STUDIES IN ARMENIAN ETYMOLOGY - Get a Free Blog

Siracides 24.31/41 (= Gr. ������� `bed in a garden, garden-plot') [Clackson 1994:
117, 225123]; Movse�s Xorenac`i 1.3 (1913=1991: 10; Thomson 1978: 69). The only
evidence for the o-declension comes from "Oskip`orik": AblPl i yacuoc` [NHB 1:
21b]. The latter is also the only testimony for the plural.
The MArm. petrified plural acu-k`, not recorded in HAB, is found in Smbat
Sparapet (13th cent., Cilicia); see Galstyan 1958: 167. In this passage, acuk` (in
allative y-acuk`) is opposed to aygi `garden' and can therefore mean
`kitchen-garden'. The form acuk` `kitchen-garden' is totally identic with the one
found in the dialects of Zeyt`un (Cilicia), Dersim, etc. (see below). Note that Smbat
Sparapet was from Cilicia.
����DIAL DIAL Preserved in Agulis, Van, Ozim, Ala�kert [HAB 1: 102b]; in some dialects,
namely Ham�en [A‰ar�yan 1947: 219], Dersim [Baɫramyan 1960: 71b], Zeyt`un
[A‰ar�yan 2003: 295], the plural form has been generalized: *acu-k` `kitchen-garden',
which is attested in MArm., in the 13th century (see above). Next to ajuk`, Zeyt`un
also has pl. ajvənak` [A‰ar�yan 2003: 152].
According to A‰ar�yan (HAB 1: 102b), Kesaria has ajvik `kitchen-garden', though
Ant`osyan (1961: 180) cites only a�juk` `kitchen-garden'. The dialectal form arcu(n)
recorded in NHB (1: 21b) is now confirmed by Nor J�uɫa ar�cu [HayLezBrbBar� 1,
2001: 100a]. Given the etymology of the word, the -r- should be seen as epenthetic;
cf. also ac-el-i `razor' : dial. *arceli (see 2.1.30.2).
Remarkable is the paradigm preserved in Zeyt`un: NPl aju-k`, GDPl ajv-ic`
[A‰ar�yan 2003: 188]. The other classical words displaying such a paradigm are
baɫan-i-k` `baths', harsan-i-k` `wedding', vart-i-k` `trousers' and mawru-k` `beard'
(ibid.). All these words, except for mawru-k` (GDPl mawru-ac`), have classical -i-k`
: GDPl -eac`. Since the classical diphthong ea regularly yields i in Zeyt`un (see
A‰ar�yan 2003: 85), the classical GDPl -eac` can be seen as directly continued by
Zeyt`un GDPl -ic`. This would imply that the Zeyt`un word under discussion may
presuppose a variable paradigm acu-(k`) - *acu-i-k` (see par. XX, and(i), arcui, etc.).
I wonder whether the latter form can be supported by Kesaria ajvik (if this is to be
understood as *ajvik` rather than a diminutive form in -ik). The theoretical paradigm
would be NSg. *acu�-i (> class. acu), NPl *acu-i�- (> class. NPl *acu-i-k`, GDPl
*acu-eac`).
One would perhaps prefer a simpler, analogical solution, especially because the
word for `beard' (ClArm. mawru-k`, mawru-ac` - Zeyt`un muyu-k`, muyv-ic`) is
irregular, too. [The postulation of an intermediary stage with a hiatus/glide -y- which
would trigger a morphological change mo�ru-ac` > *mo�ru-y-ac` (in classical terms:
*mo�ru-eac`) > Zeyt`un muyv-ic`, does not help much since I do not have supportive
28