Matenadaran MS 7117

Last updated
Matenadaran MS 7117
Matenadaran, Flag of Armenia.svg  Armenia
Mat142vk.jpg
TypePamphlet
Date1442
Place of origin Van, modern day Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey
Author(s)Unknown
Patron Thomas of Metsoph
Previously keptMetsopavank, St. Astvatsatsin Monastery, Van
Discovered28 September 1937 by Ilia Abuladze

The Matenadaran MS 7117 is a manuscript from Matenadaran which contains apologetic texts as well as codex of different alphabets such as Armenian, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Georgian, Coptic and Caucasian Albanian alphabet manual of the 15th century. [1] It is also noted for including most ancient Kurdish language document transcribed in Armenian letters. [2]

Contents

Origin

It was written around 1442 in monastery of Metsopavank, northwest of the city of Arjesh (modern Erciş, Turkey). It was written after a model brought from Crimea by the Armenian catholicos Kirakos of Virap (1441-1443) at the request of Thomas of Metsoph. [3]

Discovery of Albanian script

The Albanian script inside the manuscript was discovered by Georgian researcher Ilia Abuladze on 28 September 1937 while working on 15th century manuscripts. [4] Another Georgian linguist, Akaki Shanidze made further research and came to a conclusion that the script closely resembles the phonology of Udi language. [5] Another copy of this list appeared in 1956 and details were published by H. Kurdian. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caucasian Albania</span> Ancient state in the Caucasus

Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan. The modern endonyms for the area are Aghwank and Aluank, among the Udi people, who regard themselves as descended from the inhabitants of Caucasian Albania. However, its original endonym is unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgian scripts</span> Three related alphabets used to write Georgian

The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli, once the civilian royal script of the Kingdom of Georgia and mostly used for the royal charters, is now the standard script for modern Georgian and its related Kartvelian languages, whereas Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church, in ceremonial religious texts and iconography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Catherine's Monastery</span> Greek Orthodox monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, Egypt

Saint Catherine's Monastery, officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is an Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Built between 548 and 565, it is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesrop Mashtots</span> Medieval Armenian theologian and linguist

Mesrop Mashtots was an early Medieval Armenian linguist, composer, theologian, statesman, and hymnologist in the Sasanian Empire. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. He is best known for inventing the Armenian alphabet c. 405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity. He is also considered to be the creator of the Caucasian Albanian and Georgian alphabets by a number of scholars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matenadaran</span> Art museum, archive, research institute in Yerevan, Armenia

The Matenadaran, officially the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, is a museum, repository of manuscripts, and a research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. It is the world's largest repository of Armenian manuscripts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Udi people</span>

Udis are a native people of the Caucasus that currently live mainly in Russia and Azerbaijan, with smaller populations in Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and other countries. Their total number is about 10,000 people. They speak the Udi language, which belongs to the Northeast Caucasian language family. Some also speak Azerbaijani, Russian, Georgian or Armenian, depending on where they reside. Their religion is Christianity.

Movses Kaghankatvatsi, or Movses Daskhurantsi is the reputed author of a tenth-century Classical Armenian historiographical work on Caucasian Albania and eastern provinces of Armenia, known as The History of the Country of Albania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caucasian Albanian script</span> Alphabetic writing system used by the Caucasian Albanians

The Caucasian Albanian script was an alphabetic writing system used by the Caucasian Albanians, one of the ancient Northeast Caucasian peoples whose territory comprised parts of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilia Abuladze</span>

Ilia Abuladze was a distinguished Georgian historian, philologist and public figure, a Corresponding Member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (GAS) (1950), Meritorious Science Worker of Georgia (1961), Doctor of Philological Sciences (1938), and professor (1947).

Sanesan or Sanatruk was the king of Maskut in the early 4th century. Sanesan's people, the Mazk'kut'k, have variously been identified as the Massagetae or as the Meskheti.

The Church of Albania or the Albanian Apostolic Church was an ancient, briefly autocephalous church established in the 5th century. In 705, It fell under the religious jurisdiction of the Armenian Apostolic Church as the Catholicosate of Aghvank centered in Caucasian Albania, a region spanning present-day northern Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian alphabet</span> Alphabet used to write the Armenian language

The Armenian alphabet is an alphabetic writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. There are several inscriptions in Armenian lettering from Sinai and Nazareth, dating to the beginning of the 5th century, found by Michael Stone. The system originally had 36 letters; eventually, two more were adopted. The alphabet was also in wide use in the Ottoman Empire around the 18th and 19th centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caucasian Albanian language</span> Extinct Northeast Caucasian language

Caucasian Albanian is an extinct member of the Northeast Caucasian languages. It was spoken in Caucasian Albania, which stretched from current day south Dagestan to Azerbaijan. Linguists believe it is an early linguistic predecessor to the endangered North Caucasian Udi language. The distinct Caucasian Albanian alphabet used 52 letters.

The History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movses Kaghankatvatsi is a history of eastern territories of Armenia, as well as other territories in Southeastern Caucasus usually described as Caucasian Albania. The work was written in Old Armenian. It covers the period between 4th century AD and 10th century AD.

Grigoris was the Catholicos of the Church of Caucasian Albania ca. 325–330 AD. He is considered a saint martyr by the Armenian Apostolic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisæus of Albania</span>

Saint Elisæus, Ełišay, Yeghishe or Ełišē was the first patriarch of the Church of Caucasian Albania by local tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jost Gippert</span>

Jost Gippert is a German linguist, Caucasiologist, author, and professor for Comparative Linguistics at the Institute of Empirical Linguistics at the Goethe University of Frankfurt.

Zaza Aleksidze was a Georgian historian and linguist who specialized in Armenian and Oriental studies. He is best known internationally for deciphering the Caucasian Albanian script.

Eghiazar was the Catholicos and head of Caucasian Albanian Church in the late 7th century.

Nerses Bakur was the Catholicos and head of Caucasian Albanian Church in the late 7th and early 8th century.

References

  1. Macler, F.; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (1964). Revue des études arméniennes. Imprimerie nationale, P. Geuthner. p. 428. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  2. The Caucasian Albanian palimpsests of Mt. Sinai. Gippert, Jost. Turnhout: Brepols. 2008–2010. pp. xix. ISBN   978-2-503-53116-8. OCLC   319126785.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Matevosyan, Artashes (1997). Մեծոփավանքի գրչության կենտրոնը [The scriptorium of Mecop‘avank in 12-15th centuries](PDF). Echmiadzin. p. 111.
  4. "Armazi Project: Georgian Academy of Sciences (Kekelidze Institute of Manuscripts): Zaza Aleksidze, Breakthrough (English version)". titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  5. Шанидзе, Акаки; Абуладзе, И (1938). Новооткрытый алфавит кавказских Албанцев и его значение для науки [The Newly Discovered Alphabet of the Caucasian Albanians and Its Significance for Science] (in Russian). Тбилиси: Издательство грузинского филиала Академии Наук СССР. OCLC   921408972.
  6. Kurdian, H. (1956). "The Newly Discovered Alphabet of the Caucasian Albanians". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 88 (1–2): 81–83. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00114492. ISSN   1474-0591. S2CID   164098382.