Money, Money, Money...

Before the European Union officially introduced the euro as currency in 1999 and Greece adopted it in 2001-2002, it had its own currency, called drachma, with a very long history. It had been used by many Greek city-states between the second and the first millennium B.C., including the Classical period; then it was used in the Hellenistic period and finally under Roman domination. Greece obtained its independence in 1830 from the Ottoman Empire, and two years later, the drachma was restored as the official currency.

The drachma was also a weight unit, first equivalent to 66.5 grains, and then approximately to one gram. It is likely that this quantity was first used as monetary unit before metals were adopted; the word δραχμή (drakhmḗ) was derived from δράσσομαι (drássomai, “to grasp, seize”) and originally may have meant “fistful.”

The Greek word was loaned by the Iranian languages, and thus we have words like Persiandiram, Pahlavi dram (“a small weight; money”) , and Kurdish diraw (“money”). On its way, it lost the middle sound kh (an aspirated h) and the final e. And yes, we also have Armenian դրամ (Classical/Eastern Armenian dram; Western Armenian tram), which most probably came from Middle Persian or, otherwise, had a similar bumpy road of lost sounds from Greek drakhmḗ. In any case, the word was already mentioned in the Armenian translation of the Bible (before the first half of the fifth century A.D.).

The word dram was already used as a monetary unit during the time of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia, particularly in the 13th and 14th centuries, and the second republic of Armenia adopted the dram as the name of its own currency in November 1993.

However, you should not be confused in the streets of Yerevan: although Modern Armenian uses the word dram in both Western and Eastern Armenian, for instance for the word tghtatram(թղթադրամ “banknote”), in Eastern Armenian the word pogh (փող) is used in colloquial language with the meaning of “money.” This word, which was also utilized in Cilician times as a monetary unit, comes from Persian pul (“small coin”).

Two Ways to Say “And”

Unlike English, and many other languages, Armenian has two words to say “and.” But, as with many synonyms, people tend to use one particular word and put aside all others. It is a matter of style. If you care about your speech, you will want to speak accurately. Otherwise . . . you may see the results every day.

The two conjunctions in question are yev (եւ) and oo (ու). Do they have any difference in meaning? No.

If you want to say “I will first go to eat and then go home,” you can either say
Նախ պիտի ուտեմ եւ յետոյ պիտի քնանամ (Nakh bidi oodem yev hedo bidi knanam) or
Նախ պիտի ուտեմ ու յետոյ պիտի քնանամ (Nakh bidi oodem oo hedo bidi knanam).

However, you can take advantage of the existence of both words to improve your quality of speech. Thus,
1) You should not use yev or oo alone several times in the same sentence, as in:
Ես եւ դուն պաղպաղակ կերանք եւ յետոյ տուն գացինք
(Yes yev toon baghbaghag gerank yev hedo doon katsink, “You and I ate ice cream and then went home”).
It is better to use oo between yes and toon (“You and I”):yes oo toon.

2) In general, when a word ends in a consonant and the next starts with a consonant, it is advisable to use oo (շուն ու կատու/ shoon oo gadoo “dog and cat”), and when a word ends in a vowel and the next starts with a vowel, yev is the word of choice (քու եւ իմ/koo yev im “your and my”).

3) If the surrounding words are filled with oo¬, it is better not to use the conjunction oo. For instance, instead of ուրախութիւն ու երջանկութիւն (oorakhootioon oo yerchangootioon “joy and happiness”), it is better to say ուրախութիւն եւ երջանկութիւն (oorakhootioon yev yerchangootioon).

Don’t Rub This on Anyone’s Face

If you still use a pencil to write, then you probably have an eraser around to rub out pencil marks. Because of such use, the elastic substance that came from tropical plants has been called rubber since the end of the eighteenth century.

Something similar happened in Armenian: the elastic substance was called redeen (ռետին) and your eraser bears the same name redeen. Unlike English, however, the word had no relation with the function of the eraser, but was created from a different source. It was the name of a substance that flowed from trees as a balsam or a medicine. Armenian medical books from the Middle Ages advised: “Redeen, which is a balsam.”

The word redeen probably entered the Armenian language through the translation of the Bible in the fifth century, and its source was the Greek word rhetine “pine resin.” Several other languages borrowed this word: Latin resina, Arabic ratinag, Farsi ratiyan.

Of course, the Latin word sounds familiar. It is the indirect source, through Old French, for the current English word resin.

But where does the Greek word, the common ancestor for Armenian redeen and English resin, come from? That is one of the many mysteries that students of the language have not been able to solve so far.

You Only Say “No” Once

As we said in a previous note last year, Western Armenian (*) and English share a grammatical feature: they both use negative words with affirmative verbs.

You cannot use double negative in Western Armenian (except for understated affirmation). Therefore, you may say either Ոչ մէկը գիտէ (Voch mege kideh) or Մէկը չի գիտեր (Mege chee keeder) to mean “nobody knows,” but you cannot say ոչ մէկը չի գիտեր (Voch mege chee keeder), which would be as grammatically correct as “Nobody doesn’t know.”

Similarly, you may say «Ոչինչ ունիմ» (Vocheench ooneem) or «Բան մը չունիմ» (Pan me chooneem) to say “I have nothing” or “I don’t have anything” but «Ոչինչ չունիմ» (Vocheench chooneem) would be the equivalent of... “I don’t have nothing.”

Here is a list of negative words that are commonly, and wrongly, paired with negative verbs. The accurate form is as follows:

Ոչ ոք ըսած է - Voch vok usadz eh - Nobody has said [anything]
Ոչինչ ըսած է - Vocheench usadz eh - (He/she) has said nothing
Ոչ մէկը ըսած է - Voch mege usadz eh - No one has said [anything]
Ոչ մէկ բան ըսած է - Voch meg pan usadz eh - (He/she) has said nothing
Ոչ մէկ պարագայի ըսած է - Voch meg barakayi usadz eh - (He/she) has said in no circumstance
Ոչ մէկ անգամ ըսած է - Voch meg ankam usadz eh - (He/she) has never said
Ոչ մէկ կերպով ըսած է - Voch meg gerbov usadz eh - (He/she) has said in no way

There is also a little list of affirmative words that should be paired with negative verbs:

Որեւէ բան տեսած չէ - Voreve pan desadz che - (He/she) has not seen anything
Ոեւէ մէկը տեսած չէ - Voyeve mege desadz che - (He/she) has not seen anyone
Բնաւ տեսած չէ - Pnav desadz che - (He/she) has not seen (anyone) once
Երբեք տեսած չէ - Yerpek desadz che - (He/she) has never seen (anyone)

Remember: you don’t need to say “no” twice. Once is enough.

(*) This rule doesn’t apply to Eastern Armenian, which uses negative words with negative verbs, like Russian.

The Many Meanings of Life

Every language has its unique expression when raising a glass for a toast. While English speakers say “Cheers,” which is meant to inspire courage, hope, life, or animation, or all of them together, Spanish speakers say “Salud” and just mean “health,” which is the basis of life.

What do Armenian speakers say? They say Genats (Կենաց). If you are sitting at a table in Armenia, the first toast is usually Hay zhoghovrtee genatseh (Հայ ժողովրդի կենացը), which basically means “To the Armenian people.”

While genats seems to be related to the verb genal (կենալ “to stop, to stay”), actually it is not. The word is a Classical Armenian declined form from geank (կեանք), “life.” Thus, when you make a toast, you are making it “To the life of...”

Now, the root of geank and of many other words where “life” is involved is the Classical Armenian verb geal (կեալ) “to live.” This verb is not used in Modern Armenian, where we simply say abril(ապրիլ), which is written exactly the same as the name of the month of April (Abril/Ապրիլ). 

Among the above mentioned words we have the third person in singular, future tense of the verbgeal, which gives a very usual word in Armenian: getseh (կեցցէ) “will live.” This is the equivalent of the English expression “Long live.” Thus, when you want to say “Long live Armenia,” you just say Getseh Hayastan (Կեցցէ Հայաստան), which is... one syllable shorter than in English! And if you hear someone telling you getsehs (կեցցես), then you are getting a “Bravo!”

The same as genats and getseh, our third example also comes from Classical Armenian:gentanee (կենդանի). While any person knowledgeable in Armenian may point out that the word means “animal” and a dog is a gentanee, let us remind him or her that God too is a gentanee, according to the Bible.

How come?

Matthew 16:15 calls Christ «Vorti Astudzoh gentanvoh» (Որդի Աստուծոյ կենդանւոյ), which in Modern Armenian is read gentani Asdudzoh Vorteen (կենդանի Աստուծոյ Որդին) and in English “Son of living God.”

The difference is only grammatical: the noun gentanee refers to any live being (“animal”), including humans; the adjective gentanee refers to the fact that someone (including God) is “alive” or “”living.”

Warning: if someone tells you that you are a gentanee, be assured that he or she is comparing you to a non-speaking, two-legged or four-legged being. Not a nice thing to say!

Food and Lunch Are Not the Same Thing

If you are very skinny, some well-intentioned person may give you this logical advice: “You need to eat food.”  Of course, if (s)he spoke to you in Armenian, (s)he would logically say: “Bedk e geragoor oodes” (Պէտք է կերակուր ուտես).

There is another word for “food,” oodelik (ուտելիք). However, the same person would not say: “Bedk e oodelik oodes” (Պէտք է ուտելիք ուտես). The reason is that oodelik and oodes sound quite odd in the same sentence.

Despite the fact that many people do it, the acquaintance of Mr. or Ms. Skinny would never say: “Bedk e jash oodes” (Պէտք է ճաշ ուտես).Why? Because jash does not mean “food,” but “meal” and, by extension, “lunch.”

Geragoor also means “meal.” If you are a child, you may announce to your parents after finishing your meal: “Geragoors gera” (Կերակուրս կերայ). You may also say “Jashs gera” (Ճաշս կերայ) if it is noon and you have finished lunch. But you don’t eat lunch when the sun has set, do you? At that time of the day, “Jashs gera” would be incorrect.

In conclusion,

“Food”: geragoor – oodelik

“Meal”: geragoor – jash

“Lunch”: jash

Let’s end by listing the names of the different meals of the day:

nakhajash --- նախաճաշ --- “breakfast”

jash --- ճաշ --- “lunch”

nakhuntrik --- նախընթրիք --- “snack”

untrik --- ընթրիք --- “dinner, supper”

The Circus Is Not New

You may know nothing about the origin of English words, but when you hear the word circus, you will probably bet your money on a Latin origin, since the circus, as a spectacle, was invented in Rome. You are dead right, indeed. English and German circus is a straightforward derivation from the Latin circus “ring, circular line,” a name applied by Romans to arenas for performances and contests, and courses for racing.

The Armenian language has derived very few words from Latin, because, despite the long political interaction between the Roman Empire and the Armenian kingdom, there was very little Roman cultural and linguistic influence over Armenia. For this reason, English circus and Armenian կրկէս (grges, in Western Armenian pronunciation; krkes, in Classical/Eastern Armenian) mean the same, but have different origins. In the Armenian case, the source is the Greek word κίρκος (kirkos), “a circle, a ring,” which in the time of Homer and his Iliad was spelledκρίκος (krikos). The Armenian word was already attested in the fifth century.

In any case, once again, if the parents of circus and grges are different, their grandparent is the same. The Proto-Indo-European language (the “mother” of the family language to which Armenian, English, Greek, and Latin belong) had a root that meant “to turn, to bend” (*(s)ker). That root, at its turn, originated another one, *kirk, and this is how we have certain words in English, such as “circle” and “cycle,” that also come via Latin, from the same idea of “ring” or “circle.”

By the way, the Yerevan Circus has existed since the 1930s. The building was privatized in 2005 and demolished in 2012. A new building is under construction and it is scheduled to be finished next year. Thus, the next time you go to Yerevan you will hopefully be able to see, and perhaps to enter, the new grges.