Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Volume/Issue:
Volume 76: Issue 4
On the Armenian – Kartvelian Loan Contacts: Words with Initial *γw-
Author:
Zsolt Simon Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, Hungarian Research Network, Budapest, Hungary

Search for other papers by Zsolt Simon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Pages:
571–584
Online Publication Date:
22 Nov 2023
Publication Date:
20 Dec 2023
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/062.2023.00296
Keywords:
Armenian; Kartvelian languages; Zan languages; Proto-Indo-European; loanwords; Armenian prehistory; Kartvelian prehistory
Open access

Four Proto-Kartvelian words with initial *γw- are traditionally held to be borrowings from either Proto-Indo-European or Proto-Armenian. Based on recent progress in Indo-European and Kartvelian linguistics, this paper argues that all four proposed PIE loanwords in PK are untenable; two out of these cannot be Proto-Armenian loanwords either. The third one, the word for ‘wine’, could be a Proto-Armenian loan in PK, but it has formal problems and the alternative proposed here, a Proto-Zan loan in Proto-Armenian, provides a more regular solution. Combined with the last case (the word for ‘juniper’), which also receives a regular solution only as a Proto-Zan loan, we have two Proto-Zan loans in Proto-Armenian instead of PIE/Proto-Armenian loans in Proto-Kartvelian.

  • Hock, Wolfgang et al. (ed.). Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Version 2.0. [online] Available at: https://alew.hu-berlin.de/dict.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Aura Jorro, Francisco 1985. Diccionario micénico I. [Diccionario griego-español. Anejo I.] Madrid: Consejo superior de investigaciones cientifícas.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bauer, Anna Henriette 2021. ‘Hieroglyphic Luwian /wiyani(ya-/, wa-ia-ni- ‘vine’.’ In: Olav Hackstein et al. (eds.) Digital Philological-Etymological Dictionary of the Minor Ancient Anatolian Corpus Languages. [online] Available at: https://www.ediana.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/dictionary.php?lemma=1759.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Beekes, Robert S. P. 1969. The development of Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Greek. [Janua Linguarum. Series Practica 42.] The Hague and Paris: Mouton.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Beekes, Robert S. P. 2011 2. Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. An Introduction. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

  • Bjørn, Rasmus Gudmundsen 2017. Foreign elements in the Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. A Comparative Loanword Study. (Master’s thesis. University of Copenhagen)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Brogyanyi, Bela & Reiner Lipp 2016. ‘Wein im Anatolischen, Griechischen, Italischen und Indogermanischen.’ In: Augusto Ancilotti, Alberto Calderini & Riccardo Massarelli (eds.) Forme e strutture della religione nell’Italia mediana antica. Forms and Structures of Religion in Ancient Central Italy. III Convegno Internazionale dell’Istituto di Ricerche e Documentazione sugli Antichi Umbri, 21-25 settembre 2011. [Studia Archaeologica 215.] Roma: L’Erma, 65–77.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Byrd, Andrew Miles 2018. ‘The phonology of Proto-Indo-European.’ In: Jared Klein, Brian Joseph & Matthias Fritz (eds.) Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. [Handbücher zur Sprachund ommunikationswissenschaft 41.] Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2056–2079.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Campbell, Lyle 1990. ‘Indo-European and Uralic Tree Names.’ Diachronica 7: 149–180.

  • Clackson, James 2017. ‘The lexicon of Armenian.’ In: Jared Klein, Brian Joseph & Matthias Fritz (eds.) Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. [Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 41.] Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 1115–1132.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Diakonoff, Igor M. 1985. ‘Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 105: 597–603.

  • Djahukian, Gevork B. 1990. ‘Did Armenians Live in Asia Anterior Before the Twelfth Century B.C.?’ In: Thomas L. Markey & John A. C. Greppin (eds.) When Worlds Collide. Indo-Europeans and Pre-IndoEuropeans. [Linguistica Extranea, Studia 19.] Ann Arbor: Karoma, 25–33.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Dolgopolsky, Aron 1987. ‘The Indo-European Homeland and Lexical Contacts of Proto-Indo-European with Other Languages.’ Mediterranean Language Review 3: 7–31.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond 2004. Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. [Dictionary of Manichean Texts III.1.] Turnhout: Brepols.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EDAIL = Martirosyan, Hrach K. 2010. Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon. [Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 8.] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EDG = Beekes, Robert 2010. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. [Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10.] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EDHIL = Kloekhorst, Alwin 2008. Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. [Leiden IndoEuropean Etymological Dictionary Series 5.] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EDPC = Matasović, Ranko 2009. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic. [Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 9.] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EDPG = Kroonen, Guus 2013. Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic. [Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11.] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • EWAia = Mayrhofer, Manfred 1992–2001. Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen I–III. Heidelberg: Winter.

  • Fähnrich, Heinz 2002. Kartwelische Wortschatzstudien. Jena: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität.

  • Fähnrich, Heinz 2007. Kartwelisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. [Handbuch der Orientalistik VIII.18] Leiden and Boston: Brill.

  • Fähnrich, Heinz 2016. Die Kartwelier. Grundsprache, Kultur, Lebensraum. Wiesbaden: Reichert.

  • Fähnrich, Heinz 2019a. Der Erbwortschatz der Kartwelsprachen. Wiesbaden: Reichert.

  • Fähnrich, Heinz 2019b. Historisch-vergleichende Sprachforschung und Kaukasiologie. Wiesbaden: Reichert.

  • Fenwick, Rhona S. H. 2017. ‘An Indo-European Origin of Kartvelian Names of Two Maloid Fruits.’ Iran and the Caucasus 21: 310–323.

  • Fortson, Benjamin W. 2010 2. Indo-European Language and Culture. An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.

  • Fraenkel, Ernst 1962–1965. Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Winter; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

  • Friedrich, Paul 1970. Proto-Indo-European Trees. The Arboreal System of a Prehistoric People. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fritz, Matthias & Michael Meier-Brügger 2021 10. Indogermanische Sprachwissenschaft. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter.

  • Gamkrelidze, Thomas V. & Vjačeslav V. Ivanov 1995. Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture I–II. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gippert, Jost 1994. ‘Die Glottaltheorie und die Frage urindogermanisch-kaukasischer Sprachkontakte.’ In: Jens Elmegård Rasmussen (ed.) In honorem Holger Pedersen. Kolloquium der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 25. bis 28. März 1993 in Kopenhagen. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 107–123.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gippert, Jost 2005. ‘Das Armenische – eine indogermanische Sprache im kaukasischen Areal.’ In: Gerhard Meiser & Olav Hackstein (eds.) Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel. Akten der XI. Fachtagung der Indo-germanischen Gesellschaft, 17.-23.9. 2000, Halle an der Saale. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 139–160.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gorton, Luke 2017. ‘Revisiting Indo-European ‘Wine’’. Journal of Indo-European Studies 45: 1–26.

  • Greppin, John A. C. 1998. ‘Arm. gini, Grg. γvino ‘wine’.’ Annual of Armenian Linguistics 19: 65–69.

  • Greppin, John A. C. 2000. ‘Armenian and the Kartvelian Languages.’ In: Yoël L. Arbeitman (ed.) The Asia Minor Connexion. Studies on the Pre-Greek Languages in Memory of Charles Carter. [Orbis Supple-menta 13.] Leuven and Paris: Peeters, 85–91.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Greppin, John A. C. 2008. ‘Did the good wines come from Armenia?’ Aramazd. Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies 3: 47–52.

  • Hübschmann, Heinrich. 1897. Armenische Grammatik I. Armenische Etymologie. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.

  • IEW = Pokorny, Julius 1959. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch I. Bern and München: Francke.

  • Kallio, Petri & Jorma Koivulehto 2018. ‘More remote relationships of Proto-Indo-European.’ In: Jared Klein, Brian Joseph & Matthias Fritz (eds.) Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. [Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 41.] Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2280–2291.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kapović, Mate 2017. ‘Proto-Indo-European Phonology.’ In: id. (ed.) The Indo-European languages. Second Edition. London and New York: Routledge, 13–60.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kim, Ronald I. 2016. ‘Studies in Armenian Historical Phonology I: Aspiration and Spirantization of PIE Voiceless Stops.’ In: Andrew Miles Byrd, Jessica DeLisi & Mark Wenthe (eds.) Tavet Tat Satyam. Studies in Honor of Jared S. Klein on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday. Ann Arbor and New York: Beech Stave, 151–167.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Klimov, Georgij A. 1991. ‘Some Thoughts on Indo-European–Kartvelian Relations.’ Journal of Indo-European Studies 19: 325–341.

  • Klimov, Georgij A. 1994. Einführung in die kaukasische Sprachwissenschaft. Hamburg: Buske.

  • Klimov, Georgij A. 1998. Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages. [Trends in Linguistics Documentation 16.] Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Klingenschmitt, Gert 1994. ‘Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der indogermanischen Sprachen.’ In: Jens Elmegård Rasmussen (ed.) In honorem Holger Pedersen. Kolloquium der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 25. bis 28. März 1993 in Kopenhagen. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 235–251.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kloekhorst, Alwin 2018. ‘Anatolian evidence suggests that the Indo-European laryngeals *h2 and *h3 were uvular stops.’ Indo-European Linguistics 6: 69–94.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kronasser, Heinz 1968. ‘Vorgeschichte und Indogermanistik.’ In: Anton Scherer (ed.) Die Urheimat der Indogermanen. [Wege der Forschung 166.] Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 478–509.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kümmel, Martin 2015. ‘Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV2.’ http://www.martinkuemmel.de/liv2add.html (last visited: 30 October 2022).

  • Lidén, Evald 1905–1906. ‘Baumnamen und Verwandtes.’ Indogermanische Forschungen 18: 485–509.

  • Lipp, Reiner 2019. ‘The Word for Wine in Anatolian, Greek, Armenian, Italic, Etruscan, Semitic and Its Indo-European Origin’. In: Ronald I. Kim, Jana Mynářová & Peter Pavúk (eds.) Hrozný and Hittite: The First Hundred Years. Proceedings of the International Conference Held at Charles University, Prague, 11–14 November 2015. [Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 107.] Leiden and Boston: Brill, 354–364.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • LIV2 = Rix, Helmuth (ed.) 2001 2. Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben. Die Wurzeln und ihre Primärstammbildungen. Wiesbaden: Reichert.

  • Lordkipanidze, Otar 1996. Das alte Georgien (Kolchis und Iberien) in Strabons Geographie. Neue Scholien. Amsterdam: Hakkert.

  • Mallory, James P. & Douglas Q. Adams 2006. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Matasović, Ranko 2012. ‘Areal typology of Proto-Indo-European: The Case for Caucasian Connections.’ Transactions of the Philological Society 110: 1–28.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Matzinger, Joachim 2005. ‘Phrygisch und Armenisch.’ In: Gerhard Meiser & Olav Hackstein (eds.) Sprachkontakt und Sprachwandel. Akten der XI. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, 17.-23.9. 2000, Halle an der Saale. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 375–390.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Olsen, Birgit Anette 1999. The Noun in Biblical Armenian. Origin and Word-Formation. With Special Emphasis on the Indo-European Heritage. [Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 119.] Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Olsen, Birgit Anette 2017. ‘Armenian.’ In: Mate Kapović (ed.) The Indo-European Languages. [Second edition.] London and New York: Routledge, 421–451.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Olsen, Birgit Anette & Rasmus Thorsø 2022. ‘Armenian.’ In: Thomas Olander (ed.) The Indo-European Language Family. A Phylogenetic Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University, 202–222.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Pedersen, Holger 1906. ‘Armenisch und die nachbarsprachen.’ Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der indogermanischen Sprachen 39: 334–485.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Petrosyan, Armen 2007. ‘The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review.’ Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies 16: 25–66.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ravnæs, Erling 2005. ‘The Relative Chronology of the Sound Changes from Proto-Indo-European to Classical Armenian.’ In: Dag Haug & Eirik Welo (eds.) Haptačahaptāitiš. Festschrift for Fridrik Thordarson on the occasion of his 77th birthday. [Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning Serie B. Skrifter 116.] Oslo: Novus, 191–204.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Schmidt, Karl Horst 1992. ‘Kartvelisch und Armenisch.’ Historische Sprachforschung 105: 287–306.

  • Schmitt, Rüdiger. 2007 2. Grammatik des Klassisch-Armenischen mit sprachvergleichenden Erläuterungen. [Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 123.] Innsbruck: Universität Innsbruck.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Schürr, Diether 2019. ‘Urindogermanisch Wein und Met in den anatolischen Sprachen.’ Aramazd. Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies 13/1: 44–58.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simon, Zsolt 2013. ‘Die These der hethitisch-luwischen Lehnwörter im Armenischen. Eine kritische Neubetrachtung.’ International Journal of Diachronic Linguistics and Linguistic Reconstruction 10: 97–135.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simon, Zsolt 2014. ‘Tabal und die Tibarener.’ Altorientalische Forschungen 41: 125–134.

  • Simon, Zsolt 2021. ‘401 BC – The year the Neo-Hittite statehood ended.’ In: Annick Payne, Šárka Velhartická & Jorit Wintjes (eds.) Beyond All Boundaries: Anatolia in the First Millennium BC. [Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 295.] Leuven, Paris, and Bristol: Peeters, 675–688.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simon, Zsolt 2022a. ‘The Hurro-Urartian loan contacts of Armenian: A revision.’ Hungarian Assyriological Review 3: 63–89.

  • Simon, Zsolt 2022b. ‘The migration route of Proto-Armenian speakers in Neo-Hittite Anatolia: the evidence of loan contacts.’ [Unpublished talk held at The Secondary Homelands of the Indo-European languages. Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft. Leiden University, 6 September 2022.]

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simon, Zsolt 2022c. ‘Proto-Indo-European Loanwords in Proto-Kartvelian: A Reconsideration.’ [Unpublished talk held at the Comparative Indo-European Linguistics Seminar. Leiden University, 20 May 2022.]

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Simon, Zsolt (forthcoming) ‘On some proposed Anatolian – Kartvelian loanwords.’

  • Smitherman, Thomas 2012. ‘On ancient Kartvelian-Indo-European lexical contacts and their consequences for Proto-Indo-European.’ In: Benedicte Nielsen Whitehead et al. (eds.) The Sound of IndoEuropean. Phonetics, Phonemics, and Morphophonemics. [Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European 4.] Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 501–521.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Steer, Thomas 2021. ‘Proto-Anatolian *u̯Ei̯n- ‘wine’. Proto-Indo-European Etymology.’ In: Olav Hackstein et al. (eds.) Digital Philological-Etymological Dictionary of the Minor Ancient Anatolian Corpus Languages. [online] Available at https://www.ediana.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/dictionary.php?lemma=1755.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Thorsø, Rasmus 2022. ‘A New Look at Old Armenisms in Kartvelian.’ Armeniaca 1: 97–110.

  • Tischler, Johann 2002. ‘Bemerkungen zur Urheimatfrage.’ In: Matthias Fritz & Susanne Zeilfelder (eds.) Novalis Indogermanica. Festschrift für Günter Neumann zum 80. Geburtstag. Graz: Leykam, 475–487.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Vogt, Hans 1938. ‘Arménien et caucasique du sud.’ Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap 9: 321–338.

  • Weeden, Mark 2018. ‘The Good God, the Wine-god and the Storm-god of the Vineyard.’ Die Welt des Orients 48: 330–356.

  • Yakubovich, Ilya 2016. ‘Review of Th. Richter, Bibliographisches Glossar des Hurritischen.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 136: 179–183.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Collapse
  • Expand
Cover Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Print ISSN:
0001-6446
Online ISSN:
1588-2667

Senior editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Gábor KÓSA

Editorial Board

  • Benedek PÉRI (Eötvös Loránd University)
  • Ágnes BIRTALAN (Eötvös Loránd University)
  • Csaba DEZSŐ (Eötvös Loránd University)
  • Peter B. GOLDEN (Rutgers University)
  • Arlo GRIFFITHS (École française d'Extrême-Orient)
  • Imre HAMAR (Eötvös Loránd University)
  • Zoltán SZOMBATHY (Eötvös Loránd University)
  • István VÁSÁRY(Eötvös Loránd University)
  • Yutaka YOSHIDA (Kyoto University)
  • Peter ZIEME (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities)

 

Dr. Gábor Kósa
Editor-in-Chief
Institute of East Asian Studies
Eötvös Loránd University
Múzeum krt. 4/F
H-1088 Budapest, Hungary
kosa.gabor@btk.elte.hu

Indexing and Abstracting Services:

  • Arts and Humanities Citation Index
  • Bibliographie Linguistique/Linguistic Bibliography
  • Historical Abstracts
  • International Bibliographies IBZ and IBR
  • MLA International Bibliography
  • SCOPUS

2023  
Web of Science  
Journal Impact Factor 0.1
Rank by Impact Factor Q3 (History)
Journal Citation Indicator 0.68
Scopus  
CiteScore 0.4
CiteScore rank Q1 (Literature and Literary Theory)
SNIP 0.749
Scimago  
SJR index 0.302
SJR Q rank Q1

Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Publication Model Hybrid
Submission Fee none
Article Processing Charge 900 EUR/article
Effective from  1st Feb 2025:
1200 EUR/article
Printed Color Illustrations 40 EUR (or 10 000 HUF) + VAT / piece
Regional discounts on country of the funding agency World Bank Lower-middle-income economies: 50%
World Bank Low-income economies: 100%
Further Discounts Editorial Board / Advisory Board members: 50%
Corresponding authors, affiliated to an EISZ member institution subscribing to the journal package of Akadémiai Kiadó: 100%
Subscription fee 2025 Online subsscription: 620 EUR / 684 USD
Print + online subscription: 716 EUR / 788 USD
Subscription Information Online subscribers are entitled access to all back issues published by Akadémiai Kiadó for each title for the duration of the subscription, as well as Online First content for the subscribed content.
Purchase per Title Individual articles are sold on the displayed price.

Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language English
Size B5
Year of
Foundation		 1950
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 4
Founder Magyar Tudományos Akadémia  
Founder's
Address		 H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 0001-6446 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2667 (Online)

Monthly Content Usage

Abstract Views Full Text Views PDF Downloads
Sep 2024 0 98 30
Oct 2024 0 109 17
Nov 2024 0 42 11
Dec 2024 0 32 20
Jan 2025 0 35 25
Feb 2025 0 25 10
Mar 2025 0 0 0