The Hidden Language of Civilizations (Part II & III)

By Lia A. Avetissian, Yerevan, November 2012

Posted on 17 December 2012

Yerevan-based Lia A. Avetissian is a linguist, author, Armenologist, translator, and an investigative journalist. A graduate of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Yerevan University, Ms. Avetissian will publish her next book–"These Incredible Armenians"–in 2013.

The language of the people is not only their spiritual habitat, but also an effective tool of formation and preservation of its national character and the thinking of its carriers. For example, in the Armenian language there is no category of gender. A man, a woman, their family, their homeland, the state and the army cannot be separated from one another on the basis of grammatical gender. Adults and children–the English classify new-born infants as neutral category–in the Armenian grammar they are equal. In life this means they are equal, as well. And all sorts of gender programs and advocacy custody, which are being imposed on us with care from the outside, are simply not appropriate for the nation, where equality is fixed initially in the system of the native language.

By Lia A. Avetissian, Yerevan, November 2012

Posted on 17 December 2012

Yerevan-based Lia A. Avetissian is a linguist, author, Armenologist, translator, and an investigative journalist. A graduate of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Yerevan University, Ms. Avetissian will publish her next book–"These Incredible Armenians"–in 2013.

The language of the people is not only their spiritual habitat, but also an effective tool of formation and preservation of its national character and the thinking of its carriers. For example, in the Armenian language there is no category of gender. A man, a woman, their family, their homeland, the state and the army cannot be separated from one another on the basis of grammatical gender. Adults and children–the English classify new-born infants as neutral category–in the Armenian grammar they are equal. In life this means they are equal, as well. And all sorts of gender programs and advocacy custody, which are being imposed on us with care from the outside, are simply not appropriate for the nation, where equality is fixed initially in the system of the native language.

For example, let’s have a look at the diminutive suffixes. If you try to translate literally from Russian into Armenian, where such diminutive constructions are widely used ("She sat on the bench, ate bread with butter, finished with strawberry") in Russian Посидела на скамеечке, поела хлебца с маслицем, заела клубничкой), and read the translated sentence to an Armenian audience, be ready for the arrival of an ambulance. With due respect for food, Armenians are unable to reward their types with such loving tones. Yes, these suffixes are used for children up to three years. However, later on, this kind of word transfiguration is entirely dismissive and insulting. Armenia is not just a country of men; it is also a country of the manly language.   

The system of synonyms of a language can tell a lot about the people, as well. Let’s take, for example, words such as սէր "ser" (love) and հոգ “hog" (care). These words alone have 28 and 26 synonyms, respectively. However, the long word ատելութիւն "atelutyun" (hatred) has only eight related words, which are similar to it in the sense of the concept. Անտարբերութիւն "Antarberutyun" (indifference) has 12 synonyms. What does this very verbal balance show? It demonstrates the fact that the carriers of the Armenian language are much more inclined to love than to hate, and care rather than treat indifferently those whom they encounter.

Most importantly, the long inhumane antonyms surfaced much later than the initial installation of the people for kindness. The English language is similar in this linguistic-moral devolution. And this happens regardless of genetics exclusively because of the influence of language on human consciousness. Language is also a program that was installed in our minds and supported by folklore and literature, songs and social interaction.

A language, that is ancient and yet alive, is an amazing key in its versatility. It is able to unlock doors of all fields of science and the knowledge of mankind. Taking into consideration the composition of vocabulary of our ancient people, it is easy to reveal the geography and the life of our ancestors.  

Try to ask an Armenian friend to list pets and barnyard animals with names consisting of two or three syllables. You'll be surprised (and they will join you on that). In fact, along with our usual horse ձի (dzi) and cow կով (kov), donkey էշ (esh) and chicken հաւ (hav), dog շուն (shun) and goat էծ (or այծ) (etz or aytz), bull ցուլ (tsul) and lamb ուլ (ul), buffalo լիզ (liz) and goose սագ (sag), pig խոզ (khoz) and duck բադ (bad), among the pets and barnyard animals of Armenians, thousands of years before us were such creatures as elephant փիղ (pigh) and camel ուղտ (ught)! And among those who gave them hard time surviving were wolf գել or գայլ (gel or gayl), bear արջ (arch), leopard լուս (lus), snake օձ (odz), mouse մուկ (muk), gadfly բոռ (bor), mole ցեց (tsets), mite տիզ (tiz) and flea լու (lu).

Various wild animals որս (vors) were tracked down by the hunters by boats նաւ, բոթ (nav, bot), cart սել or սայլ (sel or sayl), փաճ (pach) and the same horses ձի (dzi), armed with mace պալ (pal), arrow նետ (net), spear տիգ (tig) and sword թուր (tur).

But if we look at the names of more advanced types of European weapons, we see that they also consist of short Armenian roots, which give them a fairly accurate description. For example, մուշկետ mushket, where մուշ “mush" means suppression, and կէտ "ket" means point/purpose, and the word as a whole, without any alterations and semantic assumptions is "suppression of point". You might as well read the Armenian meaning embodied by the authors or inventors in mortar, howitzer, halberd, spear and even boomerang; in all available languages with different terminologies, you will still find the Armenian in the roots of the names of armaments.

In the same way, without a time machine, simply going deeper into the words, it can be understood that the cookbook of our ancestors included egg ձու (dzu), fish ձուկ (dzuk), milk կաթ (kat), cottage cheese շոռ (shor), quinoa բոխ (bokh), different salinities թթու (ttu) and meat միս (miss), seasoned with salt աղ (agh), hot spices մռու, կծու (mru, ktzu), onion սոխ (sokh) and fried in fat իւղ (yugh) and oil ձէթ (dzet).

At the same time, as brilliantly noticed by Prof. Hovhannes Pilikian, man այր (ayr), the lighting of fire այր/ել (ayr / el) and the residential cave քար/այր (qar / ayr) are single-rooted words, which seem to be illustrating the legend of Prometheus.

And of course after all of this, people were drinking water ջուր (jur) and liquid yogurt թան (tan), wine գինի (gini) and vodka օղի (oghi). Obviously, they knew their limits բավ, չափ (bav, chap) and everything had a price գին, սակ (gin, sak). For dessert they had pomegranate նուռ (nur), blackberry մոշ (mosh), dogwood հոն (hon), mulberry թութ (tut), fig թուզ (tuz), melon սեխ (sekh) and other tasty things. Wineskin տիկ (tik), pitcher կուժ, պուլ (kuzh, pul), hook կեռ (ker) and rope թոկ  (tok) for storing grapes and other fruits, rolling pin գլան (glan), cans թաս (tas), cooking cushions for baking lavash դափ (dap) and other tricks, were used by Armenian women as their kitchen appliances. Meanwhile, the cradle of a baby ճոճ (tchotch) and its rattle ճոռ (tchor) were usually next to them.  

All of these linguistic conclusions are confirmed by bones, seeds, containers filled with them, and other physical evidence, which archaeologists found in all the regions of ancient Armenia and the Armenian Highland. And most importantly, these are reflected in the ancient petroglyphs dating from the 1st to the 10th millennium BC (!), with such consistency and grace that the authors of our TV novels could never dream of.

The Hidden Language of Civilizatation   (Part III of III)

This section was posted following the comments of Vahakn, Mesrob and Garabed on December 21 and 23 respectively. See below.- Editor

Pictographic images used by our ancestors always relied on a couple of homonyms, where abstraction was in tune with a very physical appearance. "Anguish, melancholy" – how can you express them if you are not Albrecht Durer? Let’s turn to his example. A great artist of the Renaissance, he was the son of a Hungarian goldsmith by the name of Albrecht Haytoshi, whose last name was taken from the name of his native village Haytots, which literally means "Armenian pain," giving the main reason for the Armenians of Ani to have migrated to Hungary.

Do you remember how the good-natured Russian soldiers in Leo Tolstoy’s "War and Peace" renamed the captive young Frenchman Vincent as “Vesenni” (which translates to spring in Russian)? This is a typical modification of all nations and languages into their own phonetics, to search a meaning in foreign words. So Hungarians, using the same scenario, distorted the word տոծ “tots" to "toshi", which received the meaning of “door” in their language. Meanwhile, the great artist depicted an open door as his logo, translated his last name back to Armenian and got Dürer դուռեր for doors.

Or, for example, take "illumination, ordination" – well, how can one figure that? But even if you're not a genius of the Renaissance, and just a simple Armenian, then you know very well that this word in your language is օծ; օծել “otz; otzel”, at the same time the word “snake” in Armenian is օձ “odz”. So the snake makes rings on the banners of princes, on the tree of knowledge in paradise, blazons of alchemists and other scientists, and it’s even considered to be wise. However, snake (օձ) is just close to the sound of the true meaning of the word (օծ).   

Another interesting example is St. John the Baptist, who washed Christ in the waters of the River Jordan. How could he, an educated and wealthy man wear camel skin on his bare skin, like a savage Neanderthal? After all, the schema provided with woolen fabric on the body or sackcloth with the skin inside, but not outside. And again, the little door finds its Armenian key there:  because a vow or a covenant of St. John in Armenian is ուխտ "ukht"; although, ուղտ “ught” means camel as well.

This is an interesting game with different words used, symbolized by the same picture. A necessary condition of the game is a 100% understanding of the exact meaning of each word, according to the context. It is evident that this game could be born only in the mind of an Armenian, to arrive at a faithful interpretation only with the use of the Armenian language.

But the most important thing in all this variety is that the words that have the meanings of taste համ (ham), smell հոտ (hot), lunch ճաշ (tchash) and guest հիւր (hyur) are also expressed by monosyllables, as ancient words.

The guest is, of course, a human being – a person, which in Armenian is մարդ "mard", and in many Armenian dialects – իսան "isan". A person is a man, for sure in the Armenian language. Those two concepts are not differentiated, no matter how hard you fight with them. So, if you are a human, then probably you are a man. And even the most backward little man is still a person. And he is even more than just a human, because մար/դ "mar/d" literally means "mortal," meanwhile ի/սան "i/san” means "from or of the saints!" The Arabs borrowed the word as an idiom, although they respect the gender hierarchy as it should be respected. The Arabs added “n” and pronounced it “insan”.

However, in our folklore, both versions, մարդ “mard” and իսան “isan”, are often used together, side by side, referring to the dual nature of man; clearly, pointing to the perishable nature of our holy men. The woman, կին "kin", is separated from the notion of "person", but still has a binding official meaning of the "wife" կին, which makes us think that there were no single women in ancient Armenia.

Interestingly, none of the rock/stone drawings reflect physiological or vulgar scenes, and women as such are not depicted there; even though on the territory of modern Armenia there are about 25,000 catalogued rock/stone drawings, and new discoveries are still frequent. But motherhood is reflected on the stone drawings by means of highly artistic metaphors, which makes us admire the spirituality of our ancient authors, who left sketches to humanity for the future masterpieces of the image of the Holy Virgin. At the same time, the words “woman” (kin; ginek; gnik) and “life” (kyan; gyanq) have the same root. I can even tell you on which dialect of the Armenian language the author of the discipline "gynecology" expressed this term in medicine. In the Hadrout dialect of Karabakh-Artsakh this word (ginek/a/lokh/ea) just means “everything about women”!

Moreover, the person with all the details of his/her skeleton – from the thumb բութ (but) to the forearm թև (tev), from the foot թաթ (tat), to the neck վիզ (viz), from the ankle կոճ (kotch) to the rib կող (kogh), from the joints յoդ (hod) to the spine վէգ (veg) and the spinal bones լից, գոլ, ճիկ, կոր (lits, gol, tchik, cor), from the jaw չան (chan) to the eye աչք (achk), from the nose քիթ (qit) to the hair մազ (maz) – from the point of view of terminology consist exclusively of short words, formed by only three sounds. This is evidence of the good knowledge of anatomy from prehistoric times. Why would otherwise each spinal bone or each notch have its particular terminology?

Diseases and words, which reflect the meaning of various health problems such as cough հազ (haz), ulcers խոց (khots), rash ցան (tsan), nodules խուլ (khul) are also in the same monosyllable “medical list”.

And even the words, which reveal the pleasantness of sexual identity of men and women, with all their curvaceous details, are exclusively short. There is a surprise waiting for you in this area: sexual terminology in Armenian is quite different from that of English, Russian, Chinese and many other languages. But the terms, which you already consider as swear words, practically sound Armenian and have simple but correct Armenian meanings.

The words that expressed the names of family members were and still are short and monosyllabic as well: take grandfather պապ (pap), grandmother մամ, տատ (mam, tat), father հեր, հայր (her, hayr), mother մեր, մայր (mer, mayr). However, children as objects of special attention and care are a stratified group. "Crawl" in Armenian is չոչ "choch", that is why children around one year old when they are still crawling, are called չոջուխ "choj / ukh."

Older children, who already walk and talk and who are already oriented in the world of adult rules, are called մանուկ "man / uk", which comes from the verb մանել "man / el" – "to think", "to understand". This makes us think that the Indo-European «man», «person» is that very sapiens in Armenian, though a little older that the Armenian kids.

Do you think Armenians isolate and give privilege only to adult men? Not at all! The little boy is տղայ "tgha", meaning "brave" and "warrior". However, he is already մանչ "man/ch" from the intellectual root "man” mentioned above. The root for girl աղջիկ “aghjik" is in tune with the words մղջի "mghchi" and աղջաղջ "aghchaghch”, which means haze, mist and basically twilight աղջամուղջ (“aghchamughch”).

So it seems there is some initial original wariness among Armenian men towards the female kind. And yet, that does not prevent them from falling frequently into a trap. So if you see an Armenian meeting with friends, after important negotiations or in another crucial moment, where his friends ask him from afar, Աղջի՞կ թէ տղա՞յ "Aghjik te tgha?", which means "Girl or boy?" do not be surprised if the cheerful տղա՜յ "tgha!" response notifies about victory and the girl notifies about everything else.

All the children as such have the most important name and value – երեխայ "er / ekha," which means "received from grace". So contraception and abortion is also ignorance of the etymology of the native language. And knowledge is a real force, as well as the power of reproduction.

However, let’s get back to Armenian society. Taken together, the above-mentioned figures were parts of a family – home տուն (tun), village շէն (shen), tribe ցեղ (tsegh) and nation ազգ (azg) – in short, everything, just like we learned at school about the primitive communal system. Of course, we also believed that all those things were left in the past and became completely outdated by ethnicities – meanwhile, all are well and alive to keep us going in this millennium as Armenians.

Yerevan scientist H. Poghosyan claimed that there are 144,000 such ancient short words in Armenian, or exactly as many as they are mentioned in the Scriptures. Exactly those that "appear before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and the one sitting on his throne shall dwell among them." Here, Poghosyan saw a direct allegory of the vocabulary of ancient Armenians, who were provided with the ability of speech – Barbar – and the classical written Armenian – Grabar – from prehistoric times, which correctly transformed the relationship "Nature – Man – Language" into the written word.

Subsequently, two more written languages were formed from Grabar. Now Armenians have three literary languages, starting from Grabar that preserves for us the rich resources of scientific, artistic and philosophical literature of the early and middle Ages.

Today Grabar is mostly the language of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the golden key to the knowledge of Armenian civilization for scientists. A set of dialects – Ashkharabar that exists along with Grabar, where the accentuation of one of the dialects is the state language of modern Armenia, and also the language of Armenians in Iran and Russia. This is also referred as Eastern Armenian. And finally, the other is Western Armenian that is the closest to the original Grabar. This wonderful Western Armenian is the language of communication, education and creative writing of all other Armenians in the world. Meanwhile all three of them still are standing on the same ancient monosyllable roots of the most fantastic and hidden language of the world – the Armenian language.