Armenian Toponyms Based on Plant-Names in the Province of Syunik

Martirosyan, Hrach and Aramyan, Anna · 2025

The authors take a linguistic route into the question of Armenian continuity in Syunik and Artsakh, arguing from dialect evidence rather than political claim. Their material is toponyms formed from plant designations, drawn chiefly from the tax list of the twelve regions of Syunik in Stepanos Orbelean's History of Syunik. Many preserve phonological developments and lexical items specific to the Syunik-Artsakh dialect region, which the authors read as evidence of long-term continuity of Armenian there. They frame the study against Classical Armenian sources, the seventh-century Ashkharhatsoyts, khachkars, inscriptions and colophons, and read the plant-derived names as showing a close tie between communities and the landscape they inhabited.

Citation checked against the publisher's record on 2026-07-13.