Armenian primer with translation into Russian. Armenian alphabet, history of the Armenian language, language of the Armenians, history of the development of the Armenian alphabet. The origin of the Danielyan script remains the subject of intense scientific debate, since none of the examples of it have dried

] At first glance, it seems that Armenian letters are unlike any other existing popular alphabets. I often heard that it was generally impossible to find anything familiar in Armenian. But this is not so, in Georgian, yes, there is no escape (well, how can we throw a stone into the neighbors’ garden without a stone?). In Arabic, too, there are almost no correspondences, except perhaps د(д) and that is conditional. But not in Armenian. So let's go.

The letter Ա (а) is a lowercase version of ա. Well, there are no words about capitalization, it is adapted for handwriting. But if you reduce the first stick to a capital one, and make the tail an intersecting line - as they write by hand, you get something very similar to the Greek alpha. Generally speaking, it's just an upside-down A with the tail slid to the side. A very old symbol is the same aleph, the origin of which they say comes from the horns of a bull.

The letter Բ (b) - lowercase version բ - unambiguous similarity to the Greek betta in both variants (β).

Letter Գ (g) capital version գ - has anyone seen how the capital Greek scale is written? Now turn it over and bevel it a little.

The letter Դ (д) lowercase version դ - similarly, continue the tail further - you get something reminiscent of the Russian D.

The letter Ե (е) is a lowercase version of ե - well, you don’t have to go far here, E - they just saved on the top stick.

The letter Է -(е) is the same garbage as ե, it’s just that the bottom line goes down and not up. Capital է. Like they say, the sound is similar, but slightly different.

The letter Ը - (English a - like an article before the nouns "a table") - capital ը - that is, like an analogue of e, only instead of a dash there is just a rounding at the top, hinting that the sound is generally almost the same, only you need a mouth like this round when you say it.

Letter Յ. Guess what letter? Looks like it's Russian. But looking at its capital version - յ - and places of use - in short, this is the English “j” to make diphthongs by mixing with different sounds like y, o, a - turning them into yu, ё and ya. Let's say the classic family ending -yan is written using this letter -յան.

The letter Լ (л) - lowercase լ - there’s nothing to say here. The Latins stole our letter. No? Don't believe me? Okay, to hell with you, I was joking.

Letters Ր,Ռ (рь, hard (Russian) р) - lowercase ր,ռ. The first soft “r” is a simple simplified Greek ρ(ro) or, as our envious people will say, unfinished. Well, to hell with them. It's easier to write anyway. The second capital is less obvious. But its capital version is written simply as p without a stem and with a purely Latin tail below, and if we take the capital letter and continue the tail, we get the same Latin R.

The letter Ո (o) - lowercase ո - again an unfinished o. By the way, there is also a separate letter Օ for borrowed words. Well, just for fun, in general, he was a joker, this Mashtots, that one. They say in the original his name was Majdots.

Letter Ս (с) - lowercase ս - rotated С.

The letter F (aspirated p or English p) is an analogue of the letter F in Russian, judging by words borrowed from Greek, I will not go into details, but in general, where in modern Russian F is used in words borrowed from Greek, for example the same philosophy, in Armenian the same letter is used, only it is pronounced like this very aspirated փ. Linguists, of course, know in more detail, but for general memorization this is enough.

Letter Ֆ(ф). It’s just an extra letter, they added it so that foreign words with the sound “f” could be written (there are no relatives), as if they were concerned about our convenience. In general, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Convenient and okay. Moreover, it was very useful in the 20-21 centuries.

The letter Հ (h) does not seem to be too similar. But the capitalization is one to one (հ).

Letter Ձ (dz). Lowercase ձ. In short, zetta is one to one in its capital variants.

Letters Մ,Ն (m, n). Lowercase մ,ն. Comrade here. Majdots had a blast. It’s not so visible on capital letters, but on lowercase letters the symmetry is very visible. Well, like, similar sounds have similar letters. Why waste time on trifles, and it’s easier for schoolchildren.

Letter S (t). Well, there seems to be no correspondence, but what’s interesting is that the alternation of “t” - “s” was noticed in the Latin language - well, like the god of war Mars (Mars), but the month is already called March - from the word Martius, in Armenian it’s “March” “ simply means “war” and all words with this root are related to military affairs, well, one way or another, you can still find a few words where this substitution was observed. ՄԱՐՏ - well, taking into account everything that was written above - you can immediately calmly read it as “March”.

The letter Ք - (aspirated g), is very similar to ِԳ, and that’s how it was intended. Well, if it’s similar, let it be.

The letter Ղ (gh or Ukrainian or Voronezh g) is generally an interesting letter; if you remove the upper roundness, you get Լ(l). It would seem, where is the similarity? But it turns out that this is what it is. There are a lot of words that in most Indo-European languages ​​are written with the letter L; in Armenian this mysterious letter is used in this place. That is, Elena is written as ՀԵՂԻՆԵ (Heghine), Paul as ՊՈՂՈՍ (Poghos), Lazarus as ՂԱԶԱՐՈՍ (Ghazaros), etc. Apparently, at one time this letter differed slightly in pronunciation from the letter Լ(l), therefore it was indicated by a similar sign, and then its sound changed. In general, it’s not difficult to remember.

The letter Կ(к) is simply the letter K without the bottom squiggle and turned backwards. I don’t know why it’s like that.

Letters Ջ, Չ (j, h) - lowercase ջ, չ. According to the same scheme, similar sounds (difference in voicing) with similar symbols. For which a special bow to the creator.

The letters Ց,Ծ (ts, t in the word at least). The same trick - the first letter is like a circle, starting with a round curl at the top, the second is like the same circle, but in one movement, without a twist, just two tails. Tricky.

Letters Վ,Ւ (в, English w), lowercase վ,ւ. The same scheme as in the case of ն and մ. The second letter, however, is now pronounced either as “v” or not pronounced at all, sometimes it is turned into a ligature և from եւ, or is used to get the sound “u” from a combination of the letters ո(o) and ւ (English w) - “ու”.

Letters Շ,Չ (ш,ч) - lowercase շ,չ. The letter Չ(h) has already been mentioned above in combination with Ջ(j). ّAnd then it turned out that two similar sibilants are made from each other by a simple 180-degree turn.

Armenian is a very complex, but mysteriously beautiful language. Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet in 405 to translate Bible into Armenian. Thus, making it accessible to common people.

Armenians sometimes refer to the 5th century as the "golden age of Armenia". since the invention of the alphabet has greatly contributed to the development Armenian written culture.

Creation of the Armenian alphabet

Mesrop Mashtots was born in 362 AD, in the village of Hatsekats, Armenia.

Sahak Partev, Armenian Catholicos, set the task for Mashtots to create a new Armenian alphabet.

Until this time, most written versions of Armenian were not in Greek.

Mesrop Mashtots – Creator of the Armenian alphabet

According to folklore, Mashtots invented the alphabet due to a divine vision. He then traveled and began researching languages ​​before creating his 36 letters. He built a language to easily represent the complex sounds of the Armenian language.

After the invention, he created schools throughout Armenia where the language would be taught using the new alphabet. The first of these schools, Amaras in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), where Mashtots himself taught the new alphabet, still exists.

In addition, Mashtots not only created the Armenian alphabet, but also the Georgian and Caucasian alphabets.

The alphabet starts with the letter A as Astvats (meaning God). and ends with Q as Qristos (meaning Christ). Later, however, three more letters appeared.

1. and (ev). It's actually a conjunction that means "and." It is used only in void. Therefore, when using capitals, it should be written as two letters - ԵՎ. “Ev” is pronounced at the beginning, “Ev” is pronounced in the middle of the word.
2. Օ. Eastern Armenians use it at the beginning of a word when it should be pronounced "o", instead of "Ո" (VO). Western Armenians usually use it in the middle of a word.
3. The last one is ֆ (F).

Originally there were 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet. Three letters were added in the tenth-12th cm, for a total of 39 letters.

The original 36 letters of the alphabet were in 4 rows of 9 letters.

However, before Armenia adopted the Arabic number system, each letter represented a number.

The first row of letters was for numbers 1-9, the second row for 10's-90's, the third row for 100's-900, and the fourth for 1000's-9000.

Therefore, the letters in old Armenian represent 1996.

You will find this system number recorded on old monuments in Armenia, as well as on several modern ones (Matenadaran, for example).

Also, the first sentence in Armenian using the alphabet:

“To know wisdom and guidance, to understand the saying of understanding.”(Mashtots)

Armenian Alphabet Before Mesrop: The Mystery of Bishop Daniel's Script

from Amaras

In 301 AD, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion.

In 387 AD, however, Armenia entered a difficult period in its history. Armenia loses its independence, as Persia and Byzantium conspired to divide the country. Christianity began to decline in Persia under influence from Armenia. In many provinces, people revived pagan traditions.

At that time, Mesrop Mashtots served as secretary and translator at the royal court in the capital of Vagharshapat. He received his primary education in a Greek school back home in Taron. He also speaks Greek, Persian and Syriac.

Mesrop's biographer in Koryun described Mesrop as a brave warrior and a talented administrator. He earned respect in court and for his good knowledge of martial arts and his personal qualities.

Two problems prompted Mashtots' initiative to create a separate alphabet for Armenians.

The second factor was the renewed threat of cultural assimilation due to the strengthening role of the Syrian clergy and pro-Persian feudal lords in Armenia. It was a kingdom whose independence was noticeably weakening.

Mesrop became aware of the full range of these problems when, around 395 AD, he temporarily left the royal court on an evangelistic mission to the Armenian province of Syunik (now the eastern province of Armenia) and the neighboring region of Goghtan (in modern Nakhichevan, Republic of Azerbaijan) .

After his return to the capital Vagharshapat, Mesrop Mashtots met with Catholicos Sahak Partev (338 AD – 439 AD), head of the Armenian Church, who offered Mesrop his full support.

Sahak Partev was from the family of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the founder of Amaras. He is the co-author of the Armenian alphabet. Like Mesrop, the Armenian church canonized Sahak Partev and Armenians often call him Sahak the Great.

The formal approval of the Armenian Church at Mashtotsa's proposal at his synod coincided with the return of King Vramshapuh to the capital from his trip to Mesopotamia. There, the Armenian monarch tried to mediate a dispute related to the exile of John Chrysostom by Aelia Eudokia (died 404 AD). empress wife of the Byzantine emperor Arcadius.

Medieval authors report that while in Mesopotamia, King Vramshapuh learned of the existence of a certain old Armenian script, in the possession of Bishop Daniel of Edessa. The king learned about the decision of the Synod. He then sent his trusted Vahrich Khaduni to Mesopotamia to bring a sample of Daniel's letter to the royal court for inspection of St. Mashtots and St. Sahak.

The origins of the Danielian script remain the subject of intense scientific debate, as no examples of it have survived.

It is known - from Koryun and Movses Khorenatsi and other authors, and also - that the script was adapted for an Armenian. The arrangement of the letters is also in accordance with the order of the Greek alphabet. The template Mesrop uses for all three alphabets that he created.

The most common hypothesis about the source of the Danielian script is that it represents an earlier Armenian writing system. Semitic calligraphy was the basis. This, however, was abandoned in ancient times due to its main disadvantage - the inability to correctly reflect the phonetic structure of Armenian. Or, on the contrary, it was forgotten due to the inability of the state to support its dissemination and popularization.

student Mesrop in Koryun details that when Danielyan's script arrived in Armenia, his mentor began using the letters without delay.

However, the inherent shortcomings of Danielyan's writing system rendered Mesropov's training and translation efforts unproductive.

After two years of struggling with Bishop Daniel's script, Mesrop left Armenia on his own trip to Mesopotamia. He then began to seek guidance from the Greek and Syrian rhetoricians in the cities of Edessa and Samosata.

And it was in Samosata, in 406, where, after numerous discussions and consultations with the top minds of his time, Mesrop came up with the final version of the Armenian alphabet. Medieval historians never succeeded in portraying this event as a manifestation of divine will.

The monument to the Armenian alphabet is dedicated to the creation of the alphabet of Mesrop Mashtots. It was built in 2005 on the eastern slope of Mount Aragats, in the village of Artashavan.

It consists of 39 stone statues carved with Armenian letters. According to the plan of the famous architect Jim Torosyan, the monument was created in honor of the 1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet. It was also developed by him.

Besides letters, there are other sculptures in the park. “Tumanyan with his heroes”, “Gregory the Illuminator”, “Creation of letters, 405”, “Khachatur Abovyan” and “Mkhitar Gosh”.

If you walk a little uphill from the monument, you will see a 33-meter tall tower, which symbolizes the age of Jesus Christ at the time he was crucified. It consists of 1711 large and small metal crosses, symbolizing the age of Christian Armenia.

ARMENIAN LANGUAGE

The Armenian language has three phases.

All of them are the result of the natural evolution of language.r:

First

Classic Armenian or “Grabar”. Armenians used it from the 5th to the 19th centuries.

This is the “language of books” (scientific language in the Middle Ages) with borrowings from Iranian languages. The Armenian Church still uses it today.

This period was very rich in religious works. excellent example of Bible translation. It is called "Queen of Translations" because of the beauty and improvement of the language. Moreover, thanks to its fidelity to the text.

second

Middle Armenia. Used from 11th to 15th centuries.

It was the "country language" or "vulgar" language of the common people. It is gradually being replaced in writing. Middle Armenia also became a literary language in the 19th century.

Third

Modern Armenian or "Ashkharabar" began in the 19th century. It has two branches:

• Eastern Armenian.

They say in Armenia, based on the Yerevan dialect.

• Western Armenian

Spoken by the diaspora after the 1915 genocide, based on the dialect of Constantinople. Now Western Armenians are using it.

Armenian forms an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. Armenian is most similar to Greek. It does, however, have many loanwords from such Indo-Iranian languages ​​as Pashto and Farsi. In fact, during the earliest periods of its classification, people considered Armenian to be an Iranian language due to the large number of Iranian loanwords,

The sound system of Armenian is atypical of Indo-European languages. He has ejective sounds. Ejectives sounds can be made by using the vocal cords (not the lungs) to push out air. Armenia has seven nominal cases. The language distinguishes between two numbers, the singular and the plural.

In addition, Armenia has no grammatical gender. The position of the indefinite article varies between Eastern and Western Armenia. In the eastern variety, it precedes the noun; in the western, it follows the noun.

Every verb has two forms, called bases. One for the simple past tense and the past participle. Another for all other tenses, moods and participles. The word order in Armenian is subject-verb-object.

In Armenia, however, the subject of the sentence usually comes before the verb or action. For example, “I love food” would be “I am food like.”

There is also double negation in the language.

So, “Nobody came” would be “Nobody came.”

Today, about six million people speak Armenian, although the total population of the Republic of Armenia is only 3 million (94% of them Armenian). Thus, almost half of Armenian speakers today live outside their historical homeland, mainly in Iran (370,000), Syria (299,000), Lebanon (235,000), Egypt (100,000), and the USA (175,000).

The creation of the Armenian alphabet was a very important event for the Armenians. This was the key that allowed the Armenians to preserve their culture and originality. Thus, they had exceptional longevity while others disappeared.

The modern Armenian alphabet has 39 letters, of which 8 letters convey vowel sounds, 30 letters convey consonant sounds, and the letter և (ev or yev) conveys two, often three sounds together. This alphabet was created in 405 by the Armenian educator, scientist and preacher of Christianity Mesrop Mashtots (361-440). It originally had 36 letters, and the letters և ,օ And ֆ appeared later, in particular օ And ֆ - in the 12th century.

The order of the letters of the Armenian alphabet and the approximate sound of the Armenian letters (read from left to right):

Armenian alphabet best reflects the phonetic system of the Armenian language, therefore it does not have diacritics that clarify the pronunciation of letters, which is often found in many modern languages ​​that use, for example, Latin script for writing. The uniqueness of the Armenian alphabet lies in the fact that its letters and their writing have survived to this day almost unchanged. This certainly makes it easier to read ancient manuscripts, inscriptions and study them.

Mesrop Mashtots (361-440)

History rarely knows the names of the creators of alphabets in ancient times. Mesrop Mashtots is the first historical figure whose creation of a written system is not associated with legend, but is documented. Mashtots is not only the creator of the alphabet, but also a great educator who, unlike other inventors of writing systems, personally opened schools in different provinces of the country and contributed to the spread of literacy, and his mission played an exceptional role in the history of the Armenian people. Considering the exceptional services of Mesrop Mashtots to the Armenian nation, the Armenian Apostolic Church canonized him. The Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots was established in the Republic of Armenia, which is the highest state award awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of culture, education, and social activities.

Mesrop Mashtots was a regional figure, widely known outside of Armenia. He visited many countries during his life and work, and history also credits him with the creation of the Albanian and Georgian alphabets, which is understandably denied by some Georgian scholars. However, the striking similarity of the letters of the Armenian alphabet, the author of which is Mesrop Mashtots, with the ancient Georgian letters, which cannot be a coincidence, clearly indicates the unconditional involvement of Mashtots in the creation of the latter.

Based on the letters of the Armenian alphabet, in ancient times the Armenian number system was used, the principle of which is that capital letters correspond to numbers in the decimal number system:

Ա-1, Բ-2, Գ-3, Դ-4, Ե-5, Զ-6, Է-7, Ը-8, Թ-9, Ժ-10, Ի-20, Լ-30, Խ- 40, Ծ-50, Կ-60, Հ-70, Ձ-80, Ղ-90, Ճ-100, Մ-200, Յ-300, Ն-400, Շ-500, Ո-600, Չ-700, Պ-800, Ջ-900, Ռ-1000, Ս-2000, Վ-3000, Տ-4000, Ր-5000, Ց-6000, Ու-7000, Փ-8000, Ք-9000. The last three letters of the Armenian alphabet, which appeared later, do not have a numerical equivalent.

Numbers in this system are formed by simple addition, for example:

Ռ ՊԾ Ե = 1855 = 1000+800+50+5 .

This number system is still used by the church today. For example, the name of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II is written like this: ԳարեգինԲ.

If we talk about Armenian alphabet, then you will have to plunge into the depths of centuries, because it was invented back in the 5th century, or more precisely, in 405-406. The "father" of writing is considered Mesrop Mashtots. A well-educated person of his time, he was a monk and scholar. The invented alphabet was based on the sound principle: each sound was designated by a specific letter, as in many other languages ​​of the world. Since then, it has undergone virtually no changes, except for the addition of two more graphemes in the 11th century.

Armenian writing- an interesting and extraordinary phenomenon that speaks eloquently about the way of thinking and cultural development of the people. It helps to better understand the nation and its historical development.

Alphabet of Armenia arose at the dawn of our era. As studies by linguists and linguists show, its origin dates back to the 5th century and is closely connected with the name of Mesrop Mashtots. The name of the great figure of his era is so revered in the country that any child knows who he is, moreover, he can depict a figure and even a portrait of a priest. In general, Armenians are very sensitive to their own culture, including writing. Images of letters are revered, and a particularly reverent, caring attitude is observed towards them.

There are 39 letters in total in the modern Armenian alphabet, but only 36 of them convey independent sounds, 6 of which are vowels, and the rest are consonants. The very principle of creating writing is based on a very subtle, almost poetic understanding of the phonetic features of the native language. There is a legend that, when inventing letter styles and from the designation, Mesrop Mashtots I listened to God himself, and therefore such a harmonious, precise system was born.

In the study of the Armenian alphabet, as well as the language itself in general, plays an important role transcription with pronunciation. It is based on it that you can understand how a word sounds and how to say it correctly. That is why, when starting to study pronunciation based on letter writing, it is important to know the basic rules for transcribing lexical units. But you shouldn’t forget about grammar either.

Numbers of the Armenian alphabet: specificity and uniqueness

Mathematics and grammar in the Armenian language are very closely related. The fact is that numbers and even numbers are indicated using capital letters of the alphabet. The same principle can be seen in other ancient languages, such as ancient Greek. Thus:

• the first 10 letters represent numbers from 1 to 10;
• the following letters are tens, from 20 to 1000 in alphabetical order;
• after 1000 the following letters correspond to units of thousands (1000, 2000, 3000 and so on until 9000);
• the penultimate letter corresponds to 10,000, the last to 20,000.

Each digital value assigned to a letter was added to the next one to form numbers. For example, the number 1975 would be written as follows: ՌՋՀԵ. The meaning of each sign is as follows:

As you can see, the number itself is obtained by adding all its components.

But today such a system is used in much the same way as Roman numerals in languages ​​where Arabic spellings are accepted, that is, simply as prefixes in the names of rulers, as well as in the calculation of centuries, etc. (by analogy with the Russian versions Peter I, Ivan IV the Terrible, 16th century). In ordinary calculations, Armenians use Arabic numerals.

Consonants: not paired, but triple sounds

Many people are accustomed to the fact that consonant sounds are divided into pairs based on deafness and voicedness (in Russian these are, for example, z-s, v-f, b-p, g-k, d-t, zh-sh). In fact, they differ only in the way of pronunciation:

• voice and noise are involved in the creation of voiced sounds,
• in the creation of the deaf - only the noise made by the vocal cords.

But the Armenian alphabet has a striking feature here too. He has not double, but triple lines of sounds. Aspirated pronunciation is also added to the traditional division according to voicedness and deafness. Such sounds are called “voiceless aspirates”, are designated by the corresponding letters and are added to the five classical pairs. That is, it is appropriate to consider triple paradigms here:

voiced – voiceless – voiceless aspirated

բ[b] - պ [p] - փ;

գ[ɡ] - կ[k] - ք;

դ[d] - տ[t] - թ

ձ — ծ — ց

ջ — — ճ — չ

The last letters in the presented paradigms are pronounced with a subtle overtone [x] and are the norm of the literary Armenian language.

There are a total of 33 consonant letters in the alphabet that convey the corresponding sounds. None of them are deafened or voiced, unlike many languages, but are pronounced clearly regardless of their position in the word. This demonstrates the amazingly caring attitude of Armenians towards their own language, and, in particular, towards its phonetic structure and graphic system. The same can be said about consonant sounds. Each letter corresponds to a distinct sound. There is no concept of reduction in the Armenian language.

Creation of the alphabet: interesting facts

In the native language, the word “alphabet” is pronounced “aybuben”, formed by merging the names of the first two letters (the same as in Russian “azbuka” - from “az” and “buki”). This is exactly what the creator of writing once called it Mesrop Mashtots, and that’s how it remains to this day.

History of the creation of the Armenian alphabet, as mentioned above, goes back centuries. Today, this language, including its written incarnation, is considered one of the most perfect in the world. Economical, all sounds are taken into account and fully corresponds to real pronunciation. Plus, the system itself looks sleek and well thought out. The meaning of Armenian writing for the people, without exaggeration, is enormous, and below we will tell you how this is expressed. For now, let's get back to history.

Mesrop Mashtots and everything that came after

Mesrop Mashtots proposed his system back in the 5th century, and then the alphabet had only 36 letters. Much later, already in the 11th century, two more were added. And so it remained for a long time, for almost nine centuries. During the formation of Soviet power, almost all spheres of life of the union republics underwent reforms. They also touched on aibuben.

However, there is one caveat. If, for example, the writing of the pre-revolutionary Russian language really needed revision, then in Armenian no changes were objectively required. That is why the innovations were negatively received by the people and never took root. By the way, they are still considered scientifically unfounded.

There are versions that creator of the Armenian alphabet He did not come up with the whole system himself, but took as a basis the lost ancient Armenian writings, still unknown to scientists. It is also assumed that with the advent of Christianity, the previously existing writing was recognized as pagan, but with the work and zeal Mesrop Mashtots restored and became official. There are many versions, and which one is true is difficult to say. However, the statement that the Armenian alphabet is one of the most ancient on earth and very well studied is a fact.

Meaning of the alphabet for Armenians

Armenians They reverence their alphabetic system so much that there is more than one monument to the Armenian alphabet in the country. Don’t be surprised: it’s customary here to honor and protect the people’s language. Just like Mesrop Mashtots himself, he is immortalized in many statues and sculptures. Every child knows his image and is rightfully proud of the great genius of the past.

Celebrated annually Day of Armenian Writing, which takes place on September 1, Knowledge Day. Armenian Language Day is also celebrated on February 21. In addition, every year on the second Saturday of October the whole country celebrates Tarkmanchats. This is a holiday dedicated to translators, as well as Armenian literature and writing in general.

In a word, Armenia is an interesting country, and its alphabet is unique, at the same time simple and unusual for speakers of other languages. But it’s worth at least getting to know it in order to deeply feel the spirit of this amazing people.

...to know wisdom and instruction, to understand the sayings of reason...

Proverbs of Solomon, Old Testament

The alphabet is the pride of the Armenian people. By right. It was created at the very beginning of the 5th century AD by the scientist and educator Mesrop Mashtots. And this is not a legend, but a documented fact.

In those distant times, Armenia had already adopted Christianity, but its spread was difficult, since the Bible was available only in Greek and Assyrian. Moreover, the country was divided between the Roman Empire, where Christianity had already been adopted, and Persia, where an alien religion, Zoroastrianism, dominated. In the “Persian” part, the influence of the pagans increased. In translating the Bible and theological books into Armenian, Mesrop Mashtots saw the continuation of the spread of Christianity throughout Armenia, and with it the strengthening of the state.

The creation of the alphabet was not a spontaneous decision of one person. In Etchmiadzin, which was then called Vagharshapat, a council was convened, where bishops from all over the country gathered. The idea of ​​developing an alphabet was supported by the Catholicos and the Tsar.

The new writing system did not appear immediately. At first, Mesrop Mashtots took Daniel’s letters as his alphabet. They are very ancient, brought from Mesopotamia. Scientists are still arguing about which nationality these letters belonged to and what their origin was. Daniel's letters began to be used, but very soon (about two years passed) it became clear that these letters were not enough to reflect all the sounds of the Armenian language. Then Mesrop Mashtots and his students undertook a linguistic expedition to Mesopotamia, where, by studying the writing systems of other peoples, he created the Armenian alphabet.

The new alphabet consisted of 36 letters, of which 7 were vowels and 29 were consonants. In the 12th century, one vowel and one consonant were added. The 20th century increased the alphabet by one more letter, in total there were 39 of them, and they look like this.

However, that's not all. Armenian letters were used to represent numbers. On an excursion to Matenadaran (a research institute, a repository of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan), we were told that letters were traditionally written in four rows. This is precisely related to the numerical layout:

It can be seen that there are letters reserved for units, tens, hundreds and thousands. And the three letters added later did not receive any numerical value. For example, the year 2012 in Armenian letters will be written as follows:

Simple enough. If I understood correctly, then capital letters were used as numbers and, probably, this is how they were distinguished from other letters in the text. I hope they didn’t use abbreviations back then, otherwise there would have been confusion.

One of the advantages of the Armenian alphabet is that its letters have reached us unchanged from ancient times. This means that texts written, say, in the 5th century can be read today without any problems. It seems to me that more than one generation of researchers remembered Mesrop Mashtots with a kind word for this.

The guide in Matenadaran told us that the 5th century was special in the history of Armenia. Despite the division of the country and political instability in the state, with the invention of the writing system, the time of enlightenment began. They not only taught the new alphabet to all people, not only translated the Bible, but also rewrote books. A lot. From different languages. Various topics. A manuscript has been preserved in the Matenadaran - a historical and philosophical collection that is more than a thousand years old. We saw the book - a copy from an older Greek manuscript; the original has not survived, but scientists were still able to read the text thanks to the amazing Armenian alphabet and the talent of the calligrapher-scribe.

Something amazing. The manuscript was created very carefully, meticulously, letter by letter, line by line. At first glance, it seems that it was printed in a printing house. “It’s impossible to write like that!” is the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe. It’s more difficult to imagine how much effort and patience was invested.

Not only theological books were copied. Different. We were shown books related to sheet music. The text is written in letters, and special symbols are inscribed on top - Armenian notes, which scientists have not yet deciphered, but the Matenadaran is confident that this will certainly be done.

There is a whole stand dedicated to exact sciences. A book on medicine that says that a person's illness can be determined by the iris of the eye, even with pictures. We saw a herbalist with very detailed and meticulous drawings. Just imagine. One person created this herbalist and probably spent more than a year on it, which in itself inspires respect. Another person meticulously rewrote it in letters that were not the easiest to draw, and also redrew the illustrations. I can't wrap my head around it.

List from Euclid's Elements. 12th century manuscript

Of course, Matenadaran has books on mathematics. I saw a list from Euclid's Geometry (original 3rd century BC). The translation is from the 7th century, and the manuscript is from the 12th century. Such a relic! Yes, I couldn’t even dream about it! Dima led me away from this display case by the hand. A copy of the works of Copernicus is also present.

In addition to books and manuscripts, copies of documents and letters are kept in the Matenadaran. For example, we were shown a letter from Ivan Aivazovsky. He had never been to Armenia, but carried on extensive correspondence with his compatriots, always in Armenian.

A separate showcase is reserved for alternative writing systems. There is a Jewish manuscript made on calf skin, an Indian one on palm leaves, and even a small birch bark letter from Veliky Novgorod. Near the copy of the mathematical chapters of Avicenna’s Book of Knowledge, I began to whine quietly with delight...

Monuments have been erected to the amazing Armenian alphabet. We saw two. The first of them is located in Oshakan (a small town near Yerevan). The monument was created by J. Torosyan in 1962. The letters are made in the form of khachkars - Armenian stone slabs decorated with carvings. Very beautiful. The carving is very thin, clear and intricate. At first you don’t believe that it is a stone. The letters are inscribed in carved paintings. The plot does not repeat itself. The monument is located next to the Church of St. Mesrop Mashtots. In the temple is the grave of the great Armenian enlightener, canonized by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Monument to the alphabet. Oshakan. Letters "zh", "r" and "kh"