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The nameArmenia entered English via Latin, from Ancient GreekἈρμενία.
TheArmenianendonym for the Armenian people and country ishay (pl.hayer) andHayastan, respectively. The exactetymologies of the names of Armenia are unknown, and there are various speculative attempts to connect them to oldertoponyms orethnonyms.
Armenia andArmenians are the most common names used internationally to refer to thecountry Armenia and theArmenian people.Armenians themselves do not use it while speakingArmenian, making it anexonym.
Multiple theories and speculations exist about the origin of the nameArmenia, but no consensus has been reached by historians and linguists.ArmenologistNicholas Adontz has rejected some of the speculations in his 1946 book.[1]
The earliest unambiguous and universally accepted attestation of the name dates to the 6th century BC, from the trilingualBehistun Inscription, where the namesArmina (inOld Persian),Harminuya (inElamite), andUrashtu (inBabylonian) and their equivalentdemonyms are used in reference to Armenia and people from Armenia.[2] InGreek,Αρμένιοι (meaningArmenians) is attested from about the same time, perhaps the earliest reference being a fragment attributed toHecataeus of Miletus (c. 476 BC).[3]
Some authors have connectedArmenia to theIndo-European root*ar- meaning "to assemble".[4]
Early 20th century Armenologists have suggested that Old Persian𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴a-r-mi-i-n(a) and the GreekArmenoi are continuations of an Assyrian toponymArmânum orArmanî.[5] There are certainBronze Age records identified with the toponym in bothMesopotamian andEgyptian sources. The earliest is from an inscription which mentionsArmânum together withIbla as territories conquered byNaram-Sin of Akkad in c. 2250 BC[6] identified with an Akkadian colony in theDiarbekr region.[7] Many historians, such asWayne Horowitz, identifyArmanî which was conquered by Naram-Sin of Akkad, with the Syrian city ofAleppo.[8]
Armenia has also been claimed as a variant ofUrmani (orUrmenu), attested epigraphically in an inscription ofMenuas of Urartu.[9][unreliable source?]
It is possible that the nameArmenia originates inArmini, Urartian for "inhabitant of Arme" or "Armean country."[10] The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been theUrumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies theMushki and theKaskians. The Urumu apparently settled in the vicinity ofSason, lending their name to the regions of Arme and the nearby lands of Urme and Inner Urumu.[11]
Alternatively,Armenia is interpreted by some asḪARMinni, that is, "the mountainous region of the Minni".[12]Minni (מנּי) is also a Biblical name of the region, appearing in the Bible (Jeremiah 51:27) alongsideArarat andAshkenaz, probably the same as theMinnai of Assyrian inscriptions,[13] corresponding to theMannai. TheElamite name for Armenia was inscribed ashar-mi-nu-ya.[14]
The nameErimena appears in Urartian inscriptions as the father of kingRusa III, which can be interpreted to mean "Rusa, son of the Armenian".[15]
There have been further speculations as to the existence of a Bronze Age tribe of theArmens (Armans,Armani;Armenian:ԱրմեններArmenner,ԱռամեններAṙamenner), either identical to or forming a subset of theHayasa-Azzi.[16][unreliable source?][17] In this case,Armenia would be anethnonym rather than atoponym. Attestations of such a tribe have never been found.
Armenian tradition has aneponymous ancestor,Aram, a lineal descendant ofHayk (Հայկ), son of Harma and father ofAra the Beautiful (according to classical Armenian historianMoses of Chorene).[18][19] A much olderAram, the son ofShem, is also mentioned from theBook of Genesis, HistorianFlavius Josephus,[20] and theDead Sea Scrolls, as being the sovereign over "all the land of Mesopotamia between theTigris and theEuphrates to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of 'Arara."[21]Aram is sometimes equated withArame of Urartu, the earliest known king ofUrartu.[22] The endonymHayk’ (fromClassical Armenian) in the same tradition is traced to Hayk himself.[23]
The namesArmen andArman, feminineArminé, are common given names by Armenians.Armin is also aPersian given name.[24]
Armenian people use names derived from the stemhay- as theirendonym.Hay (singular) andHayer (plural) is used to refer to the Armenian people.Hayastan (Hay +-a- +-stan) is used to refer to their country, whileHayk was used historically and is still used today romantically.
According toDiakonoff, the ethnonym may derive from the unattestedProto-Armenian name*hatiyos or *hatyos → *hayo → hay,[25][26] related toUrartian 𒆳𒄩𒀀𒋼 (KURḫa-a-te, "the land of Hittites"), fromHittite 𒄩𒋾 (ḫa-ti /Ḫatti/). In the Armenian language, theProto-Indo-European intervocalic*-t- drops and yields /y/.[27] Compare*ph₂tḗr →*hatir →*hayir →hayr ("father"). Other examples include*h₂eh₁ter- →*ātr- →*ayr →ayrem ("burn"),*bʰréh₂tēr →ełbayr ("brother").
The name Ḫāte was given by Urartians to all lands west ofEuphrates, including the territory aroundMalatya (a region assumed to be occupied by speakers of Proto-Armenians). Diakonoff theorized that when the Urartians were assimilated among the Proto-Armenians, they took over their Indo-European language and called themselves by the same name of the "Hittites".[28]
Others suggest that the etymology of thehay- stem derives from the name of a realm in proximity to theArmenian Highlands calledḪayaša.[25]
The presumption is that the nameHayk' would derive fromHayasa, but Diakonoff considers this "not provable and in its very essence not probable." According to Kapantsjan, the suffix-sa inHayasa as the ancientLuwian toponymical suffix-ssas, widely in use throughout all ofAnatolia, but this suffix is not present in the Armenian language. It is also argued that the initialḫ inḪayaša yielding/h/ in Armenian is improbable.[29] However,Vartan Matiossian and others argue that since Hayasa is a Hittite (or Hittite-ized) exonym applied to a foreign land, the-asa suffix can still mean "land of."[30] Additionally, a pronunciation like "Ḫayasa" (i.e. "Khayasa") can be reconciled withHay as the Hittiteh andkh phonemes are interchangeable, a feature present in certain Armenian dialects as well.[30]
According to Armenian historiographic tradition, theendonymHayk’ (Հայք) comes from the legendaryeponymous ancestor of the Armenian nation,Hayk (Հայկ).
Hay may derive from theProto Indo-European word*h₂éyos (or possibly*áyos), meaning "metal." According to this theory, Hayasa meant "land of metal," referring to the early metallurgy techniques developed in the region.[31]
According toHittitologist J.G. Macqueen, the region of Hayasa-Azzi was rich in metallic ores. The presence of this resource piqued the interest of the Hittites and led to frequent clashes between Hayasa-Azzi and Hatti, who needed Hayasa's metals to produce weapons.[32]
The Armenian Highlands andPontus-region were famous for bronze and iron smelting techniques into the Classical-era.[33] The Ancient Greeks and Romans made mention of a people to the immediate north of Armenia calledChalybes (Χᾰ́λῠψ). Some scholars have theorized this name means "steel."
19th century linguistsFriedrich Spiegel andHeinrich Kiepert proposed thathay might derive from*poti, Proto-Indo-European for "lord, master, husband." According to this theory, the name, with plural suffix, developed from*potiio→*hetiyo→*hatiyo→hay.[34] Thep→h andt→y consanant shifts are common in Armenian. For example, the Proto-Indo-European word*pH₂tér- (father) becamehayr in Armenian. Additionally, a vowel shift fromo→a is explicable as it is present in other Indo-European languages, such asSanskritpatih (master, husband) andLithuanianpatis (husband), both descended from Proto-Indo-European*poti. According to Armen Petrosyan,hay has been used to mean "husband, chief of family" in several Armenian dialects.[35] Petrosyan suggests thatEtiuni, the name of a powerful tribal confederation to the immediate north of Urartu, may reflect a Urartian-language form of*hetiyo or*hatiyo.[36]
The Georgian termSomkheti for Armenia andSomekhi for Armenians, and forms derived from it, are used byGeorgians and somepeoples of the Caucasus.
According to Diakonoff, the name is derived bymetathesis from the name of the country calledSuḫmu inAkkadian andZuhma inHittite, located in theupper Euphrates valley, close toSouth-Caucasian tribes, and is presumed to have been inhabited by Proto-Armenians.[37]
According toProfessor James R. Russell of Harvard University, Somekhi refers to theMushki, who Diakonoff suggested were Armenian-speakers.
Used historically as a synonym forArmenia,[38] in the forms ofUrartu in the Assyrian dialect ofAkkadian andUrashtu in the Babylonian dialect, as well asArarat inBiblical Hebrew. The nameArarat was changed toArmenia in theBible as early as the 1st century AD inhistoriographical works[39] andvery early Latin translations.[40] This name was attested asUruatri as early as the 13th century BC byAssyrian kingShalmaneser I, and it was used interchangeably withArmenia[41] until the last known attestation from the 5th century BC byXerxes in hisXV Inscriptions.[42] Sometime during the early periods ofClassical Antiquity, the use ofUrartu declined and was fully replaced withArmenia. The name continued to be used in the form ofAyrarat[43] for the centralprovince ofAncient Armenia (also attested asAurarat by Strabo),[44] as a scarcely used alternative name for theFirst Republic of Armenia (Araratian Republic),[45][46] and for a short-lived and self-proclaimedKurdish state known as theRepublic of Ararat. Today,Ararat is used as one of the names given to thetwin-peaked mountain in theArmenian Highlands, in modern-dayTurkey, and for aprovince by the same name in theRepublic of Armenia. It's also a commongiven name used byArmenians.
| Language | Armenians | Armenia |
|---|---|---|
| Armenian | հայեր (hayer) | Հայաստան (Hayastan),Հայք (Hayk’) |
| Arabic | أرمن (Arman) | أرمينيا (Armīniyā) |
| Aramaic | ܐܪܡܐܢܥ (Armānī) | ܐܪܡܝܢܝܐ (Armīniyā) |
| Avar | Цӏамухъ (C̣amuq̄) | ЦIамгIалал(C̣amghalal) |
| Azerbaijani | Ermənilər | Ermənistan |
| Chechen | Эрмалой (Ermaloy) | Эрмалойчоь (Ermaloyçö) |
| Mandarin Chinese | 亞美尼亞人 (yàměiníyàrén) | 亞美尼亞 (yàměiníyà) |
| French | Arméniens | Arménie |
| Georgian | სომხები (Somkhebi) | სომხეთი (Somkhet'i) |
| Greek | Αρμένιοι (Arménioi) | Αρμενία (Armenía) |
| Hebrew | אַרְמֶנִים (Armenim) | אַרְמֶנִיָה (Armeniya) |
| Kurdish | Ermeni | Ermenistan |
| Ossetian | сомехаг (Somekhag) | Сомех (Somekh) |
| Persian | ارمنی (Armani) | ارمنستان (Armanestān) |
| Russian | армяне (armyane) | Армения (Armeniya) |
| Turkish | Ermeniler | Ermenistan |
Dr R.D. Barnett suggests, and he is supported by other scholars, the possibility of Erimena meaning Armenian: therefore, 'Rusa, son of the Armenian.'
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The origin of Arm. hay "Armenian" is uncertain, but it may come from the name of the Hittites, through whose territory the early colonizers passed: Proto-Arm. *hatiyos yields *hayo, shortened to hay (I. M. D'yakonov, Predystoriya armyanskogo naroda, Erevan, 1968, p. 236).
The PIE initial *p- yields Arm. h-, and the intervocalic *-t- drops: hayr 'father': Skt. pitā, Gr. πατήρ, Lat. pater, OHG fater, Toch. B pācer
There remains the linguistic succession. The assumption of a development from the hypothetical Haiasa language to Old Armenian has no base in any known linguistic fact whatever. It rests entirely on a certain similarity between the name of the country Haiasa (probably /xaiasa-/, with the Arm. sound x) and the self-appellation of the Armenian--hayk' (with the sound h) (52). From what has already been said above about the nature of ethnonyms in general it is evident that this similarity can in no way serve as proof of an organic connection between these terms. Moreover, as the Old Armenian words of analogous structure show, it is difficult to say how the initial form of the word hayk' sounded. The initial consonant might have been either *p-, as in hayr "father," from I.-E. *pe"ter, or the Proto-Indo-European laryngeal *H-, as in haw "grandfather," or *h-, which itself has a different derivation in the Indo-European languages, for example, from *s-. The diphthong -ai- might also be traced to different sound combinations, including -ate-, -ati-. The stem of the word hayk' is hayo- (and not, let [114] us say, *haya- (53). Kapantsjan interprets the suffix -sa in Haiasa as the ancient Luwian toponymical suffix -ssas (54), which was certainly widely in use throughout all of Asia Minor. But there is one area where this suffix is not found at all, and this area is Armenia. Therefore in the word "Haiasa" the element -sa, if it is a suffix, has no relation to Old Armenian.
In his view, the first Armenian state was the kingdom of "The House of Togarmah" in the area of Melid (Melitene, modern Malatya) on ... Here, as we know from the abovementionaed inscriptions, "Armenia" and "Urartu" were synonyms ...
Armina is named as a province (satrapy) of the Achaemenid empire; the inhabitants are called Arminiya- "Armenian." [...] it is rendered phonetically in Elamite as Har-mi-nu-ya (-ip), etc. The inscriptions' Babylonian versions, however, use KURú-ra-áš-ṭu "Urartu" and LUú-ra-áš-ṭa-a-a "Urartean," i.e., the name of the kingdom (and its inhabitants)
The nameUrashtu (a variant for Urartu) is encountered for the last time in the inscriptions of Xerxes (486–465). In the trilingual texts of Darius (522–486) the Old Persian word which corresponds to the AkkadianUrashtu isArmina.
[...] Masis, a name (Masios) used by Greek geographers to denote a range to the south-west—but 'upon the mountains of (the land of) Ararat', i.e. a country known to the ancient Assyrians asUrartu. This ancient name (forUrartu andArarat are synonymous) is perpetuated by that of the central Armenian province ofAyrarat, the source of some of the [...]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)AYRARAT, region of central Armenia in the broad plain of the upper Araxes (q.v.); the name is undoubtedly connected with the Assyrian Urautri, later Urartu, the biblical Ararat (Genesis 12:20, Jeremiah 15:13), and with the people called Alarodioi by Herodotus (3.94) in the fifth century B.C. The name Ayrarat is unknown to classical authors who were well acquainted with Armenia, and it appears to have been in purely local usage to describe the central lands of Armenia which formed the royal domains of the Arsacid kings and probably those of their Orontid and Artaxiad predecessors. In this case it may well represent the Araxenōn Pediōn (Araxena plain) of Strabo (11.14.3), which in its Armenian form Erasxajor was otherwise restricted to one district within Aurarat.
"For General Andranik and for all the Turkish-Armenian leaders and people in general, the core of Armenia was the Armenian Highland - Erzurum, Van, Mush and Sasun. The small Russian-Armenian Republic of Yerevan was a small province on the eastern outskirts of Armenia... and the liberation of that province would have no solution to the liberation of Turkish-Armenians. The axis of the Armenian Revolutionary Movement and the political goals pursued by the Armenian parties would be the liberation of the Armenian Highland. Andranik had fought for 30 years to liberate Mother Armenia." [...] "Andranik, who had fortified himself in Zangezur, holding a hostile attitude towards the republic 'created by the Turks', was largely reflective of the Western Armenian mentality of that time. The National Delegation headed by Poghos Nubar in Paris enjoyed more authority among Western Armenians than the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The word "Republic of Armenia" was not acceptable to many, it was just 'Ararat Republic'," Vratsyan writes. Original text: «Զորավար Անդրանիկի եւ առհասարակ բոլոր թրքահայ ղեկավարներուն եւ ժողովուրդին համար բուն Հայաստանը Հայկական լեռնաշխարհն էր - Էրզրումը, Վանը, Մուշն ու Սասունը։ Ռուսահայոց Երեւանյան փոքրիկ Հանրապետությունը, բուն Հայաստանի արեւելյան ծայրամասերուն վրա փոքրիկ նահանգ մըն էր... եւ այդ նահանգին ազատագրումը ոչ մեկ լուծում կբերեր Թրքահայաստանի ազատագրության։ Հայ հեղափոխական շարժման եւ հայ կուսակցություններու հետապնդած քաղաքական նպատակներուն առանցքը կկազմեր Հայկական լեռնաշխարհին ազատագրումը։ Անդրանիկ 30 տարի պայքարած էր, որպեսզի ազատագրե Մայր Հայաստանը» («Զորավար Անդրանիկ եւ հայ հեղափոխական շարժումը. կենսագրական ակնարկ» Երեւան, 1990): [...] «Անդրանիկը, որ ամրացել էր Զանգեզուրում՝ թշնամական դիրք բռնելով «թուրքերի ձեռքով ստեղծած» հանրապետության վերաբերմամբ, զգալի չափով արտահայտիչ էր արեւմտահայերի այն ժամանակվա մտայնությանը։ Ազգային պատվիրակությունը Փարիզում Պողոս Նուբարի գլխավորությամբ ավելի հեղինակություն էր վայելում արեւմտահայերի մեջ, քան Հայաստանի Հանրապետության կառավարությունը։ «Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն» խոսքն էլ ընդունելի չէր շատերի համար, եղածը սոսկ «Արարատյան Հանրապետություն» էր»,- գրում է Վրացյանը։
"…Today we will find ourselves in a beautiful and heartwarming reality. Today, we have the Armenian Republic in the Ararat province, which has been the epicenter of our political and intellectual life," the newspaper writes. It is noteworthy that the press in the Diaspora called the newly created state "Araratian Republic." It showed that the Armenians were demanding, and the republic declared in 1918 regarded only a small part of Armenia. Original text: …Մենք այսօր կգտնվենք գեղեցիկ ու սրտապնդիչ իրականության հանդեպ։ Այսօր ունենք Հայկական Հանրապետություն Արարատյան նահանգի մեջ, որ եղել է մեր քաղաքական եւ իմացական կյանքի ոլորանը»,–գրում է թերթը։ Հատկանշական է, որ սփյուռքում լույս տեսնող մամուլը նորաստեղծ պետությունն անվանում էր «Արարատյան Հանրապետություն»։ Դա ցույց էր տալիս, որ հայը պահանջատեր է, իսկ 1918 թվականին հռչակված հանրապետությունը դիտարկում է որպես Հայաստանի միայն մի փոքր հատվածը։
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