Western Armenian literature is usually perceived as what was written in Constantinople. But much of that literature does not portray the life of Armenians living in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire – the Armenian homeland. As such, that literature rarely reflects the issues Armenians were facing leading up to the Genocide. There were […]
I listened to the Society for Armenian Studies podcast with Vera Sahakyan, a PhD student and researcher at the Matenadaran, about her first book: The Armenian Populated Villages of the District of Bulanik in Mush According to the Letters Sent to Catholicos Mgrditch Khrimian. She is looking at over 8,000 previously unpublished letters written to […]
All rules taken from: *All rules have been taken from: Modern Western Armenian For The English-speaking World by Dora Sakayan ↱ ա, այ Polysyllabic words ending in ա are written with այ Exceptions: Certain words: հիմա, ահա, հապա, ապա, ասիկա, սա, ատիկա, անիկա, մամա, պապա Proper nouns: Արա, Էլենա Foreign words: Սոտա, աղա Single imperative: Կարդա՛, […]
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Traditional Orthography: Ր vs Ռ
There are few words that start with either. However, the most common start with ռ: ռետին ռազմիկ ռումբ ռոճիկ There are fewer words starting with ր: րոպէ րոպէական Րաֆֆի Within words ռ is usually written before ն: առնել դառնալ բռնել սպառնալ Exceptions: կրնալ գարնան գարուն Before consonants other than ն, the letter ր is normally […]
Title: The Ideology of Armenian Liberation: The Development of Armenian Political Thought Before the Revolutionary Movement (1639-1885) Author: Gerard Libaridian, former senior advisor to the first president of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and also held the Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. About the piece: PhD […]
ե appears in initial position, standing for “ye” երեխայ Երեւան before vowels, standing for “y” եօթը սենեակ within words, standing for “e” մեր գրել գեղեցիկ ե never appears in final position. է is used instead է appears in initial position, standing for “e” էի էջ էակ in final position րոպէ փայտէ հասցէ կ՛ըսէ in final […]
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Sacred Texts and the Evil Eye
Title: “Protection against the Evil Eye? Votive Offerings on Armenian Manuscript Bindings” Author: Dr. Sylvie Merian, Reader Services Librarian at the Morgan Library Summary: Dr. Sylvie Merian offers various possible explanations for the hodgepodge of items affixed to Armenian Gospel books and sacred texts. About the piece: Article, 2013, 26 pages Access the piece here. […]
Title: In Subversive Service of the Sublime State: Armenians and Ottoman State Power, 1844-1896 Summary: A detailed look at the Armenian Apostolic Church and the varying systems and levels of power at play within it. Author: Richard Antaramian, Assistant Professor of History at USC About the piece: Doctoral dissertation, submitted in 2014, University of Michigan, […]
In the initial position, ո is pronounced “vo” որդի ոլոռ ոտք In the initial position, օ is pronounced “o” օր օգնել օդ However, there are three exceptions whereby ո, when followed by վ, is pronounced “o” ո՞վ ովկիանոս ովասիս The initial ո that appears in compound words is pronounced “o” անորոշ (ան֊որոշ anorosh) վատորակ (վատ֊որակ […]
What have now become known as the standard written forms of Eastern and Western Armenian developed in the nineteenth century in Tiflis and Constantinople, respectively.* Western Armenian is now spoken in the diaspora, though that is slowly changing with the large influx of immigrants from the Republic of Armenia, while Eastern is spoken in the […]