In Hittite inscriptions Armenian Kingdoms spread all over historic Armenia are mentioned as Armatana, Hayasa (Hittite “sa” connotes to “land/country”) and Hurri. Based on the name “Hurri” from Hittite inscriptions modern historians invented a new nation and called “Hurrians”….Just like from Sumer they invented a new nation called “Sumerians”…
Hay is a self designation name of Armenians meaning “Armenian” and Armenian God Hay is mentioned in Sumerian inscriptions (Andrew Collins). Previously country was called by the Armenians as Hayq which is the name of Armenian forefather Haik and also is a plural for Hay – ArmenianS. In Middle Ages “stan” suffix which is a plural form in “Hurrian” was added and it is now called “Hayastan”. Forms Hayastan and Hayasa from Hittite inscriptions mean the same – Country/land of Hay…country/land of Armenians.
In Armenian language “tun/tan” is “home/of home” which is a singular form in “Hurrian”. “Hurrians” called their Kingdom Mitan(ni). Ni is suffix. In Armenian Mitan(ni) means One House. The Father of Egyptian Archaeology William Matthew Flinders Petrie considered Mitanni Kingdom of Armenian Highland to be an Armenian Kingdom.
The suffix -stan (Persian: ـستان -stān) means “place of”or “country”. English – to stand, Latin stāre, and Greek histamai (ίσταμαι), all meaning “to stand” and Russian стан (stan, meaning “settlement” or “semi-permanent camp”).
In Polish, stan means “state” or “condition”, while in Serbo-Croatian it translates as “apartment” in its modern usage, while its original meaning was “habitat”. In Czech and Slovak, it means “tent” or, in military terms, “headquarters”.
Also in Germanic languages, the root can be found in Stand (“place, location”), and in Stadt (German), stad/sted (Dutch/Scandinavian), stêd (West Frisian) and stead (English), all meaning either “place” or “city”. The suffix -stan is analogous to the suffix -land, present in many country and location names.
“In the preceding chapters, we presented evidence that Hurrian and Proto-Indo-European “[bear] a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammar, than could have been produced by accident; so strong that no philologer could examine [them] without believing them to have sprung from some common source.
Our discussion now comes to an end. In the course of this book, we have attempted to show, through a careful analysis of the relevant phonological, morphological, and lexical data, that Urarto-Hurrian and Indo-European are, in fact, genetically related at a very deep level, as we indicated at the beginning of this chapter by quoting from the famous Third Anniversary Discourse (1786) of Sir William Jones.
We propose that both are descended from a common ancestor, which may be called “Proto-Asianic”, to revive an old, but not forgotten, term.” The Indo-European Elements In Hurrian, by Arnaud Fournet and Allan R Bomhard.
One of many Armenian tribes speaking Armenian dialect was called Hurri (cuneiform Hurri) from the Armenian word Hur/Hurri meaning Fire/Divine Spark. In Armenian the word Hurri/Hur is also a variant of Ar/Har/Hur. Indo-European root Ar- meaning “assemble/create” which is vastly used in names of or regarding the Sun, light, or fire, found in Armenia, Ararat, Aryan, Arta etc.” (1)
We also know that these Armenian Hurri tribes come from Southern Armenia, and are referred to as Horrittes by the Bible. Later in the ninth-seventh centuries B.C. the Armenian (Hurri and other Armenian tribes of Armenian Highland) people established the kingdom of Ararat (Van-Urartu) in the Armenian Highlands.
” Hurrian – A member of an ancient people, originally from Armenia, who settled in Syria and northern Mesopotamia during the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C and were later absorbed by the Hittites and Assyrians.” (2)
“The place of origin of Hurrians and thus the Early South-Caucasian culture has been placed in the nowadays Armenia”. (3)
According to Dr. Johannes Lehman “The Hittites,”, All indications point toward the general region of Armenia as a main area of Hurrian concentration.
In Armenian folk tale about a flying magical (bird)-girl is called “Huri Peri.” In modern Armenian “Huri Peri” is referred to a magically beautiful girl.
“Yet the Hurrians did not disappear from history. Away to the North in their Armenian homeland, they entrenched themselves and build up the kingdom of Urartu.” (4)
“Except for the principality of Hayasa in the Armenian mountains, the Hurrians appear to have lost all ethnic identity by the last part of the 2nd millennium BC”. (5)
Some of words in today’s Yerevan and Hurri dialects:
agarak “field” – Hurri awari “field”; astem “to reveal one’s ancestry” and Hurri asti “woman, wife”; art “field” ad Hurri arde “town”; xnjor “apple” – Hurri hinz-ore “apple”; kut “grain” – Hurri kade “barley” ; maxr “pine” – Hurri mahir “fir, juniper”; salor “plum” Hurrian origin; tarma-ǰur “spring water” – Hurri tarmani “source”; arciw “eagle” – Hurri-Vannic Arsiba, a proper name with a meaning of “eagle”; xarxarel “to destroy” – Hurri – Vannic harhar-s- “to destroy”; caṙ “tree” -Huri sare “garden”; cov “sea” – Hurri-Vannic sue “sea”; ułt “camel” – Hurri-Vannic ultu “camel”; pełem “dig, excavate” – Hurri- Vannic pile “canal” ; san “kettle” – Hurri-Vannic sane “kettle, pot”; sur “sword” – Hurri- Vannic sure “sword.”
Solar Symbolism
Sun symbolism with slight variation in the number of rays has been included in the seals, frescoes and coat of arms of various Armenian kingdoms, starting at least since the time of the kingdoms of Mitanni and Ararat (Urartu). The solar symbolism was continued by the succeeding dynasties (Orontids, Artaxiads, Arsacids etc.) that ruled the Kingdom of Greater Armenia. (6)
The eagle and lion are ancient Armenian symbols dating from the first Armenian kingdoms that existed prior to Christ. They have always been represented throughout various Armenian dynasties including, Aramian, Orontid (Yervanduni), Artaxiad (Artashessian), Arsacid (Arshakuni), Bagratid, Rubenid and many others.
“On the seal of the king of Mitanni we see the winged solar disc with an eagle and a lion on each side, which symbolize in mythology the deity of the sun and fire. The same features appear on Tigran’s crown, with the same solar disc and the two eagles, one on each side, and the crown itself shaped at the top like spikes representing the rays of the sun”. (7)
1. T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov, The Early History of Indo-European (aka Aryan) Languages, Scientific American, March 1990; James P. Mallory, “Kuro-Araxes Culture”, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
2. The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, © Oxford University Press 1996.
3. Greppin, Dyakonov, 1991.
4. Jacquetta Hawkes, The First Great Civilizations.
5. The Hurrians, The Rise of the Hurrians, Robert Antonio
6. Gevork Nazaryan, Historian, Armenologist.
7. “Armenia, Sumer and Subartu” by Prof. Dr.Martiros Kavoukjian.
Painting by Menua Chaparyan.
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