ARMENIA (NAME)

The name 'Armenia' is an exonym, the Armenian language name for the country being ''Hayk‘'' (see Haik for a discussion of that name). Its first unambiguous application as the ethnonym of the Armenians is in a late 6th century BC Old Persian inscription, as ''Armina'', and a few decades later, Herodotus, in his review of the troops opposing the Greeks, wrote that “the Armenians were armed like the Phrygians, being Phrygian settlers" ^[1].
There are, however, surprisingly early (Bronze Age) attestations of what appears to be the same name as a geographical term in both Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources.
The earliest is from an inscription which mentions ''Armânum'' (also read ''Armani''^[2]) together with ''Ibla'' (Ebla) as territories conquered by Naram-Sin (23rd century BC)^[3] identified with an Akkadian colony in the Diarbekr region^[4]
A Babylonian inventory of the Akkadian Empire locates the land ''Armanî'' next to Lullubi^[5]
Another mention by pharoah Thutmose III in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BC) as the people of ''Ermenen'' ("Region of the Minni"), and says in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".^[6]
''Minni'' (מנּי) is also a Biblical name of the region, appearing in Jeremiah () alongside Ararat and Ashchenaz, probably the same as the ''Minnai'' of Assyrian inscriptions,^[7] perhaps corresponding to the Minyans.^[8] ''Armenia'' is interpreted by some as ''^ḪARMinni'', that is, "the mountainous region of the Minni".^[9]
It has been suggested that Old Persian ''Armina'' and the Greek ''Armenoi'' are continuations of the Assyrian toponym.^[10]
There have been further speculations as to the existence Bronze Age tribe (of an ethnonym, as opposed to a toponym) of the 'Armens' (''Armans'', ''Armani''; Armenian: Արմեններ ''Armenner'', Առամեններ ''Aṙamenner''), either identical to or forming a subset of the Hayasa-Azzi^[11][12]
Etymological speculation inspired by the Armenian hypothesis of Indo-European origins connects the name with the ''Ar-'' root found in Aryan, Arta etc.^[13] Alternatively, the name has been claimed as a "variant" of ''Urmani'', a e living near Lake Van and near Lake Urmia according to an inscription of Menousas.^[14]
Armenian tradition makes ''Armenak'' or ''Aram'' the great-grandson of Haik.
Other authors^[15] connect the Parsi name ''Armin''.^[16]
Modern terms for ''Armenians'' and ''Armenia'' in Armenian and neighboring languages:

	Armenians	Armenia
Armenian	Հայեր ''Hayer''	Հայաստան ''Hayastan'', Հայք ''Hayk‘''
Arabic	أرمن ''Armin'', singular أرماني ''Armānī''	أرمينيا ''Armīniyā''
Assyrian (Syriac)	ܐܪܡܐܢܥ ''Armānī''	ܐܪܡܝܢܝܐ ''Armīniyā''
Azerbaijani	Ermənilər	Ermənistan
Farsi	ارمنیان ''Arminiyān''	ارمنستان ''Arministān''
Georgian	სომხები ''Somkhebi''	სომხეთი ''Somkhet'i''
Greek	Αρμενικό	Αρμενία
Kurdish	''Ermeni''	''Ermenistan''
Russian	Армяне	Армения
Turkish	''Ermeniler''	''Ermenistan''

Contents

References

See also

External links

References

1. Herodotus, History, 7.73.
2. Artak Movsisyan, "Aratta: The ancient Kindgom of Armenia," Yerevan, 1992, p. 184
3. surviving in an early Babylonian copy, ca. 2200 BC, URI 275, lines I.7, 13; II.4; III.3, 30.
4. Horace Abram Rigg, Jr., A Note on the Names Armânum and Urartu, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1937).
5. no. 92 of Schroeder's 1920 ''Keilschrifttexte aus Assur''; W. F. Albright, ''A Babylonian Geographical Treatise on Sargon of Akkad's Empire'', Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 45. (1925), p. 212.
6. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915[1]; Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) ''Thutmose III'', University of Michigan, 2006, ISBN 978-0472114672.
7. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia s.v. Minni
8. Smith's Bible Dictionary[2]
9. Easton’s Bible Dictionary
10. H. A. Rigg (1937).
11. Rafael Ishkhanyan, "Illustrated History of Armenia," Yerevan, 1989
12. Elisabeth Bauer. ''Armenia: Past and Present'' (1981), p. 49
13. T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov, ''The Early History of Indo-European (aka Aryan) Languages'', Scientific American, March 1990; James P. Mallory, "Kuro-Araxes Culture", ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture,'' Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
14. Vahan Kurkjian, ''History of Armenia'', Michigan 1968★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html
15. Hovick Nersessian, ''Highlands of Armenia'', 1998, Los Angeles
16. Parsiana, ''Book of Iranian Names''[3]: a dweller of the Garden of Eden, a son of king Kobad

See also

★ Hayasa-Azzi

★ Kingdom of Armenia

External links

★ Alternate Names or Name Variants for Republic of Armenia