbhandlungen(1866) argued that three components should be distinguished in Armenian: the original stem, subsequent overlays of Old Iranian, and similar modern Iranian borrowings that were added after the founding of the Parthian State. However, he did not characterize all three levels, and for this reason his opinion cannot be accepted for further consideration. Muller's view that the Armenian language is a branch Iranian group languages, was not refuted in its time, turned out to be prevailing and formed the basis of the theory.

A significant shift away from Persian theories was made after the appearance of a monumental work under the authorship of Heinrich Hubschmann (HeinrichHü bschmann), in which, as a result of extensive research, it was concluded that the Armenian language belongs to Aryan-Balto-Slavic languages, or rather: it is an intermediate link between the Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages. A deep study by a linguist of the Armenian language influenced the reassessment of the relationship of languages ​​within the Indo-European family, and the optimization of its schematic classification. The Armenian language is not just an independent element in the chain of Aryan-Persian and Balto-Slavic languages, but it is a link between them. But if the Armenian language is connecting element between Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages, between Aryan and European, then, according to Hubschmann, he had to play the role of an intermediary at a time when all these languages ​​were still very close to each other, when there were still no clear boundaries between them, and when they could only be regarded as dialects of the same language.

Later, Huebschmann, almost as an exception, continued his research into the Armenian language and published several books on the subject. Later linguists and experts on Indo-European languages ​​reinforced Huebschmann's conclusions and continued this research. Swiss linguist Robert Godel and some of the most eminent linguists or specialists in the study of Indo-European languages ​​( Emile Benveniste, Antoine Meillet and Georges Dumézil) also wrote a lot about various aspects of Armenian etymology and the Indo-European origin of this language.

It is not surprising that other theories about the origin of the Armenian language. Sharply different from the theory of the Indo-European origin of the Armenian language hypothesis Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr about his Japhetic origin(named after Japheth, son of Noah), based on certain phonetic features of the Armenian and Georgian, which, in his opinion, came from the same language family, Japhetic, which has a connection with the Semitic family of languages.

Between supporters Kurgan hypothesis and the Semitic theory of the origin of languages, there are a number of linguists who also consider the possibility of spreading languages ​​from the territory of Armenia. This hypothesis refutes the widely held view of the Central European origin of languages. Recently, new research in this direction has led to the formulation by Paul Harper and other linguists of the so-called glottal theory, which is perceived by many experts as an alternative to the theory of the Indo-European origin of languages.

In addition to the dubious theory of the Persian origin of the languages, the Armenian language is often characterized as a close relative. Greek. And yet, none of these hypotheses is regarded as serious enough from a purely philological point of view. Armenian philologist Rachia Akopovich Acharyan made up etymological dictionary of the Armenian language, containing 11,000 root words of the Armenian language. Of this total, Indo-European word roots make up only 8-9%, loanwords 36%, and the predominant number of "indefinite" root words, which make up more than half of the vocabulary.

A significant number of “undefined” root words in the Armenian language (almost 55% of the vocabulary) is an obvious sign of the “inexplicable” origin of the language, which contradicts traditional classification and / or genetic relationship with neighboring Greek or Persian cultures. Perhaps it would be wiser to explore genetic connection along the etymological line with extinct languages ​​​​(Hurrian, Hittite, Luvian, Elamite or Urartian) that existed on the territory of modern Armenia (regions of Anatolia and Eastern Turkey.)

Experts in the field of Indo-European language studies agree that the Proto-Indo-European division of languages ​​began in the 4th millennium BC, which gave impetus to linguistic evolution and the formation independent languages. Likewise, ok. 3500 BC proto-Armenian tribes- whether they were of European origin (according to the Thraco-Phrygian theory supported by Western scholars) or Asians (Aryans / natives / other Asian tribes) - created an economic structure based on agriculture, animal husbandry and metalworking in a geographical area that became known as Armenian Highlands.

recent archaeological research in Armenia served as evidence of several coincidences between this civilization and the Indo-European culture. With a high degree of probability, we can assume that the Armenian culture is original, stood apart from other human cultures in Asia Minor and Upper Mesopotamia.

In this context, the Armenian language with continuous evolution and invariable geographic location continued to develop and enrich itself at the expense of neighboring cultures, as evidenced by the presence of borrowed words, and after the creation of writing, to exchange experience with other distant cultures. Thus, it can be assumed that the history of the Armenian language and its modern version has about 6000 years.

It is likely that such a discrepancy linguistic theories pursues one goal - to better understand the nature of the Armenian language. Behistun inscriptions in Central Iran 520 BC often cited as the first mention of the word Armenia . In this regard, for many, including historians, the history of the Armenians begins from the 6th century BC. And yet, such a "beginning of history" is an arbitrary and superficial conclusion. No significance is attached or ignored is the fact that the Behistun written monument describes the event in three different languages: Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian. It is only true that the oldest record mentioning the word "Armenia" was made in cuneiform.