This page consists of a brief history of the Armenian Language. I hope it will be informitive to everyone.
The Armenian spoken language has been in existence longer than the actual written. The invention of the Armenian Alphabet was a result of Christianity. Armenia, the first Christian nation as of 301 AD had no way of communicating the Good News in concrete form. The good news was usually spread through educated priests who would read the Bible in other languages and orally preach it.
This is where Soorp (Saint) Mesrob(pictured above) and Soorp (Saint) Sahag come into the picture. These 2 Saints, who were also a priest and the *Catholicos respecitvely, invented the Armenian alphabet in 405 AD for this reason. Soon enough, they taught other priests and monks the alphabet and the translation of holy works began to take its course. The first of these translations was, of course, the Bible. This translation was said to be the most beautiful one in the world. Eventually, the secular community picked up the alphabet.
Presently, and for many years, the written Armenian language has been used like any other written language in the world. Nevertheless, we can not forget its origin and inventors.
Many aspects of the Armenian language are very interesting. One aspect
I have noticed is the purity of the language itself. This is because
Armenian is a direct derivative of the indoeuropean family. The
only other language which is a direct derivative is Albanian.
This purity is displayed through the extreme
number of compound words. For example:
"Tashtahantes" literally means Field Gathering
which is equivalent to the english word Picnic. "Barahantes" literally
means Dance Gathering, which is equivalent to the english word Party.
If the root word "hantes" is used by itself it can mean any kind of
gathering.
Another example:
If the word "Tak" is used by itself, it means crown.
There are other compound words which posses this root and mean other things, such
as "Takavor", which literally means One who wears crown. In english
we use the word King.
This may make the language seem very primitive, but in actuality it is not. In
many languages there are many words for the same adjective or adverb,
such as fast and quick. These are 2 descriptive words which mean the same
thing. The Armenian language posesses this trait with words of every type, verbs,
adverbs, adjectives, and nouns.
For example:
The words "Sar" and "Ler" both mean Mountain. The words
"Cakhtzur" and "Anoosh" both mean Sweet. Both words "Jermak"
and "Spidak" mean white. The two words "Dzam" and
"Maz" both mean hair, and so on.
*The Catholicos of Armenians is the ultimate authority figure when it comes to religion. His position resembles the pope's in the Catholic religion. Today there are two Catholicoses of the Orthodox Armenian world. One is from the East and one is from the West. Although the majority of Armenians are of the Orthodox religion, there are Armenians who are Catholic, like myself, who are under the pope, yet have a separate Catholicos aside from the two Orthodox ones.
Here is some more information on the Armenian Religion
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