Armenian calendar
Encyclopedia
The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia
. It is a solar calendar
based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model
, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule. As a result, the correspondence between it and the Julian calendar
slowly changes over time (such as year 769 on AD 1320 January 1, year 770 on AD 1320 December 31, and year 1032 on AD 1582 October 27 = Gregorian
November 6). Some references report that the first month of the year, Navasard, corresponds to the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere, but that was only true from the 9th through 10th centuries. The currrent year, 1461, is the last of the great Armenian cycle of 1,461 wandering years which equal 1,460 Julian years. (See Sothic cycle
). Next year, 1462, begins on 24 July 2012 (Gregorian), 11 July (Julian). Year 1 began on 11 July AD 552 (Julian).
The year consists of twelve months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenê) that belong to no month.
Years are given in the Armenian alphabet by the letters ԹՎ t’v, a siglum
for t’vin "in the year" followed by one to four letters of the Armenian alphabet
, each of which stands for an Armenian numeral
. For example, "in the year 1455 [AD 2006]" would be written ԹՎ ՌՆԾԵ.
The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar
, and, as noted by Antoine Meillet
, Kartvelian influence in two cases. There are different systems for transliterating the names; the forms below are transliterated according to Hübschmann-Meillet-Benveniste
system:
The Armenian calendar names the days of the month instead of numbering them, a peculiarity also found in the Avestan calendars. Zoroastrian influence is evident in at least five names. The names are 1. Areg "sun", 2. Hrand, 3. Aram, 4. Margar "prophet", 5. Ahrank’ "half-burned", 6. Mazdeł, 7. Astłik "Venus", 8. Mihr (Mithra
), 9. Jopaber, 10. Murç "triumph", 11. Erezhan "hermit", 12. Ani
, 13. Parxar, 14. Vanat, 15. Aramazd (Ahura Mazda
), 16. Mani "beginning", 17. Asak "beginningless", 18. Masis (Mount Ararat
), 19. Anahit (Anahita
), 20. Aragac, 21. Gorgor, 22. Kordi (a district of Ancient Armenia considered the homeland of the Kurds), 23. Cmak "east wind", 24. Lusnak "half-moon", 25. C̣rōn "dispersion", 26.Npat (Apam Napat
), 27. Vahagn
(Zoroastrian Vahrām from Avestan Verethragna, name of the 20th day), 28. Sēin "mountain", 29. Varag, 30. Gišeravar "evening star". The five epagomenal days are called Aveleacʿ "superfluous".
as if to imply it was at one time the 7th month, in regard of the computation of the Jubilee
, and the biblical explanation of how to begin the novel age following the entering into the promised land. Two cycles of 1460 years goes back to August 11 of 2369 BC.
Prior to borrowing the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Armenians had a lunar calendar
based on a lunation of 28 days.
Together with these alien Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Julian, Gregorian, and ecclesiastical dating schemes, some Armenians still retain the old native calendar usage in which the new year begins at the spring equinox. In the numbering scheme of this solar calendar, the year 1 reckons out to 5818-5817 BCE. Hence March 20/21, 2011 CE marks the start of the Armenian year 7829.
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. It is a solar calendar
Solar calendar
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun .-Tropical solar calendars:...
based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model
Egyptian calendar
The ancient civil Egyptian calendar had a year that was 360 days long and was divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus five extra days at the end of the year. The months were divided into three weeks of ten days each...
, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule. As a result, the correspondence between it and the Julian calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
slowly changes over time (such as year 769 on AD 1320 January 1, year 770 on AD 1320 December 31, and year 1032 on AD 1582 October 27 = Gregorian
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
November 6). Some references report that the first month of the year, Navasard, corresponds to the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere, but that was only true from the 9th through 10th centuries. The currrent year, 1461, is the last of the great Armenian cycle of 1,461 wandering years which equal 1,460 Julian years. (See Sothic cycle
Sothic cycle
The Sothic cycle or Canicular period is a period of 1,461 ancient Egyptian years or 1,460 Julian years...
). Next year, 1462, begins on 24 July 2012 (Gregorian), 11 July (Julian). Year 1 began on 11 July AD 552 (Julian).
The year consists of twelve months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenê) that belong to no month.
Years are given in the Armenian alphabet by the letters ԹՎ t’v, a siglum
Sigla
Sigła is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Aleksandrów, within Biłgoraj County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately east of Aleksandrów, south-east of Biłgoraj, and south of the regional capital Lublin....
for t’vin "in the year" followed by one to four letters of the Armenian alphabet
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and contained originally 36 letters. Two more letters, օ and ֆ, were added in the Middle Ages...
, each of which stands for an Armenian numeral
Armenian numerals
The system of Armenian numerals is a historic numeral system created using the majuscules of the Armenian alphabet.There was no notation for zero in the old system, and the numeric values for individual letters were added together. The principles behind this system are the same as for the Ancient...
. For example, "in the year 1455 [AD 2006]" would be written ԹՎ ՌՆԾԵ.
The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar
Zoroastrian calendar
This article treats of the reckoning of days, months and years in the calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals are discussed elsewhere, but have a fixed relationship to Nawruz, the New Year festival, whose timing is discussed below...
, and, as noted by Antoine Meillet
Antoine Meillet
Paul Jules Antoine Meillet was one of the most important French linguists of the early 20th century. Meillet began his studies at the Sorbonne, where he was influenced by Michel Bréal, Ferdinand de Saussure, and the members of the Année Sociologique. In 1890 he was part of a research trip to the...
, Kartvelian influence in two cases. There are different systems for transliterating the names; the forms below are transliterated according to Hübschmann-Meillet-Benveniste
Romanization of Armenian
- Hübschmann-Meillet :In linguistic literature on Classical Armenian, the commonly used transliteration is that of Hübschmann-Meillet .It uses a dot above mark to express the aspirates, t῾, ch῾, č῾, p῾, k῾...
system:
| 1 | նաւասարդ | nawasard | Avestan *nava sarəδa "new year" |
| 2 | հոռի | hoṙi | ori "two" |
| 3 | սահմի | sahmi | sami "three" |
| 4 | տրէ | trē | Zoroastrian Tïr Tishtrya Tishtrya is the Avestan language name of an Zoroastrian benevolent divinity associated with life-bringing rainfall and fertility. Tishtrya is Tir in Middle- and Modern Persian... |
| 5 | քաղոց | kʿałocʿ | "month of crops"; Zoroastrian Ameretat Ameretat ' is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity/divine concept of "not dying." As the hypostasis of immortality, Ameretat is the Amesha Spenta of long life on earth and perpetuality in the hereafter.... (the deity Ameretat was also considered a protector of plants) |
| 6 | արաց | aracʿ | |
| 7 | մեհեկան | mehekan | Iranian *mihrakān- ("festival of Mithra", from Zoroastrian Mitrō Mithra Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters.... ) |
| 8 | արեգ | areg | "sun month"; Zoroastrian Āvān |
| 9 | ահեկան | ahekan | Iranian *āhrakān- "fire festival" from Zoroastrian Ātarō |
| 10 | մարերի | mareri | Avestan maiδyaīrya "mid-year"; Zoroastrian Dīn |
| 11 | մարգաց | margacʿ | Zoroastrian Vohūman |
| 12 | հրոտից | hroticʿ | Pahlavi *fravartakān "epagomenal days (days of the Fravashi Fravashi A fravashi is the guardian spirit mentioned in the Avesta of an individual, who sends out the urvan into the material world to fight the battle of good versus evil... )"; Zoroastrian |
The Armenian calendar names the days of the month instead of numbering them, a peculiarity also found in the Avestan calendars. Zoroastrian influence is evident in at least five names. The names are 1. Areg "sun", 2. Hrand, 3. Aram, 4. Margar "prophet", 5. Ahrank’ "half-burned", 6. Mazdeł, 7. Astłik "Venus", 8. Mihr (Mithra
Mithra
Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters....
), 9. Jopaber, 10. Murç "triumph", 11. Erezhan "hermit", 12. Ani
Ani
Ani is a ruined and uninhabited medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, near the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present day Armenia and eastern Turkey...
, 13. Parxar, 14. Vanat, 15. Aramazd (Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
), 16. Mani "beginning", 17. Asak "beginningless", 18. Masis (Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat is a snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey. It has two peaks: Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat .The Ararat massif is about in diameter...
), 19. Anahit (Anahita
Anahita
Anahita is the Old Persian form of the name of an Iranian goddess and appears in complete and earlier form as ' ; the Avestan language name of an Indo-Iranian cosmological figure venerated as the divinity of 'the Waters' and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom...
), 20. Aragac, 21. Gorgor, 22. Kordi (a district of Ancient Armenia considered the homeland of the Kurds), 23. Cmak "east wind", 24. Lusnak "half-moon", 25. C̣rōn "dispersion", 26.Npat (Apam Napat
Apam Napat
Apam Napat is an eminent figure of the Indo-Iranian pantheon. In Hinduism, Apām Napāt is the god of fresh water, such as in rivers and lakes...
), 27. Vahagn
Vahagn
Vahagn was a god worshiped anciently and historically in Armenia. Some time in his existence, he formed a "triad" with Aramazd and Anahit. Vahagn was identified with the Greek Heracles. The priests of Vahévahian temple, who claimed Vahagn as their own ancestor, placed a statue of the Greek hero...
(Zoroastrian Vahrām from Avestan Verethragna, name of the 20th day), 28. Sēin "mountain", 29. Varag, 30. Gišeravar "evening star". The five epagomenal days are called Aveleacʿ "superfluous".
Correlation with Egyptian calendar
The Armenian calendar is a derivative of Zoroastrian changes to Egyptian dates. The first month Navasard is equivalent to the month Choiak (Koyak), however its first day falls on Koyak 4 so that the first of the five epagum days falls on Egyptian Hatyr 27. This is in contrast to the Zoroastrian calendar where the first month Furvurdeen begins on Koyak 6 because its epagum (Gatha days) begin on Egyptian Koyak 1 as of 388 BC. The month Tir is equal to Egyptian Phamenoth (7th month) as Egyptian midyear; but it is of biblical interest that Armenian midyear (Mareri /Deh) is Egyptian new year month ThothThoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
as if to imply it was at one time the 7th month, in regard of the computation of the Jubilee
Jubilee (Biblical)
The Jubilee year is the year at the end of seven cycles of Sabbatical years , and according to Biblical regulations had a special impact on the ownership and management of land in the territory of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah; there is some debate whether it was the 49th year The Jubilee...
, and the biblical explanation of how to begin the novel age following the entering into the promised land. Two cycles of 1460 years goes back to August 11 of 2369 BC.
Prior to borrowing the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Armenians had a lunar calendar
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
based on a lunation of 28 days.
Together with these alien Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Julian, Gregorian, and ecclesiastical dating schemes, some Armenians still retain the old native calendar usage in which the new year begins at the spring equinox. In the numbering scheme of this solar calendar, the year 1 reckons out to 5818-5817 BCE. Hence March 20/21, 2011 CE marks the start of the Armenian year 7829.
See also
- Armenian numeralsArmenian numeralsThe system of Armenian numerals is a historic numeral system created using the majuscules of the Armenian alphabet.There was no notation for zero in the old system, and the numeric values for individual letters were added together. The principles behind this system are the same as for the Ancient...
- Calendar of Saints (Armenian Apostolic Church)Calendar of Saints (Armenian Apostolic Church)-January:* 1 Third Day of the Fast of the Nativity* 2 Fourth Day of the Fast of the Nativity* 3 Fifth Day of the Fast of the Nativity* 4 Sixth Day of the Fast of the Nativity* 5 Eve of the Nativity and Theophany of our Lord Jesus Christ...
- Zoroastrian calendarZoroastrian calendarThis article treats of the reckoning of days, months and years in the calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals are discussed elsewhere, but have a fixed relationship to Nawruz, the New Year festival, whose timing is discussed below...
- Iranian calendarIranian calendarThe Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
External links
Literature
- V. Bănăţeanu, “Le calendrier arménien et les anciens noms des mois”, in: Studia et Acta Orientalia 10, 1980, pp. 33–46
- Edouard DulaurierEdouard DulaurierEdouard Dulaurier was a French Orientalist and Egyptologist. He was a native of the city of Toulouse.Dulaurier was a Professor at the Ecole spéciale des Langues orientales, where he established the chair for the Malay language...
, Recherches sur la chronologie arménienne technique et historique (1859), 2001 reprint ISBN 978-0543966476. - Jost Gippert, Old Armenian and Caucasian Calendar Systems in The Annual of The Society for The Study of Caucasia“, 1, 1989, 3-12.http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/pdf/jg1987a.pdfhttp://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/html/jg1986f.htm
- Louis H. Gray, On Certain Persian and Armenian Month-Names as Influenced by the Avesta Calendar, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1907)
- P'. Ingoroq'va, “Jvel-kartuli c'armartuli k'alendari” (“The Old Georgian pagan calendar”), in: Sakartvelos muzeumis moambe (“Messenger of the Museum of Georgia”), 6, 1929–30, pp. 373–446 and 7, 1931–32, pp. 260–336
- K'. K'ek'elije, “Jveli kartuli c'elic'adi” (“The Old Georgian year”), in: St'alinis saxelobis Tbilisis Saxelmc'ipo Universit'et'is šromebi (“Working papers of the Tbilisi State University by the name of Stalin”) 18, 1941, reprinted in the author's “Et'iudebi jveli kartuli lit'erat'uris ist'oriidan” (“Studies in the history of Old Georgian literature”) 1, 1956, pp. 99–124.