Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language that is the only language in the Armenian branch. It is the official language of Armenia as well as the de facto Republic of Artsakh. Historically being spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands, today, Armenian is widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots.
History
Classification and origins
Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages. It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian. Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages.Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to a lesser extent by Greek, Persian, and Syriac. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible.
Although Armenians were known to history much earlier, the oldest surviving Armenian-language text is the 5th century AD Bible translation of Mesrop Mashtots, who created the Armenian alphabet in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet.
While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that the hypothetical Mushki language may have been a Armenic language..
Early contacts
W. M. Austin concluded that there was an early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages, based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. However, unlike shared innovations, the common retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian, although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well.In 1985, Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages. Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ' "slave girl" a, cov "sea", ułt "camel", and ' "apple". Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European, he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage.
Loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary. He showed that Armenian often had 2 morphemes for the one concept, and the non-Iranian components yielded a consistent PIE pattern distinct from Iranian, and also demonstrated that the inflectional morphology was different from that in Iranian languages.
Graeco-Armenian hypothesis
The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen, who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet further investigated morphological and phonological agreement, postulating that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity in the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine. Georg Renatus Solta does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian". Armenian shares the augment, and a negator derived from the set phrase Proto-Indo-European language , and the representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces".Greco-Armeno-Aryan hypothesis
Graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian but others only with Greek.Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe the Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands, the "Armenian hypothesis". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection.
Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic, splitting into proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan".
Evolution
, attested from the 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard, was partially superseded by Middle Armenian, attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from the late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by the Mekhitarists. The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar, was published in grabar in 1794.The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily Parthian, and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian. An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet, bringing the total number to 38.
The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of the Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. “A Word of Wisdom”, a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others even take the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. However, these changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or the morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism.
In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire, while Western Armenia, containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between the Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul, whereas Tbilisi became the center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life.
The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged:
- Western standard: The influx of immigrants from different parts of the traditional Armenian homeland to Istanbul crystallized the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way for a style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning curve than Grabar.
- Eastern standard: The Yerevan dialect provided the primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tbilisi, Georgia. Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the masses than Grabar.
After World War I, the existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian Genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect.
The two modern literary dialects, Western and Eastern, removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian Genocide.
Phonology
voiceless stop consonants are aspirated in the Proto-Armenian language, one of the circumstances that is often linked to the glottalic theory, a version of which postulated that the voiceless occlusives of Proto-Indo-European were aspirated.Stress
In Armenian, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last syllable contains the definite article or, and the possessive articles ս and դ, in which case it falls on the penultimate one. For instance,,, but and. Exceptions to this rule are some words with the final letter է and sometimes the ordinal numerals, as well as նաեւ, նամանաւանդ, հիմա, այժմ, and a small number of other words.Vowels
Modern Armenian has six monophthongs. Each vowel phoneme in the table is represented by three symbols. The first is the sounds transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet. After that appears the corresponding letter of the Armenian alphabet. The last symbol is its Latin transliteration.| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | wikt:ի i | wikt:ու u | |
| Mid | wikt:ե, wikt:է e, ē | wikt:ը ë | wikt:ո, wikt:օ o, ò |
| Open | wikt:ա a |
Consonants
The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and affricates have an aspirated series, commonly transcribed with a reversed apostrophe after the letter. Each phoneme in the table is represented by IPA, Armenian script and romanization.- Sources differ on the place of articulation of these consonants.
Morphology
Armenian corresponds with other Indo-European languages in its structure, but it shares distinctive sounds and features of its grammar with neighboring languages of the Caucasus region. Armenian is rich in combinations of consonants. Both classical Armenian and the modern spoken and literary dialects have a complicated system of noun declension, with six or seven noun cases but no gender. In modern Armenian, the use of auxiliary verbs to show tense has generally supplemented the inflected verbs of Classical Armenian. Negative verbs are conjugated differently from positive ones in many tenses, otherwise adding only the negative չ to the positive conjugation. Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical Greek and Latin, but the modern language, like modern Greek, has undergone many transformations, adding some analytic features.Noun
Classical Armenian has no grammatical gender, not even in the pronoun, but there is a feminine suffix. For example, ուսուցիչ becomes ուսուցչուհի. This suffix, however, does not have a grammatical effect on the sentence. The nominal inflection, however, preserves several types of inherited stem classes. Nouns are declined for one of seven cases: nominative, accusative, locative, genitive, dative, ablative, or instrumental.;Examples of noun declension in Eastern Armenian
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | հեռախոս* heṙaxos* | հեռախոսներ* heṙaxosner* |
| Accusative | հեռախոսը* heṙaxosë* | հեռախոսները* heṙaxosnerë* |
| Genitive | հեռախոսի heṙaxosi | հեռախոսների heṙaxosneri |
| Dative | հեռախոսին heṙaxosin | հեռախոսներին heṙaxosnerin |
| Ablative | հեռախոսից heṙaxosic' | հեռախոսներից heṙaxosneric' |
| Instrumental | հեռախոսով heṙaxosov | հեռախոսներով heṙaxosnerov |
| Locative | հեռախոսում heṙaxosum | հեռախոսներում heṙaxosnerum |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | մայր* mayr* | մայրեր* mayrer* |
| Accusative | մայրը* mayrë* | մայրերը* mayrerë* |
| Genitive | մոր mor | մայրերի mayreri |
| Dative | մորը* morë* | մայրերին mayrerin |
| Ablative | մորից moric' | մայրերից mayreric' |
| Instrumental | մորով morov | մայրերով mayrerov |
Animate nouns do not decline for locative case.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | հանրապետություն* hanrapetut'yun* | հանրապետություններ* hanrapetut'yunner* |
| Accusative | հանրապետությունը* hanrapetut'yunë* | հանրապետությունները* hanrapetut'yunnerë* |
| Genitive | հանրապետության hanrapetut'yan | հանրապետությունների hanrapetut'yunneri |
| Dative | հանրապետությանը* hanrapetut'yanë* | հանրապետություններին hanrapetut'yunnerin |
| Ablative | հանրապետությունից hanrapetut'yunic' | հանրապետություններից hanrapetut'yunneric' |
| Instrumental | հանրապետությամբ hanrapetut'yamb | հանրապետություններով hanrapetut'yunnerov |
| Locative | հանրապետությունում hanrapetut'yunum | հանրապետություններում hanrapetut'yunnerum |
;Examples of noun declension in Western Armenian
Verb
Verbs in Armenian have an expansive system of conjugation with two main verb types in Eastern Armenian and three in Western Armenian changing form based on tense, mood and aspect.Dialects
Armenian is a pluricentric language, having two modern standardized forms: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. The most distinctive feature of Western Armenian is that it has undergone several phonetic mergers; these may be due to proximity to Arabic- and Turkish-speaking communities.For example, Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce as , as , and as a tenuis occlusive . Western Armenian has simplified the occlusive system into a simple division between voiced occlusives and aspirated ones; the first series corresponds to the tenuis series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both and as , and the letter as .
There is no precise linguistic border between one dialect and another because there is nearly always a dialect transition zone of some size between pairs of geographically identified dialects.
Armenian can be divided into two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have become extinct due to the effects of the Armenian Genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. Although Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, many subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, a fluent speaker of one of two greatly varying dialects who is also literate in one of the standards, when exposed to the other dialect for a period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease.
Distinct Western Armenian varieties currently in use include Homshetsi, spoken by the Hemshin peoples; the dialects of Armenians of Kessab, Latakia and Jisr al-Shughur, Anjar, Lebanon, and Vakıflı, Samandağ, part of the "Sueidia" dialect.
Forms of the Karin dialect of Western Armenian are spoken by several hundred thousand people in Northern Armenia, mostly in Gyumri, Artik, Akhuryan, and around 130 villages in Shirak Province, and by Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti province of Georgia.
Nakhichevan-on-Don Armenians speak another Western Armenian variety based on the dialect of Armenians in Crimea, where they came from in order to establish the town and surrounding villages in 1779.
Western Armenian dialects are currently spoken also in Gavar, Aparan, and Talin in Armenia, and by the large Armenian population residing in Abkhazia, where they are considered to be the first or second ethnic minority, or even equal in number to the local Abkhaz population
| English | Eastern Armenian | Western Armenian |
| Yes | Ayo | Ayo |
| No | Voč' | Votch' |
| I see you | Yes kez tesnum en | Ge desnem kez |
| Hello | Barev | Parev |
| I'm going | Gnum em | Gertam |
| Come! | Ari! | Yegour! |
| I will eat | Utelu em | Bidi oudem |
| I must do | Ppetk e anem | Bedk eh enem |
| I was going to eat | Utelu ei | Bidi oudeyi |
| Is this yours? | Sa k'onn e? | Asiga kouget eh? |
| His grandma | Nra tatikə | Anor nenen/medz maman |
| Look at that one! | Dran nayir | Ador nayeh |
| Have you brought these? | Du es berel srank'? | Toun perir asonk? |
| How are you? I'm OK. | Vonc' es? Voč'inč' | Intchbes es? Lav |
| Did you say it? Say it! | Du es asel da? Asa! | Toun esir? esseh! |
| Have you taken it from us? | Mezanic' es vertsrel? | Mezme aradz es? |
| Good morning | Bari louys | Pari louys |
| Good evening | Bari yereko | Pari irigoun |
| Good night | Bari gišer | Kisher pari |
| You love me | Siroum es inc' | Indzi ge sires |
| I am Armenian | Yes hay em | Yes hay em |
| I missed you | Karotel em k'ez | Garodtsa kezi |
Orthography
The Armenian alphabet is a graphically unique alphabetical writing system that is used to write the Armenian language. It was introduced around AD 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and originally contained 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages.During the 1920s orthography reform in Soviet Armenia, a new letter և was added, which was a ligature before ե+ւ, whereas the letter Ւ ւ was discarded and reintroduced as part of a new letter ՈՒ ու. This alphabet and associated orthography is used by most Armenian speakers of the Republic of Armenia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Neither the alphabet nor the orthography has been adopted by Diaspora Armenians, including Eastern Armenian speakers of Iran and all Western Armenian speakers, who keep using the traditional alphabet and spelling.
Indo-European cognates
Armenian is an Indo-European language, so many of its Proto-Indo-European-descended words are cognates of words in other Indo-European languages such as English, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. This table lists only some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English.| Armenian | English | Latin | Persian | Classical and Hellenistic Greek | Sanskrit | Russian | Old Irish | PIE |
| մայր ' "mother" | mother | māter "mother" | مادر mɒdær "mother" | μήτηρ mētēr "mother" | मातृ mātṛ "mother" | мать mat' | máthair "mother" | ' "mother" |
| հայր ' "father" | father | pater "father" | پدر pedær "father" | πατήρ patēr "father" | पितृ pitṛ "father" | папа "daddy" papa | athair "father" | ' "father" |
| եղբայր ' "brother" | brother | frāter "brother" | برادر bærɒdær "brother" | φράτηρ phrātēr "brother" | भ्रातृ bhrātṛ "brother" | брат brat | bráthair "brother" | ' "brother" |
| դուստր ' "daughter" | daughter | دختر doxtær "daughter" | θυγάτηρ thugatēr "daughter" | दुहितृ duhitṛ "daughter" | дочь doč' | der, Dar- "daughter " | ' "daughter" | |
| կին ' "woman" | queen | کیانه kianæ "woman, wife" | γυνή gunē "a woman, a wife" | ग्ना gnā/ जनि jani "woman" | жена žena "wife" | ben "woman" | ' "woman, wife" | |
| իմ ' "my" | my, mine | me-us, -a, -um etc. "my" | من/ـم mæn/æm "my" | ἐμ-ός, -ή, -όν em-os, -ē, -on etc. "my, of mine" | मम mama "my" | мой moy | mo "my, me" | ' "my, mine" |
| անուն ' "name" | name | nōmen "name" | نام nɒm "name" | ὄνομα onoma "name" | नामन् nāman "name" | имя im'a | ainm "name" | ' "name" |
| յոթ "7" | seven | septem "seven" | هفت ' | επτά heptá "seven" | सप्तन् saptán "seven" | семь semʹ | secht "seven" | *septḿ̥ "seven" |
| ութ ' "8" | eight | octō "eight" | هشت hæʃt "eight" | ὀκτώ oktō "eight" | अष्ट aṣṭa "eight" | во́семь vosem' | ocht "eight" | ' "eight" |
| ինն ' "9" | nine | novem "nine" | نه noh "nine" | ἐννέα ennea "nine" | नवन् navan "nine" | де́вять dev'at' | noí "nine" | ' "nine" |
| տաս ' "10" | ten | decem "ten" | ده dæh "ten" | δέκα deka "ten" | दश daśa "ten" | де́сять des'at' | deich "ten" | ' "ten" |
| աչք ' "eye" | eye | oculus "eye" | ὀφθαλμός ophthalmos "eye" | अक्षि akṣi "eye" | око oko | ' "to see" | ||
| արմուկն ' ' "elbow" | arm | armus "shoulder" | آرنج ɒrendʒ "elbow" | ἄρθρον arthron "a joint" | ईर्म īrma "arm" | рамя ram'a "shoulder" | ' "fit, join " | |
| ծունկ ' "knee" | knee | genū "knee" | زانو zɒnu "knee" | γόνυ gonu "knee" | जानु jānu "knee" | glún "knee" | ' "knee" | |
| ոտք ' "foot" | foot | pedis "foot" | پا، پای pɒ, pɒj "foot" | πούς pous "foot" | पाद् pād "foot" | пята p'ata "heel" | ' "foot" | |
| սիրտ ' "heart" | heart | cor "heart" | دل del "heart" | καρδία kardia "heart" | हृदय hṛdaya "heart" | се́рдце serdce | cride "heart" | ' "heart" |
| կաշի ' "skin" | hide | cutis "skin" | پوست pust "skin" | κεύθω keuthō "I cover, I hide" | कुटीर kuṭīra "hut" | кожа koža | ' "to cover, conceal" | |
| մուկ ' "mouse" | mouse | mūs "mouse" | موش musc "mouse" | μῦς mūs "mouse" | मूष् mūṣ "mouse" | мышь myš' | *múh₂s "mouse, small rodent" | |
| կով ' "cow" | cow | bos "cow" | گاو gɒv "cow" | βοῦς bous "cow" | गो go "cow" | говядина gov'adina "beef" | bó "cow" | ' "cow" |
| շուն ' "dog" | hound | canis "hound, dog" | سگ sæg "dog" | κύων kuōn "hound, dog" | श्वन् śvan "dog" | сука suka "bitch" | cú "dog" | ' "hound, dog" |
| ամիս ' "month" | moon, month | mēnsis "month" | ماه mɒh "moon, month" | μήν mēn "moon, month" | मास māsa "moon, month" | месяц mes'ac | mí "month" | ' "moon, month" |
| ամառն ' "summer" | summer | هامین hāmīn | समा samā "season" | saṃ "summer" *sem- "hot season of the year" | *semh₂- | |||
| ջերմ ' "warm" | warm | formus "warm" | گرم gærm "warm" | θερμός thermos "warm" | घर्म gharma "heat" | жарко žarko "hot" | geirid "warm " | ' "warm" |
| լույս ' "light" | light | lux "light" | روز ruz "day" | λευκός leukos "bright, shining, white" | लोक loka "shining" | луч luč' "beam" | lóch "bright" | ' "light, brightness" |
| հուր ' "flame" | fire | آذر، آدور ɒzær, ɒdur "fire" | πῦρ pur "fire" | पु pu "fire" | ' "fire" | |||
| հեռու ' "far" | far | per "through" | فرا færɒ "beyond" | πέρα pera "beyond" | परस् paras "beyond" | пере- pere-, про- pro- | ír "further" | ' "through, across, beyond" |
| հեղել ' "to pour" | flow | pluĕre "to rain" | پور pur "pour" | πλύνω plunō "I wash" | प्लु plu "to swim" | плавать plavat' "swim" | luí "rudder" | ' "flow, float" |
| ուտել ' "to eat" | eat | edō "I eat" | هور hvor "eat" | ἔδω edō "I eat" | अद्मि admi "I eat" | есть jest' | ithid "eat" | ' "to eat" |
| գիտեմ ' "I know" | wit | vidēre "to see" | ویده vidæ "knowledge" | εἰδέναι eidenai "to know" | विद् vid "to know" | видеть videt' "see, understand" | adfet "tells" | ' "to know, to see" |
| գետ ' "river" | water | رود rud "river" | ὕδωρ hudōr "water" | उदन् udan "water" | вода voda | uisce "water" | ' "water" | |
| գործ ' "work " | work | urgēre "push, drive" | کار kɒr "work" | ἔργον ergon "work" | वर्चस् varcas "activity" | ' "to work" | ||
| մեծ ' "great " | much | magnus "great" | مه، مهست meh, mæhest "great, large" | μέγας megas "great, large" | महति mahati "great" | много mnogo "many" | maige "great, mighty" | ' "great" |
| անծանոթ ' "stranger, unfamiliar" | unknown | ignōtus "unknown" | ἄγνωτος agnōtos "unknown" | अज्ञात ajñāta "unfamiliar" | незнакомый neznakomyj | ' "not" + "to know" | ||
| մեռած ' "dead" | murder | mors "death" | مرگ mærg "death" / مرده morde "dead" | βροτός brotos "mortal" | मृत mṛta "dead" | смерть smert' "death" | marb "dead" | ' "to die" |
| միջին ' "middle" | mid, middle | medius "middle" | میان miɒn "middle" | μέσος mesos "middle" | मध्य madhya "middle" | между meždu "between" | mide "middle" | ' "mid, middle" |
| այլ ' "other" | else | alius "other" | ἄλλος allos "other, another" | aile "other" | *h₂élyos "beyond, other" | |||
| նոր ' "new" | new | novus "new" | نو now "new" | νέος neos "new" | नव nava "new" | новый novyj | núae "new" | ' "new" |
| դուռ ' "door" | door | fores "door" | در dær "door" | θύρα thurā "door" | द्वार dvāra "door" | дверь dver' | dorus "door" | ' "door, doorway, gate" |
| տուն ' "house" | timber | domus "house" | مان، خانه mɒn, xɒne "home" | δόμος domos "house" | दम dama "house" | дом dom | dún "fort" | ' "house" |
| բերրի , "fertile, to carry" | bear | ferre "to bear" | بردن، برـ bordæn, bær- "to bear, carry" | φέρειν pherein "to bear, carry" | भरति bharati "he/she/it carries" | брать brat' "to take" | beirid "carry" | "to bear, to carry" |