This Sunday, some Khachkars







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learn Classical Armenian!

Image
Learn Classical Armenian! started in June, 2021 with daily Grabar (Classical Armenian) exercises. The exercises are designed to take about 5-10 minutes to work through, with most of the material sourced or modified from the 5th century Classical Armenian translation of the Bible (of which, you can find an invaluable Grabar-English concordance at Arak29 ). I am not a linguist*, and did not approach the material as such; I simply provided the material I wished I had when I started learning Grabar, and that I sometimes still wish to have accessible. My hope is to help others learn our beautiful, ancient language. Soon after I started,  Robert Bedrosian gave me the idea of developing some exercises that focus on "Spoken" Grabar, along with some initial materials to start with. Thereafter, most of the exercises take this approach, based on short, "spoken" phrases that help the reader think in Grabar and, hopefully, parse longer sentences later on. To whet the appetite,
Read more

A selection of famous literary lines, translated to 5th century Grabar

Image
"We'll be right back to Grabar exercises  after these short messages..." — Here's a selection of famous lines from novels that I translated to 5th century Grabar (inspired by a conversation I had yesterday): 1. "Call me Ishmael." ( Moby Dick) Կոչէք զիս Իսմայէլ։ 2. "The old man was dreaming about the lions." ( The Old Man and the Sea ) Իսկ այրն ծեր երազէր յառիւծուցն։ 3. "We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." ( Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ) Ընդ եզեր յանապատի անդ ՚ի կողմանս Բարստոյի իսկ էաք երբ բուռն եհար զմեզ դեղսն հոգեյայտնիչ։ 4. "A screaming comes across the sky." ( Gravity's Rainbow ) Աղաղակ գայ ընդ լայնութիւն երկնից։ 5. "Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful." ( Frankenstein ) Զգոյշ լեր՝ զի աներկեւղ եմ, վասն որոյ եւ հզաւր։ 6. "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Read more

Some male names from 5th century Armenia

Here are all the Armenian male names compiled from Volume 1 of Yeghishe’s History of Vartan and the Armenian War : Anania (Անանիա) Artak (Արտակ) Arten (Արտէն) Basil (Բասիլ) Ěnjugh (Ընջուղ) Gad (Գադ) Gadesho (Գադեշոյ) Garegin (Գարեգին) Giwt (Գիւտ) Hovsep (Յովսէփ) Kasu (Քասու) Manej (Մանէճ) Manen (Մանէն) Meghet (Մեղէտ) Mushē (Մուշէ) Nerseh (Ներսեհ) Nershapuh (Ներշապուհ)  Sahak (Սահակ) Shmavon (Շմաւոն) Surmak (Սուրմակ)  Tachat (Տաճատ) Tatik (Թաթիկ) Tirots’ (Տիրոց)  Vahan (Վահան) Varazshapuh (Վարազշապուհ) Vardan (Վարդան) Vasak (Վասակ)  Yeghbayr (Եղբայր) Yeghisha (Եղիշա) Yeremia (Երեմիա) Yevghagh (Եւղաղ) Yeznik (Եզնիկ) I would say up to half of those names are still in use today (e.g., Hovsep, Arden, Artak, Sahak, Vartan, Vahan) with some seeming more like clerical names (e.g., Anania, Karekin). Others (e.g., Nerseh, Mushe) are still in use but with modification (Nerses, Musegh). Varazshapuh is distinctly Iranian and Gadesho sounds Assyrian. Then we have some names that don't seem to
Read more