Armenian alphabet
Encyclopedia : A : AR : ARM : Armenian alphabet
| History of the Alphabet |
|---|
Middle Bronze Age 19–15th c. BC
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| Meroitic 3rd c. BC |
| Complete genealogy |
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Armenian language, created by Saint Mesrop Mashtots in AD 405.
The Armenian alphabet is one of six European alphabetic scripts identified in the Unicode standard (see [Unicode Code Charts] and [Unicode Standard, Chapter 7]).
Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet, including Pahlavi, Syriac, and Phoenician. However, the order of the letters, the use of the digraph ou for the vowel [u], and a noticeable similarity of letter forms to cursive Greek suggests that it was likely based on the Greek alphabet.
As Petross Ter Matossian from Columbia University informs, for about 250 years, from the early 18th century until around 1950, more than 2000 books were printed in the Turkish language using letters of the Armenian alphabet. Not only Armenians read Armeno-Turkish, but also the non-Armenian (including the Ottoman Turkish) elite. The Armenian alphabet was also used alongside the Arabic alphabet on official documents of the Ottoman Empire, but was written in the Ottoman language. For instance, the first novel to be written in the Ottoman Empire was 1851's Akabi, written in the Armenian script by Hovsep Vartan. Also, when the Armenian Duzoglu family managed the Ottoman mint during the reign of Abdulmejid, they kept records in the Armenian script, but Turkish language.
Armenian has two different dialects: Eastern and Western. Both use the same alphabet, however some of the letters have different names and pronunciations. For example, the second letter in Eastern Armenian is "ben" and makes a 'b' sound while in Western Armenian, the second letter is "pen" and makes a 'p' sound.
Some letters also make different sounds depending on their placement within a word. For example, the letter vo (ո) makes a 'v' sound at the beginning of a word, but an 'o' sound in the middle. The letter ye (ե) makes a 'ye' sound at the beginning of a word, but an 'e' sound in the middle. The chart below gives the transliteration for the initial sound produced by each letter
| Name Eastern/Western | Lowercase | Uppercase | Transliteration Eastern/Western | num. Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayb/Ayp | a | 1 | ||
| 2 | Ben/Pen | b/p | 2 | ||
| 3 | Gim/Keem | g/k | 3 | ||
| 4 | Da/Ta | d/t | 4 | ||
| 5 | Yech` | ye/ye | 5 | ||
| 6 | Za | z | 6 | ||
| 7 | Eh | ē/eh | 7 | ||
| 8 | Ët`/Ut | ə/ut | 8 | ||
| 9 | T`o/Toh | t῾/t | 9 | ||
| 10 | Zhe | ž/zh (as in azure) | 10 | ||
| 11 | Ini/Eenee | i/i or e | 20 | ||
| 12 | Liun | l | 30 | ||
| 13 | Xeh/Kheh (aspirated) | x/kh | 40 | ||
| 14 | C'a/Dzah | tz/dz | 50 | ||
| 15 | Ken/Gen (hard g) | k/g | 60 | ||
| 16 | Ho | h | 70 | ||
| 17 | Dz'a/Tsah | dz/ts | 80 | ||
| 18 | Ghat/Ghad (French r) | ł/gh (French r) | 90 | ||
| 19 | Cheh/Djeh | č/j | 100 | ||
| 20 | Men | m | 200 | ||
| 21 | Yi/Hee | y/h or combined with other letters | 300 | ||
| 22 | Nu | n | 400 | ||
| 23 | Sha | sh/sh | 500 | ||
| 24 | Vo | vo/vo or o | 600 | ||
| 25 | Ch`a | ch/ch | 700 | ||
| 26 | Peh/Beh | p/b | 800 | ||
| 27 | Jheh/Cheh | j/ch | 900 | ||
| 28 | Rra (rolled) | rr/ r (rolled) | 1000 | ||
| 29 | Seh | s | 2000 | ||
| 30 | Vew/Vev | v | 3000 | ||
| 31 | Tiun/Deoon | t/d | 4000 | ||
| 32 | Reh | r | 5000 | ||
| 33 | C`o/Tzoh | č/tz | 6000 | ||
| 34 | Hiun/hyun | w/v or combined with other letters | 7000 | ||
| 35 | P`iur/Pure | p῾/p | 8000 | ||
| 36 | K`eh/Keh | q/k | 9000 | ||
| 37 | Oh | ō/o | 10000 | ||
| 38 | Feh | f | 20000 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Small Ligature Ech` Wiwn (functions as an ampersand) | |
| Modifier letters | |
| Modifier Letter Left Half Ring | |
| Apostrophe = Armenian Modifier Letter Right Half Ring | |
| Modifier Emphasis Mark = Shesht | |
| Punctuation | |
| Exclamation Mark = Bac`aganch`akan Nshan | |
| Comma = Bowt` | |
| Question Mark = Harc`akan Nshan | |
| Abbreviation Mark = Patiw | |
| Full Stop = Verjhaket | |
| Hyphen = Ent`amnay | |
See also
External links
- [theiling.de]: Learn the Armenian alphabet online
- [stnersess.edu]: Bedross Der Matossian on the use of Armeno-Turkish
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