STUDIES IN ARMENIAN ETYMOLOGY - Get a Free Blog

alawunk`, alawunk` alawunk` alawunk` alawsunk` alawsunk` alawsunk` alawsunk` `Pleiades'.
In "Vark` ew vkayabanut`iwnk` srboc`", Venice, 1874, vol. 1, p. 682 (apud HAB
3: 222a): Bayc` ayl asteɫk` < ... > orp�s aruseakn ew mazarovt`n ew alawsunk`n ew
Haykn. Attested also in C�ar�əntir, as well as by lexicographers. The occurrrence of
`Pleiades' beside Hayk `Orion' is very common, cf. Job 9.9, 38.31; and Amos 5.8 -
bazmasteɫk` and Hayk, next to each other. In the dialect of Van this relationship has
created an interesting compound, namely: Xek`-bazu�k` (perhaps to be corrected as
pa�zu�k`) `Orion/Hayk and Pleiades' (see Ter-Mkrt‰`yan 1970: 182-183) < *Hayk-k`
+ Bazuk-k`. Generally about the association `Orion-Hayk' see A. Petrosyan 1991:
102-103; 1991a: 121; 1997: 22-23. On Orion and Pleiades see 3.1.1-2, 3.1.4.
In "Bar�girk` hayoc`" (see Amalyan 1975: 8 Nr128 ), alawun, var. alasun, is rendered
by bazmastɫ or bazum astɫ or erroneously bazmataɫ (cf. HAB 1: 9, 92a) `Pleiades'.
����ETYM ETYM J�ahukyan (1963a: 86; cf. 1987: 270, with some reservation) connects to
aɫawni `dove' deriving both from *aləu- `white, shiny' and comparing also *albho-,
read *h2elb h o-. This etymology seems to me uncertain, since the only (cited)
evidence for *-əu-n- is taken from the Celtic onomastics, and there are no strong
semantic parallels. One might reformulate the connection, deriving alaw(s)unk`
directly from aɫawni, regardless of the ultimate origin of the latter. However, neither
this would be convincing because, firstly: -l- instead of -ɫ- is not explained.
Secondly, the origin of -s- remains obscure. Thirdly, aɫawni `dove' is a derivation
with -i suffix, but the expected (folketymological) development would be `dove' >
`star' and not the other way around. Finally, to the best of my knowledge, in
Armenian tradition, unlike in that of Greek (cf. Scherer 1953: 144; Puhvel 1991:
1244), the Pleiades are never interpreted as doves.
H. Suk`iasyan (1979: 298-299; cf. 1986: 26-27, 69, 99, 136, 137) mentions
J�ahukyan's etymology stating that the -s- is a determinative, and treating the -w- as
from the determinative *-b h -. See also S. Grigoryan 1988: 192. None of the authors
specifies the origin of the -s-.
There is synonymous aɫabasar (only in P`e�tBar�), on which nothing certain can be
based, however.
Since the semantic development `many' > `Pleiades' is one of the most
representative patterns for naming this star cluster (see 3.1.2), one may derive
alaw(s)unk` `Pleiades' from y-olov `many' (< *polh1us, cf. Gr. ������ `many', Skt.
puru�-, etc.). It is remarkable that the Iranian (YAv. APl f paoirya�inyas <
*paru�ii�ain�-, NPers. parv�n, etc.) and the Greek (���������) names seem to have
been based on the same PIE word. For the discussion and other opinions I refer to
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