Armeno-Phrygian languages

Armeno-Phrygian
(proposed)
Geographic distribution	Caucasus, Anatolia
Ethnicity	Armeno-Phrygians
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Armeno-Phrygian
Proto-language	Proto-Armeno-Phrygian
Subdivisions	Armenian Phrygian †
Language codes

Paleo-Balkan languages and peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia between 5th and 1st century BC.

The name Armeno-Phrygian is used for a hypothetical language branch, which would include the languages spoken by the Phrygians and the Armenians, and would be a branch of the Indo-European language family, or a sub-branch of either the proposed "Graeco-Armeno-Aryan" or "Armeno-Aryan" branches. According to this hypothesis, Proto-Armenian was a language descendant from a common ancestor with Phrygian and was closely related to it. Proto-Armenian differentiated from Phrygian by language evolution over time but also by the Hurro-Urartian language substrate influence. Classification is difficult because little is known of Phrygian, but Proto-Armenian arguably forms a subgroup with Greek and Indo-Iranian. ^{[1] [2]}

There are two conflicting accounts of the origin and presence of the Armenian language in the lands that were Ancient Armenia:

• Ancient Greek historian Herodotus stated that Armenians were colonists from Phrygia ("the Armenians were equipped like Phrygians, being Phrygian colonists" (Ἀρμένιοι δὲ κατά περ Φρύγες ἐσεσάχατο, ἐόντες Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι)(7.73). ^[3] Phrygia encompassed much of western and central Anatolia during the Iron Age. According to Ancient Greeks, the Phrygians had originated in the Balkans as Bryges. This led some scholars to suggest that Armenians also originated in the Balkans. ^[2] According to Igor Diakonoff, the Phrygians and the Proto-Armenians migrated eastward during the Bronze Age collapse (at the end of the 13th century and the first half of 12th century). This theory suggests that Proto-Armenians were known by the name of Mushki to the Assyrians and that they blended with local ancient populations, including speakers of Hurro-Urartian languages, to create Armenians. ^[2]
• Some modern scholars instead believe that a proto-Armeno-Phrygian population, and their respective language, originated in eastern Anatolia and/or the Armenian Highlands, from where the Phrygians later migrated westward. ^[4]

According to some scholars, there is evidence of language borrowings (Armenisms) from the Proto-Armenian language into Hittite and Urartian. ^[1]

Mushki

The Mushki language, specifically ("Eastern Mushki"), is sometimes viewed as a closely related language to Armenian. According to Igor M. Diakonoff, the Mushki were a Phrygian related group who used a language related to Proto-Armenian.

Criticism

A number of linguists have rejected a close relationship between Armenian and Phrygian, despite saying that the two languages do share some features. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]} Phrygian is now classified as a centum language more closely related to Greek than Armenian, whereas Armenian is mostly satem. ^[5]

Recent research suggests that there is lack of archaeological ^[10] and genetic evidence ^[11] for a group from the Balkans entering eastern Asia Minor or the Armenian Highlands during or after the Bronze Age Collapse (as was suggested by Diakonoff).

See also

• Greco-Armenian
• Graeco-Phrygian
• Paleo-Balkan languages
• Armeno-Phrygians
• Armenian hypothesis
• Urartu
• Mushki

References

1. Martirosyan, Hrach (2014). "Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language" (PDF). Leiden University: 1–23. Retrieved 5 August 2019.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
2. I. M. Diakonoff The Problem of the Mushki Archived August 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine in The Prehistory of the Armenian People
3. Herodotus. The Histories. Book VII: chapters 57‑137. Loeb Classical Library. 1922. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7b*.html
4. "Historical Data". Archived from the original on 2011-06-01. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
5. Bartomeu Obrador Cursach. On the place of Phrygian among the Indo-European languages // Journal of Language Relationship. 2019.
6. Clackson J. P. T., 2008, “Classical Armenian”, in Woodard, R. D., The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 124–143
7. Martirosyan H. The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian // Journal of Language Relationship 2013 (10), 85—13
8. Hamp, Eric P. (August 2013). "The Expansion of the Indo-European Languages: An Indo-Europeanist's Evolving View" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers.
9. Kim, Ronald (2018). "Greco-Armenian: The persistence of a myth". Indogermanische Forschungen. The University of British Columbia Library.
10. Kossian, Aram V. (1997), "The Mushki Problem Reconsidered." pp. 260–261
11. Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Xue, Yali; Comas, David; Gasparini, Paolo; Zalloua, Pierre; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2015). "Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations". European Journal of Human Genetics. 24 (6): 931–6.

• Matzinger J. Phrygisch und Armenisch // Gerhard Meiser, Olav Hackstein (Hrsg.): Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel. Akten der XI. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, 17.–23. September 2000 in Halle an der Saale. Reichert, Wiesbaden 2005. S. 375–394.