Graeco-Armenian

Graeco-Armenian

Graeco-Armenian (also Helleno-Armenian) refers to the hypothesis that the Greek language and the Armenian language share a common ancestor post-dating the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). Its notability may be comparable to that of Italo-Celtic or Balto-Slavic. The hypothetical Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage would need to date to the early 3rd millennium BC, only barely differentiated from either late PIE or Graeco-Aryan.

History

The hypothesis originates with Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement, postulating that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity in the parent language. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his "Esquisse" (1936). Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect most closely related to Armenian. Hamp (1976:91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Clackson (1994:202) is again more reserved, holding the evidence in favour of a positive Graeco-Armenian sub-group to be inconclusive and tends to include Armenian into a larger Graeco-Aryan family.

Evaluation of the hypothesis is tied up with the analysis of the poorly attested Paleo-Balkan languages, including Phrygian and Macedonian. While Greek is attested from very early times, allowing a secure reconstruction of a Proto-Greek language dating to the late 3rd millennium, the history of Armenian is opaque. It was strongly influenced by Iranian languages; in particular, it is a Satem language.

According to Herodotus, the Armenians were originally colonists of the Phrygians. [ [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126&layout=&loc=7.73.1 Herodotus, The Histories, VII.73] ] [ [http://www.osi.hu/cpd/ete/armenia/nogokhayos.html#4 East Translates East ] ] [cite book
author = Anne Elizabeth Redgate
authorlink =
coauthors =
editor =
others =
title = The Armenians
origdate =
origyear =
origmonth =
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=e3nef10a3UcC&printsec=frontcover#PPA14,M1
format =
accessdate = 2008-02-10
accessyear =
accessmonth =
edition =
series =
date =
year = 1998
month =
publisher = Blackwell Publishing
location =
language = English
isbn = 0631220372
oclc =
doi =
id =
pages = pp. 14
chapter =
chapterurl =
quote =
ref =
] If this is true, they would have moved to what would become Armenia in around 700 BC, and the Armenian language would be, in spite of heavy Satem influence, descended from the Centum language of the Phrygians (i.e. the Satem character would be secondary, comparable to, for example, French). Quite apart from such phonological points, there are a number of undisputed lexical and grammatical peculiarities linking Greek, Phrygian and Armenian, although it is unclear whether they should be interpreted as evidence of a genetic relationship, or of areal contact.

References

*James Clackson, "The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek", Publications of the Philological Society, 30, Blackwell (1994), ISBN 0-631-19197-6.
*E. P. Hamp, in Davis and Meid (eds.) FS Palmer, Innsbruck (1976)
*R. Schmitt, 'Die Erforschung des Klassisch-Armenischen seit Meillet (1936)', "Kratylos" 17 (1972), 1-78.
*A. Meillet in "BSL" 26 (1925), 1-6
*A. Meillet in "BSL" 27 (1927), 129-135.
*A. Meillet, "Esquisse d'une grammaire comparée de l'arménien classique", Vienna (1936)
*H. Pedersen, s.v. 'Armenier' in Ebert (ed.), "Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte", Berlin (1924).
*G. R. Solta, "Die Stellung des Armenischen im Kreise der Indogermanischen Sprachen", Vienna (1960)

Footnotes

ee also

*Armenian hypothesis
*Proto-Armenian
*Graeco-Aryan


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Armenian language — Infobox Language name = Armenian nativename = Հայերեն Hayeren familycolor = Indo European states = Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh (de facto a republic, de jure part of Azerbaijan), and the Armenian diaspora speakers = 5.5 million [Crystal, David : The …   Wikipedia

  • Armenian hypothesis — The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto Indo European Urheimat , based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto Indo European language was spoken during the 4th millennium BC in the Armenian Highland. It is an Indo Hittite model and does not… …   Wikipedia

  • Proto-Armenian language — The earliest testimony of the Armenian language dates to the 5th century AD (the Bible translation of Mesrob Mashtots). The earlier history of the language is unclear and the subject of much speculation.It is clear that Armenian is an Indo… …   Wikipedia

  • Indo-European languages — Indo European redirects here. For other uses, see Indo European (disambiguation). See also: List of Indo European languages Indo European Geographic distribution: Before the 16th century, Europe, and South, Central and Southwest Asia; today… …   Wikipedia

  • Greek language — Greek Ελληνικά Ellīniká Pronunciation [eliniˈka] Spoken in Greece, Cyprus …   Wikipedia

  • Armenia–Greece relations — Greco Armenian relations have always been strong both emotionally and historically due to religious roots and co existence during the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire. Names In the Greek language, Armenia is called Αρμενία ( Armenia ) and the… …   Wikipedia

  • Proto-Indo-European language — PIE redirects here. For other uses, see PIE (disambiguation). Indo European topics Indo European languages (list) Albanian · Armenian · Baltic Celtic · Germanic · Greek Indo Ira …   Wikipedia

  • Greek alphabet — Type Alphabet …   Wikipedia

  • Catacomb culture — The Catacomb culture, ca. 2800 2200 BC, refers to an early Bronze Age culture occupying essentially what is present day Ukraine. It was related to the Yamna culture, and would seem more of an areal term to cover several smaller related… …   Wikipedia

  • Armenians — This article is about Armenians as an ethnic group. For people living in Armenia, see Demographics of Armenia. Not to be confused with Arminianism. Armenians Հայեր …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”