Traditionally the Armenian alphabet was devised in 406/7.
Before that time the history of the country is prehistory, except that it is
mentioned by other peoples. The Armenians call themselves Hay, pI.
Hayk', of which the origin is not known for certain.
The etymology of Hayk by PIE offers us dead ends like *potis 'mighty, lord' (d. bay 'word' < *bhH2Hs) seems impossible, as h < *p was lost before *0. Also another is from the Hittite archives where a land Hayasa is mentioned, 140 R. S. P. Beekes which has been assumed to be the source of the name. But in Armenian the -y- would probably have been lost. The other is the connection with the name of the people of the Hatti (from which the Hittites got their name) which fits Armenian sound laws (assuming that the H- of Hatti could become H- in Armenian). The question is whether the Armenians lived in the land of the Hatti. If and when they came from the west (and overran the Hittite Empire), they may well have lived for some time west of the Urartian territory but this is not a derivation that one can seriously consider. We are told that the Medes (under Kuaxares, 625 - 585) beat the Armenians. A little later their land became part of the Persian Empire. The name Armenia, the origin of which also is not exactly known, is first mentioned in Darius' inscription in Bisutun. While the Akkadian version still speaks of Ur<lstu and the Elamite version (which is older than the Persian) has Harmin-, the Old Persian text has Armina. The word for the people (Arminiya; Elam. Harminuya probably has the Persian suffix
Historical Phonology of Classical Armenian 141 added; Harminu 'Armenia' only XPh 16) is derived from the name of the land. It probably is the land where Medes or Elamites first encountered the Armenians. The inscription mentions an Armenian called Haldita, which is an Urartian name. His son raises a rebellion against Darius in Babylon! Another Armenian leads an army of Darius against a rebellion in Armenia. So at that time the Armenians were well established in the Persian world. In the vocabulary Urartian words have been identified. From
Iranian, however, a very large number of borrowings from Greek and Syrian, which are much more limited in number. Olsen (1999, 857 - 967) notes in the vocabulary of the Bible some 600 Iranian loans against + 125 Greek and 80 Syrian loans. The number of inherited words, i.e. words with an Indo-European etymology, is not large; one estimate gives 700 words; Pokorny has only 437 Armenian words. So there remains a very large amount of words of unknown origin. Christianity became the state religion in 301. The alphabet was designed in 406 by a monk or missionary called Mastoc' (later Mesrop), who started a Bible translation (from Greek), which was finished in 410. (It was first printed in 1666, in Amsterdam.) The period until 460 is considered the Classical language, the language called oskedar, 'the golden language' (a term coined by the Mekhitharist scholars in the XVIIth century). 'This language was artificially retained in use until the XIXth century. One now distinguishes a 'post-Classical' period (VIth and VIIth century) and a pre-middle Armenian stage (Vlllth - XIth century). Middle Armenian is the period of the XIIth - XVllth centuries (especially known from Cilicia), after which one speaks of Modem Armenian, which occurs in two forms, Eastern and Western Armenian, and in a number of local dialects. lhe proof that Armenian was an independent branch of IndoEuropean was provided by Hiibschmann (1877). His etymology of 1883 is not yet replaced in a European language.While we have inscriptions since the fifth century, literary texts are only known from later manuscripts. The oldest manuscript is the Moscow Gospel from 887 (though this is not the best manuscript). Most manuscripts date from the end of the XIIth century onwards. They, of course, contain younger elements and must be used with care. The oldest texts, which are used to establish the earliest stage of the language, are first of all the Bible translation; and the 'Against Heresies' (Etc alandoc) by Eznik of Kolb. Then the 'Life of Mesrop' by Koriwn, 'The History of Armenia' (Patmufiwn Hayoc) by an author with the pseudonym Agathangelos, and the 'History of Armenia' by Moses from Choren. The fragments of old poetry cited by Moses (the 'Songs of GoHn', Golfan ergk) tell about pre-Christian times but are not archaic linguistically. 1.1.3Dialects a) One has wondered if the Classical dialect as we have it shows elements from different dialects. In fact only one thing seems to point to this: the word farsamim 'dry' beside faiamim which has exactly the same meaning. The development of *rs is in all further instances i, and no other explanation of the other form has been found. Other variants mostly concern the presence versus absence of h-, as in (h)arbenal 'be drunk', from the IE root *serbh-. ll1e variation may be explained through the development of different ablaut grades, full grades *se/orbh- losing the *s- without trace, while the full grade *sre/obh- (and perhaps the zero grade) kept the h-Ionger, before it was lost and the initial r- got a prothetic vowel (Kortlandt 1983b,11 [= this vol., 41]). Absence versus presence of h- from a laryngeal is found e.g. in (h)ayc' 'inspection'. It is proposed that the forms derive from *Hzeis- > hay- versus *Hzois- > ay-. Now, while it is possible that different dialects generalized either the h- or its absence in forms of this root, it seems quite probable that we may find hesitation within a single dialect. These cases cannot therefore be used as evidence for different dialects in Classical Armenian. b) The second question that may be asked is if later material gives information about the early developments of the language which cannot be found in the Classical language. That is, is there later material which does not go back on the Classical language and therefore has reflexes of an older situation? A clear instance is the fact that some dialects have nominative forms in -n that go back to the old accusative (like otn 'foot' in the Classical language) where a dialect does not have Historical Phonology of Classical Armenian 143 this -n and vice versa. Thus, beside Class. astl 'star' one dialect has astelna which continues *H2stel-m. It is clear that this form cannot have been taken form the Classical dialect; it must have been selected at an earlier stage (d. Kortlandt 1985c, 19-21 r= this vol., 63-65]). Note that we are here concerned with morphology. (Cf. also the word for 'milk' in 8.1.2.) A quite different fact is that some dialects distinguish between an (initial) voiced H- and a voiceless one (h-). The voiced H- represents PIE y-. The assumption is that the Classical language also had this development at an earlier stage, but here the H- was lost. This insight helps clarify details of the Classical language, see 7.2.1d
The most important contribution from later dialects is the observation that some sounds are glottalized, and the conclusion that this phenomenon is inherited from Proto-Indo-European and reflects the glottalization of the voiced (unaspirated) stops; see 10.1. c) A different question is whether we can identify the position of the Classical language among other dialects, and so determine its geographical position (which is not a linguistic question). Some facts are difficult to explain. Thus Class. elbayr 'brother' stands against axpar of all modem dialects. ll1is question has not yet been satisfactorily answered. Of course, it is quite possible that details of a given dialect, e.g. the Classical language, may have been lost everywhere else. This is not an unknown phenomenon in the history of languages. One might think of the position of Mycenaean compared with the dialects known from later times. The overall conclusion is that the Classical language is one dialect (group), perhaps of a small number of speakers, that there were several dialects (though perhaps differing only on a limited scale), and that the modem dialects may preserve important data for the reconstruction of the oldest history of the language. 1.1.4 The alphabet The Armenian alphabet was traditionally devised by bishop Mesrop, called Mastoc', in 406/7. The Greek alphabet was apparently a source of inspiration, as the order of the letters of the Greek alphabet is retained, but the shape of the signs can only be derived from it with much difficulty. Also the letters that were added are inserted in unpredictable places: no system has been discovered. For linguistic purposes it is therefore more efficient to follow the order of the Latin alphabet.
The alphabet The Armenian alphabet was traditionally devised by bishop Mesrop, called Mastoc', in 406/7. The Greek alphabet was apparently a source of inspiration, as the order of the letters of the Greek alphabet is retained, but the shape of the signs can only be derived from it with much difficulty. Also the letters that were added are inserted in unpredictable places: no system has been discovered. For linguistic purposes it is therefore more efficient to follow the order of the Latin alphabet.Armanism
"Armanism" redirects here. For the Dutch Protestant theological movement, see
Arminianism.
Guido von List in 1910 from the book
Guido v. List: Der Wiederentdecker Uralter Arischer Weisheit by
Johannes Balzli, published in 1917
Guido von List elaborated a racial religion premised on the concept of renouncing the imposed Semitic creed of Christianity and returning to the native religions of the ancient Indo-Europeans (List preferred the equivalent term Ario-Germanen, or 'Aryo-Germanics'). List recognised the theoretical distinction between the Proto-Indo-European language and its daughter Proto-Germanic language but frequently obscured it by his tendency to treat them as a single long-lived entity (although this framing is also used in linguistics as the Germanic parent language).[9] In this, he became strongly influenced by the Theosophical thought of Madame Blavatsky, which he blended however with his own highly original beliefs, founded upon Germanic paganism.[10]
Before he turned to occultism, Guido List had written articles for German Nationalist newspapers in Austria, as well as four historical novels and three plays, some of which were "set in tribal Germany" before the advent of Christianity.[11] He also had written an anti-semitic essay in 1895. List adopted the aristocratic von between 1903 and 1907.
List called his doctrine Armanism after the Armanen, supposedly a body of priest-kings in the ancient Aryo-Germanic nation. He claimed that this German name had been Latinized into the tribal name Herminones mentioned in Tacitus and that it actually meant the heirs of the sun-king: an estate of intellectuals who were organised into a priesthood called the Armanenschaft.[12]
His conception of the original religion of the Germanic tribes was a form of sun worship, with its priest-kings (similar to the Icelandic goði) as legendary rulers of ancient Germany. Religious instruction was imparted on two levels. The esoteric doctrine (Armanism) was concerned with the secret mysteries of the gnosis, reserved for the initiated elite, while the exoteric doctrine (Wotanism) took the form of popular myths intended for the lower social classes.[13]
List believed that the transition from Wotanism to Christianity had proceeded smoothly under the direction of the skalds, so that native customs, festivals and names were preserved under a Christian veneer and only needed to be 'decoded' back into their heathen forms.[14] This peaceful merging of the two religions had been disrupted by the forcible conversions under "bloody Charlemagne – the Slaughterer of the Saxons".[15] List claimed that the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria-Hungary constituted a continuing occupation of the Germanic tribes by the Roman empire, albeit now in a religious form, and a continuing persecution of the ancient religion of the Germanic peoples and Celts.
He also believed in the magical powers of the old runes. From 1891 onwards he claimed that heraldry was based on a system of encoded runes, so that heraldic devices conveyed a secret heritage in cryptic form. In April 1903, he submitted an article concerning the alleged Aryan proto-language to the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Its highlight was a mystical and occult interpretation of the runic alphabet, which became the cornerstone of his ideology. Although the article was rejected by the academy, it would later be expanded by List and grew into his final masterpiece, a comprehensive treatment of his linguistic and historical theories published in 1914 as Die Ursprache der Ario-Germanen und ihre Mysteriensprache (The Proto-Language of the Aryo-Germanics and their Mystery Language).
List's doctrine has been described as gnostic, pantheist and deist.[16] At its core is the mystical union of God, man and nature. Wotanism teaches that God dwells within the individual human spirit as an inner source of magical power, but is also immanent within nature through the primal laws that govern the cycles of growth, decay and renewal. List explicitly rejects a Mind-body dualism of spirit versus matter or of God over or against nature. Humanity is therefore one with the universe, which entails an obligation to live in accordance with nature. But the individual human ego does not seek to merge with the cosmos. "Man is a separate agent, necessary to the completion or perfection of ‘God's work’".[17] Being immortal, the ego passes through successive reincarnations until it overcomes all obstacles to its purpose. List foresaw the eventual consequences of this in a future utopia on earth, which he identified with the promised Valhalla, a world of victorious heroes:
Thus in the course of uncounted generations all men will become Einherjar, and that state – willed and preordained by the godhead – of general liberty, equality, and fraternity will be reached. This is that state which sociologists long for and which socialists want to bring about by false means, for they are not able to comprehend the esoteric concept that lies hidden in the triad: liberty, equality, fraternity, a concept which must first ripen and mature in order that someday it can be picked like a fruit from the World Tree.[18]
List was familiar with the cyclical notion of time, which he encountered in Norse mythology and in the theosophical adaptation of the Hindu time cycles. He had already made use of cosmic rhythms in his early journalism on natural landscapes.[19] In his later works[Note 3] List combined the cyclical concept of time with the "dualistic and linear time scheme" of western apocalyptic which counterposes a pessimism about the present world with an ultimate optimism regarding the future one.[21] In Das Geheimnis der Runen,[22] List addresses the seeming contradiction by explaining the final redemption of the linear time frame as an exoteric parable that stands for the esoteric truth of renewal in many future cycles and incarnations. However, in the original Norse myths and Hinduism, the cycle of destruction and creation is repeated indefinitely, thus offering no possibility of ultimate salvation.[23]
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