Armenia (name)
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The name Armenia is an exonym, the Armenian language name for the country being Hayk‘ (see "Hayk" for a discussion of that name).
Its first unambiguous application as the ethnonym of the Armenians is in a late 6th century BC Old Persian inscription, as Armina, and a few decades later, Herodotus, in his review of the troops opposing the Greeks, wrote that “the Armenians (Αρμένιοι) were armed like the Phrygians, being Phrygian settlers".[1]
Some more decades later, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians.[2].
The etymology of the name is unknown, and there are various speculative attempts to list it to older toponyms or ethnonyms.
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Etymological speculation
There are certain Bronze Age records controversially identified with Armenians in both Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources by early 20th century Armenologists. The earliest is from an inscription which mentions Armânum together with Ibla (Ebla) as territories conquered by Naram-Sin (23rd century BC)[3] identified with an Akkadian colony in the Diarbekr region[4]
A Babylonian inventory of the Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great locates the land Armanî beyond the Tigris and next to Lullubi[5]. This opinion was criticized and rejected by armenologist Nicholas Adontz in his 1946 book.[6]
Another mention by pharaoh Thutmose III in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC) as the people of Ermenen, and says in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".[7]
Minni (מנּי) is also a Biblical name of the region, appearing in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51:27) alongside Ararat and Ashchenaz, probably the same as the Minnai of Assyrian inscriptions,[8] perhaps corresponding to the Minyans.[9] Armenia is interpreted by some as ḪARMinni, that is, "the mountainous region of the Minni".[10]
It has been suggested that Old Persian Armina and the Greek Armenoi are continuations of the Assyrian toponym.[11]
In 1940s Armenian nationalist historiography, there have been further speculations as to the existence Bronze Age tribe (of an ethnonym, as opposed to a toponym) of the Armens (Armans, Armani; Armenian: Արմեններ Armenner, Առամեններ Aṙamenner), either identical to or forming a subset of the Hayasa-Azzi[12][13] The name has been claimed as a "variant" of Urmani, a e living near Lake Van and near Lake Urmia according to an inscription of Menousas.[14]
Armenian tradition makes Armenak or Aram the great-grandson of Haik. Other authors[15] connect the Parsi name Armin.[16]
Modern names
Modern terms for Armenians and Armenia in Armenian and neighboring languages:
| Armenians | Armenia | |
| Armenian | Հայեր Hayer | Հայաստան Hayastan, Հայք Hayk‘ |
| Arabic | أرمن Armin, singular أرماني Armānī | أرمينيا Armīniyā |
| Aramaic | ܐܪܡܐܢܥ Armānī | ܐܪܡܝܢܝܐ Armīniyā |
| Azerbaijani | Ermənilər | Ermənistan |
| Persian | ارمنیان Armani | ارمنست Arministān |
| Georgian | სომხები Somkhebi | სომხეთი Somkhet'i |
| Greek | Αρμένιοι | Αρμενία |
| Hebrew | ארמנית | ארמניה |
| Kurdish | Ermeni | Ermenistan |
| Russian | Армяне | Армения |
| Turkish | Ermeniler | Ermenistan |
References
- ^ Herodotus, History, 7.73.
- ^ Xenophon, Anabasis, IV.v.2-9.
- ^ surviving in an early Babylonian copy, ca. 2200 BC, URI 275, lines I.7, 13; II.4; III.3, 30.
- ^ Horace Abram Rigg, Jr., A Note on the Names Armânum and Urartu, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1937).
- ^ no. 92 of Schroeder's 1920 Keilschrifttexte aus Assur; W. F. Albright, A Babylonian Geographical Treatise on Sargon of Akkad's Empire, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 45. (1925), p. 212.
- ^ Nicholas Adontz. "Histoire d'Arménie : les origines, du Xe siècle au VIe siècle av. J.C.", Paris 1946: "Armani has absolutely no relation to Armenia."
- ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915[1]; Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) Thutmose III, University of Michigan, 2006, ISBN 978-0472114672.[page # needed]
- ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia s.v. Minni
- ^ Smith's Bible Dictionary[2]
- ^ Easton’s Bible Dictionary
- ^ H. A. Rigg (1937).
- ^ Rafael Ishkhanyan, "Illustrated History of Armenia," Yerevan, 1989
- ^ Elisabeth Bauer. Armenia: Past and Present (1981), p. 49
- ^ Vahan Kurkjian, History of Armenia, Michigan 1968[3]
- ^ Hovick Nersessian, Highlands of Armenia, 1998, Los Angeles
- ^ Parsiana, Book of Iranian Names[4]: a dweller of the Garden of Eden, a son of king Kobad
- Horace Abram Rigg, Jr., A Note on the Names Armânum and Urartu Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1937), pp. 416-418.
See also
External links
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