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The Armenian alphabet was created around 405 CE by Mesrop Mashtots, a monk and scholar, so that the Bible and church services could be written in Armenian rather than in Greek or Syriac. It is still in use today.

Koriun, Life of Mashtots, 5th century

LanguageHistory

The story behind the card

Mashtots worked with Sahak, head of the Armenian Church, and had the support of King Vramshapuh. Most of what we know comes from a biography written in the 5th century by his pupil Koriun. The first texts in the new script were translations of the Bible, and a wave of translation and original writing followed, which Armenians still call the golden age of their literature. The original alphabet had 36 letters. Two more, for sounds in words borrowed from other languages, were added in the Middle Ages, and a 20th-century spelling reform counted the ligature և, two letters joined into one sign, as a letter of its own. The script carried Armenian identity through centuries of rule by larger empires.

Türkçe oku
Ermeni alfabesini MS 405 dolaylarında keşiş ve bilgin Mesrop Maştots yarattı; amaç, İncil'in ve ayinlerin Yunanca ya da Süryanice yerine Ermenice yazılabilmesiydi. Alfabe bugün de kullanılıyor.
Koryun, Maştots'un Hayatı, 5. yüzyıl

Maştots bu işe Ermeni Kilisesi'nin başındaki Sahak ile birlikte girişti; Kral Vramşapuh da onları destekledi. Bildiklerimizin çoğu, öğrencisi Koryun'un 5. yüzyılda yazdığı yaşam öyküsüne dayanır. Yeni harflerle yazılan ilk metinler İncil çevirileriydi. Ardından hem çeviride hem telif eserlerde öyle bir canlanma yaşandı ki Ermeniler bu dönemi edebiyatlarının altın çağı sayar. İlk alfabe 36 harften oluşuyordu. Orta Çağ'da başka dillerden geçen sözcüklerdeki sesler için iki harf daha eklendi; 20. yüzyıldaki bir yazım reformu da iki harfin birleşmesinden oluşan և işaretini ayrı bir harf saydı. Bu yazı, Ermeni kimliğini büyük imparatorlukların egemenliğinde geçen yüzyıllar boyunca taşıdı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Armenian alphabet
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