Origin of Armenian Alphabet?

[poiuytrewq0987]

The alphabet looks like upside down Greek to me but seriously... where did your alphabet originate?

[Chronos]

Clearly in Sub Saharan Africa. It is just painfully obvious.

Trolling aside, thats a great question. If you look up old Latin, Greek and Armenian texts and put them side by side, they look closely related.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but was Armenia part of the Byzantine Empire in its hayday ? It seems like it has elements of the "West", or some cultural/traditional symbols at least (superficially speaking).

[Padre Organtino]

Clearly in Sub Saharan Africa. It is just painfully obvious.

Trolling aside, thats a great question. If you look up old Latin, Greek and Armenian texts and put them side by side, they look closely related.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but was Armenia part of the Byzantine Empire in its hayday ? It seems like it has elements of the "West", or some cultural/traditional symbols at least (superficially speaking).

Lol, of course, there were even Byzantine emperors of Armenian origin.

[Chronos]

Lol, of course, there were even Byzantine emperors of Armenian origin.

I apologize, I am ignorant of the region's history. Thanks though.

[PBachman]

The alphabet looks like upside down Greek to me but seriously... where did your alphabet originate?


The Armenian alphabet was created by Saint Mesrop Mashtots and Isaac of Armenia (Sahak Partev) in AD 405 primarily for a Bible translation into the Armenian language. Medieval Armenian sources also claim that Mashtots invented the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets around the same time.


Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet. Pahlavi was the priestly script in Armenia before the introduction of Christianity, and Syriac, along with Greek, was one of the alphabets of Christian scripture. It has also been suggested that the Ge'ez script had an influence on certain letters of the alphabet.[3] Although the Armenian alphabet has similarities to all of these, the general consensus is it was modeled after the Avestan and Greek alphabets, supplemented with letters from a different source or sources for Armenian sounds not found in Greek. The evidence for this is the Greek order of the Armenian alphabet; the ow ligature for the vowel /u/, as in Greek; and the shapes of some letters which "seem derived from a variety of cursive Greek."[4]

[Armin]

Not a bad summary by wiki.


Regardless, many Armenians became successful in the Byzantine Empire. One out of five Byzantine emperors and empresses were ethnically Armenian or half-Armenian; although culturally Greek. The best example of this is Emperor Heraclius, whose father was Armenian and mother Cappadocian. Emperor Heraclius began the Heraclean Dynasty (610-717). Basil I is another example of an Armenian beginning a dynasty; the Macedonian dynasty. Other great emperors were Romanos I, John I Tzimiskes, and Nikephoros II.

Armenian soldiers in the Byzantine army are cited during the following centuries, especially during the 9th and the 10th centuries, which might have been the period of greatest participation of the Armenians in the Byzantine army. Byzantine and Arab historians are unanimous in recognizing significance of the Armenians soldiers. Charles Diehl, for instance, writes: “The Armenian units, particularly during this period, were numerous and well trained.”[3] Another Byzantine historian praises the decisive role which the Armenian infantry played in the victories of the Byzantine emperors Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimiskes.[4]

Armenian Soldiers of the Byzantine Army

Armenia made great contributions to Byzantium through its troops of soldiers. The empire was in need of a good army as it was constantly being threatened. The army was relatively small never exceeding 150,000 men. The military was sent to different parts of the empire, and which took part in the most fierce battles and never exceeded 20,000 or 30,000. men.

“Basil II the Armenian infantry soldiers rescued his life, by creating a circle around him and escorting him, safe and sound, to the city of Philippopoli.”[2]

From the 5th century forwards the Armenians were regarded as the main constituent of the Byzantine army. Procopius recounts that the “Scholarii”, the palace guards of the emperor “were selected from amongst the bravest Armenians”.At that time the Armenians served side by side with the Scandinavians who were in the Byzantine army. This first encounter between the Armenian mountain-dwellers and the northern people has been discussed by Nansen, who brings these two elements closer to each other and records: “It was the Armenians who together with our Scandinavian forefathers made up the assault units of Byzantine.”[5] Moreover, Bussel underlines the similarities in the way of thinking and the spirit of the Armenian feudal lords and the northern warriors. He claims that, in both groups, there was a strange absence and ignorance of government and public interest and at the same time an equally large interest in achieving personal distinctions and a loyalty towards their masters and leaders.[6]

The partition of the Roman Empire between the two sons of the Emperor Theodosius was soon followed by a predominance of foreign elements in the court of Byzantium, the eastern half of the divided world. The proximity of this capital of the East to Armenia attracted to the shores of the Bosporus a great number of Armenians, and for three centuries they played a distinguished part in the history of the Eastern Empire.[7]

Armenian Emperors of Byzantium

The partition of the Roman Empire between the two sons of the Emperor Theodosius was soon followed by a predominance of foreign elements in the court of Byzantium, the eastern half of the divided world. The proximity of this capital of the East to Armenia attracted to the shores of the Bosporus a great number of Armenians, and for three centuries they played a distinguished part in the history of the Eastern Empire.[7] The important role played in the history of Byzantium by that talented minority, the Armenians, has been generally unrecognized. [8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Armenia

[PBachman]

Lol, of course, there were even Byzantine emperors of Armenian origin.

Byzantine Armenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Armenia)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Byzantinehayastan.gif

[PBachman]

Chlodia article moved to French Regional Section.

Deleted and No text. Move along there is nothing see here.

[Mosov]

Here are letters:

http://www.lingvozone.com/languages/Language%20Information19_files/image001.gif

Sample text:

http://ikern.com/k1/wp-content/uploads/armeniantext.jpg

Old Georgian alphabet

http://pics.livejournal.com/517design/pic/00083g6a

Caucasian Albanian alphabet:

http://rbedrosian.com/aghuanian.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/Mat142rk.jpg/397px-Mat142rk.jpg

Geez Alphabet (ethiopia)
http://www.adbassania.com/images/geez_ALPHABET.gif

[Mosov]

the general consensus is it was modeled after the Avestan and Greek alphabets, supplemented with letters from a different source or sources for Armenian sounds not found in Greek. The evidence for this is the Greek order of the Armenian alphabet; the ow ligature for the vowel /u/, as in Greek; and the shapes of some letters which "seem derived from a variety of cursive Greek.

Avestan Alphabet:

http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/unicode/avesttb3.gif

[Sikeliot]

It bears superficial resemblance to both the Greek and Amharic alphabets.

[Wild North]

I would guess, that the Armenian alphabet, is partly based on a Greek variant. And this may also be true concerning the other alphabets, like the Georgian. How many people may know that the Latin alphabet also originated as a variant of the Greek. This is my guess, but of course I could be wrong.

[Musso]

Armenian Alphabet was influenced by Greek, Latin, Syriac alphabets. There are also some similarities with Coptic Script.

[SKYNET]

Mesrop Mashtots has invented the first Armenian alphabet as well as the Georgian alphabet.

[Wild North]

Armenian Alphabet was influenced by Greek, Latin, Syriac alphabets. There are also some similarities with Coptic Script.

Even Latin? Is there any letter in the Armenian alphabet, that may look similar to Latin ones?

[wvwvw]

Do Georgians and Armenians share the same alphabet!? The Armenian alpbabet reminds me of the Hindu alphabet for some strange reason

Hindu alphabet:
http://www.coorg.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/coorg-cox-alphabet.jpg

Armenian:
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/007/b/4/armenian_alphabet_by_sternradio7-d47mqkf.jpg

[Musso]

Even Latin? Is there any letter in the Armenian alphabet, that may look similar to Latin ones?

How about these? օ , ո , ս , հ , լ , ւ , ր , յ , ց , գ


Do Georgians and Armenians share the same alphabet!? The Armenian alpbabet reminds me of the Hindu alphabet for some strange reason

Hindu alphabet:
http://www.coorg.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/coorg-cox-alphabet.jpg

Armenian:
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/007/b/4/armenian_alphabet_by_sternradio7-d47mqkf.jpg

Well the founder of the Armenian Alphabet, Mesrop Mashtots, also made the Georgian alphabet, that is why the upper case georgian letters are so similar to Armenian. He also made the Caucasian Albanian alphabet.

[Instinct]

I've read that Mesrop Mashtots was from Varto, Mush :)

[Wild North]

Could the Armenian alphabet have had an influence on the Cyrillic?