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The earliest testimony of the Armenian language dates to the 5th century AD (the Bible translation of Mesrob Mashtots). The earlier history of the language is unclear and the subject of much speculation. It is clear that Armenian is an Indo-European language, but its development is opaque. In any case, Armenian has many layers of loanwords and shows traces of long language contact with Hurro-Urartian, Greek and Indo-Iranian.
The Proto-Armenian sound-laws are varied and eccentric (such as *dw- yielding erk-), and in many cases uncertain. For this reason, Armenian was not immediately recognized as an Indo-European branch in its own right, and was assumed to be simply a very eccentric member of the Iranian languages before H. Hübschmann established its independent character in an 1874 publication.[1]
Proto-Indo-European voiceless stops are aspirated in Proto-Armenian, a circumstance that gave rise to the Glottalic theory, which postulates that this aspiration may have been sub-phonematic already in PIE. In certain contexts, these aspirated stops are further reduced to w, h or zero in Armenian (PIE *pots, Armenian otn, Greek pous "foot"; PIE treis, Armenian erek’, Greek treis "three").
The reconstruction of Proto-Armenian being very uncertain, there is no general consensus on the date range when it might have been alive.
| “ | The Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrians (and Urartians), Luvians and the Mushki. After arriving in its historical territory, Proto-Armenian would appear to have undergone massive influence on part the languages it eventually replaced. Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.[2] | ” |
Greppin (1991) identifies 16 possible Old Armenian words with a Hurro-Urartian etymology: agarak "field" from Hurrian awari "field"; astem "to reveal one's ancestry" ad Hurrian asti "woman, wife"; art "field" ad Hurrian arde "town"; xnjor "apple" from Hurrian hinz-ore "apple"; kut "grain" from Hurrian kade "barley" (rejected by Diakonoff); maxr "pine" from Hurrian mahir "fir, juniper"; salor "plum" ad Akkadian salluru "plum", suspected of being of Hurrian origin; tarma-jur "spring water" from Hurrian tarmani "source"; arciw "eagle" from Urartian Arsiba, a proper name with a presumed meaning of "eagle"; xarxaler "to destroy" from Urartian harhar-s- "to destroy"; sar "tree" from Urartian sare "garden"; cov "sea" from Urartian sue "sea"; ult "camel from Urartian ultu "camel"; pelem "dig, excavate" from Urartian pile "canal" (rejected by Diakonoff); san "kettle" from Urartian sane "kettle, pot"; sur "sword", from Urartian sure "sword" (considered doubtful by Diakonoff).
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