The tongue spoken by the Armenians is one of the great family now
known as the Aryan languages; certainly one of the oldest of them
if there is any difference in the ages of the different branches,
though that really means nothing. It has no relation whatever to the
Semitic tongues like Chaldee or Phoenician, nor the Tataric tongues of
Scythia, though those were in the earlier ages its nearest neighbors,
while it is blood brother to languages so widely separated as Irish
on the west and Hindoo on the east, to Gothic and Greek, Lithuanian
and Latin. Linguists think the whole Aryan family much younger than
the Semitic or the Turko-Tataric or the Mongoloid, but this would
not be granted by the Armenians without much more solid proof than
has yet been brought forward. They claim first that Noah and his sons
lived in Armenia, which has been shown must be true; second, that they
spoke the Armenian language, which therefore was the very oldest. Some
of the arguments in favor of this are as follows:--In Armenia, near
Mt. Ararat, are places with Armenian names, which have preserved the
same names from the time of Noah till now. North of Ararat is a city
named Erivan, which in Armenian means "appearance"; after Noah's ark
rested on the mountain, the first place he saw was Erivan. Another city
southeast of Ararat is called Nakhichevan, which in Armenian means
"the first station"; it was the first stopping-place of Noah when
he came out of the ark. The first chief or King of the Armenians,
Haig, built a village and called it Hark, which means "fathers," as
he was the father of the Armenians; and when Haig fought with Belus
and killed him, the place was called Kereznank, meaning "grave" or
"graves." There are many such places in Armenia, where the names have
always been the same and are certainly Armenian now, indicating that
the language has always been the same; here are a few: Arakaz, Armavir,
Shirag, Ararat. The latter took its name from Ara, the Armenian king
who was the son of Aram, that great King who ruled in Armenia for
fifty years; the name means "lofty" or "holy." These instances show
the antiquity of the language; but even if they were not sufficient, it
would not affect the antiquity of the race. Many very old races speak
languages much less old. The mass of people in Tuscany are Etruscans,
a race which some people hold to be much older than the whole Aryan
family; but they speak Italian, a very modern tongue. A large part
of the Basques, believed by many scientists to be the oldest race in
Europe, older even than the Tuscans, speak Spanish, much more modern
even than Italian. So that it does not follow that the Armenian race,
aside from the language, may not be the oldest in the world.
The old Armenian classic language is very difficult, from the number
of particles and participles in it; but modern Armenian is one of the
easiest of languages to learn, very regular in inflection and the
spelling entirely phonetic. There are no exceptions or anomalies;
for instance, to pluralize a noun, you invariably add the particle
ner or er. Thus, doon means "house;" the plural is dooner. Manch is
"boy"; plural mancher; mannugh is "child," mannughner "children." The
irregularities of English in these forms are too well-known to need
illustration. The Armenian tongue is not only very regular, but very
sweet, as well to the ears of foreigners as of natives. The testimony
of "Sunset" Cox of Ohio is worth citing on this point. He was United
States minister to Turkey some years ago, and as such presided at
the Commencement Exercises of Robert College in Constantinople, that
being the rule of the college. In his address on this occasion, he
said he did not like Bulgarian (which is a Turkish tongue), because
it had no sweetness;--indeed, there is none in any of the Turkish
languages, which are strong and emphatic, but harsh. But he said he
liked Armenian; it was the "sweetest language he ever heard." He went
on to say that Adam talked Armenian in the Garden of Eden, proposed
to Eve in that language, and succeeded in winning her heart; in any
other language he might not have done it. "It is the loveliest of
tongues to make love to a woman in, and sure of success if the lady
knows Armenian." I think he was right; but I think too, that next
to Armenian, if not equal to it, is English. It sounds as sweetly
to my ears as Armenian. I am an Armenian and my wife is an Armenian;
but I proposed to her in English and was successful; not a sure test,
perhaps, for any language is beautiful when words of love are uttered
in it to ears that are willing to hear; and true love may be successful
without any words at all.