Դասական տառադարձութեան մէկ քանի հարցեր

Abstract

The author focuses on certain aspects of Classical Armenian transliteration, basing his study on fifth-century Armenian root words borrowed from the Latin, Greek, Persian, Hebrew and Assyrian languages. He argues that Classical Armenian established a very deep and broad transliteration tradition, setting a precedent from the first time those borrowed words were written in Armenian letters. The author notes that the some 1400 Persian root words imported to Classical Armenian all came through the centuries-old daily communication that existed between the two nations. This is why the transliteration of these words does not follow a strict and well-established set of rules. The borrowed Assyrian words (around 210) were also imported through centuries-old daily communication that existed between the Assyrians and the Armenians. However, these words by and large follow a set of transliteration rules due to the large number of clerics who used to serve in Armenia throughout the 4th and early 5th century, as well as due to the large number of young Armenian students who went to Assyria to learn the language and translate the Bible from Syriac. Unlike these two cases, all the 900 root words imported from the Greek language came through translating Greek scriptures into Armenian, as Armenians did not have direct daily contact with the Greeks. The author notes that, contrary to expectations, Greek to Armenian transliteration is not consistent. The author highlights the proper name David, which is transliterated into Armenian as Davith, and argues that the Ethiopian language writes this proper name like the Armenians. Furthermore, he discerns a set of patterns in certain root words borrowed from Greek and hypothesizes that Classical Armenian had established a tradition for borrowed words which had double consonants. The author proves as well that 5th century Classical Armenian had established a firm rule regarding the transliteration of elongated vowels (which Armenian lacks) in Assyrian, Greek and Persian, by adding semi-sounds to the corresponding Armenian vowel.