The Èrsh language was the language of the Èr or Èrs people, hypothetical
Nakh-speaking people argued for by
Amjad Jaimoukha
Amjad Jaimoukha ( Circassian: Жэмыхъуэ Амджэд, ; sometimes quoted as "Амыщ", the Circassian personal name) was a Circassian writer, publicist and historian, who wrote a number of books on North Caucasian – specifically Circ ...
in his book ''The Chechens: A Handbook''
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Examples of placenames
The capital of the Èrs (which was later turned into a fortress by Urartu) was called Èribuni (later turned into and used as a fortress by the Urartian state). Amjad Jaimoukha
Amjad Jaimoukha ( Circassian: Жэмыхъуэ Амджэд, ; sometimes quoted as "Амыщ", the Circassian personal name) was a Circassian writer, publicist and historian, who wrote a number of books on North Caucasian – specifically Circ ...
argued that "buni" is from a Nakh root, meaning 'shelter' or 'home' (giving rise to the modern Chechen word ''bun'', 'a cabin, or small house'). According to him, Erebuni meant "the home of the Èrs". It corresponds to modern Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
.[See ] However, this theory is not accepted by mainstream linguists and is considered problematic, namely because Chechen "bun" initially derives from the Armenian word ''buyn'' ( բույն) for "nest" or "lair", from Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
*bʰeuH-no-, from *bʰeuH- (“to be; to grow”). Cognates include Sanskrit भुवन (bhúvana, "world"), Albanian ''bun'' ("shepherd's hut") and Middle Persian بن ''bun'' ("bottom").
In the '' Georgian Chronicles'', Leonti Mroveli refers to Lake Sevan as "Lake Ereta". The name of the Arax is also attributed to the Èrs.[Jaimoukha, Amjad. ''The Chechens: A Handbook''. Routledge Curzon: Oxon, 2005.] It is also called the Yeraskhi. The Armenian name is "Yeraskhadzor" (which Jaimoukha identifies as ''Èr'' + ''khi'', a Nakh water body suffix, + Armenian ''dzor'' gorge).[ However, according to Urartologist Paul Zimansky, Hurro-Urartian ''-khi'' is a plural/tribal denotation and not a hydronym, rendering Jaimoukha's theory incorrect.
]
References
Northeast Caucasian languages
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