The name ''Armenia'' enters English via Latin, from Ancient Greek .
The
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
endonym for the Armenian people and country is ''hayer'' and ''Hayastan'', respectively. The exact
etymologies of the names of Armenia are unknown, and there are various speculative attempts to connect them to older
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
or
ethnonyms.
Armenia/Armenians
''Armenia'' and ''Armenians'' are the most common names used internationally to refer to the
country Armenia and the
Armenian people
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
.
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...
themselves do not use it while speaking
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
, making it an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
.
Etymology
Multiple theories and speculations exist about the origin of the name ''Armenia'', but no consensus has been reached by historians and linguists.
Armenologist Nicholas Adontz
Nicholas Adontz (, ''Nikoghayos Adonts’'', also spelled Adonts; ; January 10, 1871 – January 27, 1942) was an Armenian historian, specialist of Byzantine and Armenian studies, and philologist. Yuzbashyan, Karen. s.v. Adonts', Nikoghayos ...
has rejected some of the speculations in his 1946 book.'
The earliest unambiguous and universally accepted attestation of the name dates to the 6th century BC, from the trilingual
Behistun Inscription, where the names ''
Armina'' (in
Old Persian), ''Harminuya'' (in
Elamite
Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...
), and
''Urashtu'' (in
Babylonian) and their equivalent
demonyms are used in reference to Armenia and people from Armenia. In
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, (meaning ''Armenians'') is attested from about the same time, perhaps the earliest reference being a fragment attributed to
Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 476 BC).
From Indo-European ''*ar-''
Some authors have connected ''Armenia'' to the
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
root ''*ar-'' meaning "to assemble".
From ''Armani'' and/or ''Armânum''
Early 20th century Armenologists have suggested that Old Persian
𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴 ''a-r-mi-i-n(a)'' and the Greek ''Armenoi'' are continuations of an Assyrian toponym ''Armânum'' or ''Armanî''. There are certain
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
records identified with the toponym in both
Mesopotamian and
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
sources. The earliest is from an inscription which mentions ''
Armânum'' together with ''
Ibla
Ragusa (; scn, Rausa ; la, Ragusia) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valley ...
'' as territories conquered by
Naram-Sin of Akkad
Naram-Sin, also transcribed Narām-Sîn or Naram-Suen ( akk, : '' DNa-ra-am D Sîn'', meaning "Beloved of the Moon God Sîn", the "𒀭" being a silent honorific for "Divine"), was a ruler of the Akkadian Empire, who reigned c. 2254–2218 BC ...
in c. 2250 BC identified with an Akkadian colony in the
Diarbekr region. Many historians, such as
Wayne Horowitz
Wayne Horowitz (born Roslyn, New York) is an archeologist and academic. He specialises in the ancient Near East and Assyriology.
Activities
Wayne Horowitz received his BA from Brandeis University. He completed his Ph.D. thesis (this later leadi ...
, identify ''Armanî'' which was conquered by Naram-Sin of Akkad, with the Syrian city of
Aleppo.
''Armenia'' has also been claimed as a variant of ''Urmani'' (or ''Urmenu''), attested epigraphically in an inscription of
Menuas of Urartu
Menua ( ariations exist hy, Մենուա), also rendered Meinua or Minua, was the fifth known king of Urartu from c. 810 BC to approximately 786 BC. In Armenian, Menua is rendered as ''Menua''. The name Menua may be connected etymologically to t ...
.
It is possible that the name ''Armenia'' originates in ''Armini'', Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country." The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the
Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies the
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 ...
and the
Kaskians
The Kaska (also Kaška, later Tabalian Kasku and Gasga,) were a loosely affiliated Bronze Age non-Indo-European tribal people, who spoke the unclassified Kaskian language and lived in mountainous East Pontic Anatolia, known from Hittite sour ...
. The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity of
Sason
Sason ( hy, Սասուն, translit=Sasun, ku, Qabilcewz, ar, قبل جوز; formerly known as Sasun or Sassoun) is a district and town in the Batman Province of Turkey. It was formerly part of the sanjak of Siirt, which was in Diyarbakır vi ...
, lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby lands of Urme and Inner Urumu.
From ''Har-Minni''
Alternatively, ''Armenia'' is interpreted by some as ''
ḪARMinni'', that is, "the mountainous region of the Minni". ''Minni'' (מנּי) is also a Biblical name of the region, appearing in the Bible () alongside
Ararat and
Ashchenaz, probably the same as the ''Minnai'' of Assyrian inscriptions, corresponding to the
Mannai
Mannaea (, sometimes written as Mannea; Akkadian: ''Mannai'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Minni'', (מנּי)) was an ancient kingdom located in northwestern Iran, south of Lake Urmia, around the 10th to 7th centuries BC. It neighbored Assyria and Urartu, ...
. The
Elamite
Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...
name for Armenia was inscribed as ''har-mi-nu-ya''.
From ''Erimena''
The name ''Erimena'' appears in Urartian inscriptions as the father of king
Rusa III
Rusa III was king of Urartu. He was called "Rusa Erimenahi" ("the son of Erimena"). He may have been the nephew or cousin of Rusa II. Little is known about his reign; his name was inscribed on a massive granary at Armavir and on a series of bron ...
, which can be interpreted to mean "Rusa, son of the Armenian".
''Armen'' tribe hypothesis
There have been further speculations as to the existence of a Bronze Age tribe of the ''Armens'' (''Armans'', ''Armani'';
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
: , ), either identical to or forming a subset of the
Hayasa-Azzi
Hayasa-Azzi or Azzi-Hayasa ( hit, URUḪaiaša-, hy, Հայասա) was a Late Bronze Age confederation in the Armenian Highlands and/or Pontic region of Asia Minor. The Hayasa-Azzi confederation was in conflict with the Hittite Empire in t ...
.
[Elisabeth Bauer. ''Armenia: Past and Present'' (1981), p. 49] In this case, ''Armenia'' would be an
ethnonym rather than a
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
. Attestations of such a tribe have never been found.
From ''Aram'' and/or ''Arame''
Armenian tradition has an
eponymous ancestor
An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have sto ...
,
Aram
Aram may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama
* Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri''
* Aram Quartet, an Italian music group
* ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...
, a lineal descendant of
Hayk (), son of Harma and father of
Ara the Beautiful
Ara the Handsome ( hy, Արա Գեղեցիկ ''Ara Gełec‘ik'') is a semi-legendary Armenian hero and king. Ara is notable in Armenian literature for the popular legend in which he was so handsome that the Assyrian queen Semiramis waged war agai ...
(according to classical Armenian historian
Moses of Chorene
Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late a ...
).
[''History of Armenia'' by Father Michael Chamich from B.C. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian era, Bishop's College Press, Calcutta, 1827, page 19: "]ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
was the first to raise the Armenian name to any degree of renown; so that contemporary nations ... called them the Aramians, or followers of Aram
Aram may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama
* Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri''
* Aram Quartet, an Italian music group
* ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...
, a name which has been corrupted into Armenians; and the country they inhabited, by universal consent, took the name of Armenia." A much older
Aram
Aram may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama
* Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri''
* Aram Quartet, an Italian music group
* ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...
, the son of
Shem
Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran.
The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lu ...
, is also mentioned from the
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
, Historian
Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
, and the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...
, as being the sovereign over "all the land of Mesopotamia between the
Tigris
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the ...
and the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of 'Arara." ''
Aram
Aram may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama
* Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri''
* Aram Quartet, an Italian music group
* ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...
'' is sometimes equated with
Arame of Urartu
Arame or Aramu ( Armenian: Արամե; ruled 858–844 BC) was the first known king of Urartu.
Living at the time of King Shalmaneser III of Assyria (ruled 859–824 BC), Arame fought against the threat of the Assyrian Empire. His capital at A ...
, the earliest known king of
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
. The endonym ''Hayk’'' (from
Classical Armenian) in the same tradition is traced to Hayk himself.
The names ''Armen'' and ''Arman'', feminine ''Arminé'', are common given names by Armenians. ''Armin'' is also a
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
given name.
Hayastan/Hayk/Hayer
Armenian people
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
use names derived from the stem ''hay-'' as their
endonym. ''Hay'' (singular) and ''Hayer'' (plural) is used to refer to the Armenian people. ''Hayastan'' (H''ay'' + ''
-a-'' + ''
-stan
The suffix -stan ( fa, ـستان, translit=''stân'' after a vowel; ''estân'' or ''istân'' after a consonant), has the meaning of "a place abounding in" or "a place where anything abounds" in the Persian language. It appears in the names of ...
'') is used to refer to their country, while ''Hayk'' was used historically and is still used today romantically.
Etymology
From ''Hatti''
According to
Diakonoff, the ethnonym may derive from the unattested
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 ...
name ''*hatiyos or *hatyos → *hayo → hay,''
related to
Urartian
Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushpa, ...
𒆳𒄩𒀀𒋼 (''
KURḫa-a-te'', "the land of Hittites"), from
Hittite 𒄩𒋾 (ḫa-ti /
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-_...
_intervocalic_''*-t-''_drops_and_yields_/y/._Compare_''wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ph₂tḗr.html" ;"title="Proto-Indo-European_language.html" "title="Ḫatti/). In the Armenian language, the
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-_...
_intervocalic_''*-t-''_drops_and_yields_/y/._Compare_''wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ph₂tḗr">*ph₂tḗr''_→_''*hatir''_→_''*hayir''_→_''