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Journal ArticleOpen Access

A New Look at Old Armenisms in Kartvelian

Thorsø, Rasmus · 2022

Treats the most ancient layer of Armenian loanwords in the Kartvelian languages. Because Kartvelian historical phonology is relatively conservative compared with Armenian, these borrowings occasionally preserve more archaic forms, recoverable by the comparative method. Thorsø re-examines six previously proposed Armenian loans (including the words for 'ford', 'stream', 'wine', 'juniper', 'kidney' and 'mushroom') and advances one new proposal. He argues this stratum of loans probably dates to the latter half of the second millennium BC, before the breakup of Proto-Georgian-Zan, which would push the first identifiable Armenian-Kartvelian contacts back to that period.

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Published in
Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies, Vol. 1 (2022), pp. 97–110; DOI 10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/006 (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Venice)
Year
2022
Language
English
DOI
10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/006

Citation

Thorsø, Rasmus 2022. A New Look at Old Armenisms in Kartvelian. Armeniaca. International Journal of Armenian Studies, Vol. 1 (2022), pp. 97–110; DOI 10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/006 (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Venice). https://doi.org/10.30687/arm/9372-8175/2022/01/006

What this offers a reader

For students

Words Georgians borrowed from us three thousand years ago: evidence for where Armenians were, and when.

For academics

Historical linguistics bearing on the prehistory of the Armenian language and its earliest Caucasian contacts.

For the community

Georgian preserves Armenian words older than any Armenian text we have.

For a general reader

Ancient Armenian words preserved inside the Georgian language.

Topics

Armenian historical linguisticsIndo-EuropeanKartvelianlanguage contactloanwordsProto-Armenian

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