Classical Armenian (, in
Eastern Armenian pronunciation: Grabar,
Western Armenian
Western Armenian ( Classical spelling: , ) is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Armenian dialect, as opposed to Eastern Armenian, which is mainly base ...
: Krapar; meaning "literary
anguage; also Old Armenian or Liturgical Armenian) is the oldest attested form of the
Armenian language
Armenian ( classical: , reformed: , , ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian Highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken th ...
. It was first written down at the beginning of the 5th century, and all Armenian literature from then through the 18th century is in Classical Armenian. Many ancient manuscripts originally written in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
,
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 ...
,
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
survive only in Armenian translation.
Classical Armenian continues to be the
liturgical language
A sacred language, holy language or liturgical language is any language that is cultivated and used primarily in church service or for other religious reasons by people who speak another, primary language in their daily lives.
Concept
A sacr ...
of the
Armenian Apostolic Church
, native_name_lang = hy
, icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg
, icon_width = 100px
, icon_alt =
, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, a ...
and the
Armenian Catholic Church
, native_name_lang = hy
, image = St Elie - St Gregory Armenian Catholic Cathedral.jpg
, imagewidth = 260px
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Saint Elias and Saint Gregory the Illuminat ...
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
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 ...
.
Phonology
Vowels
There are seven
monophthongs
A monophthong ( ; , ) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, wh ...
:
* (ա), (ի), or
schwa (ը), or open ''e'' (ե), or closed ''e'' (է), (ո), and (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).
Consonants
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
In the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, the rough breathing ( grc, δασὺ πνεῦμα, dasỳ pneûma or ''daseîa''; la, spīritus asper) character is a diacritical mark used to indicate the presence of an sound before a vowel, ...
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
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
(IPA); the right one is the corresponding symbol in the
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet ( hy, Հայոց գրեր, ' or , ') is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally had ...
.
See also
*
List of Armenian writers
This is a list of Armenian authors, arranged chronologically.
Classical
Classical Armenian is the literary language of Armenia written during the 5th to 18th centuries.
;5th century
* Mesrop Mashtots — theologian, inventor of the Armenian a ...
*
Proto-Armenian language
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 ...
*
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet ( hy, Հայոց գրեր, ' or , ') is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The system originally had ...
Sources
*
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. ()
*
Godel, Robert. (1975) ''An Introduction to the Study of Classical Armenian''. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag ()
References
External links
Classical Armenian Onlineby Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at th
Linguistics Research Centerat the
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...
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 1873Brief introduction to Classical Armenian also known as Grabar an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen
{{Authority control
Armenian languages
Armenian, Classical
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 ...
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 ...
Armenian Apostolic Church
Languages attested from the 5th century