Language and Literature.— The Armenian language is, according to H. Hubschmann, one of the main divisions of the Indo-Germanic group of languages though formerly consid ered a dialect of the Iranic branch. The Old Armenian or Haikan language, which is still the literary and ecclesiastical language, is dis tinguished from the New Armenian, the ordi nary spoken language, which contains a large intermixture of Persian and Turkish elements. The most learned Armenian antiquaries do not pretend to trace their literature further back than about 150 years before the Christian era when Marabas Catina wrote a history of Armenia, and earned for himself the title of the Armenian Herodotus. He was followed by some half dozen historians and mythologists, but all these early productions are lost, though they have not been quite valueless, inasmuch as they were the sources whence later Arme nian writers compiled work still extant. The authors who lived in the 4th century of the Christian era are the first whose writings have been preserved. Christianity then prevailed in Armenia, and her authors were princes and prelates. 'The 5th century was the golden age of Haikan literature. This century was fruitful in authors, and was further distin guished by two events important to the pro gress of learning. The Armenians till then had had no alphabet of their own, indifferently using Greek, Syrias, and Persian characters. Early in the 5th century Mesrop Masdoty in vented a Haikan alphabet of 36 letters, still called, in honor of the inventor, Mesropian, and now employed as capitals, since others of more convenient form have supplanted them in com mon use. About the same time schools were instituted throughout Armenia, and the scholars there trained exerted themselves in producing Haikan versions of the Bible, the earliest of which was completed by 412, and of the masterpieces of Greece and Rome. One of the most distinguished authors who now appeared was Archbishop Moses Chorenensis or Moses of Chorene. Besides innumerable translations, he wrote a history of Armenia, and a treatise on rhetoric — all of which, to gether with some homilies, have been preserved as well as some hymns still habitually sung in the Armenian Church service. A treatise on geography also ascribed to him dates probably from the 7th century. His 'History of Ar menia' was published in London in 1736, with a Latin translation, by the celebrated W. Whis ton and his son George. It was published at Venice in 1752, 1827, 1865 and 1::1; was trans lated into French by Levaillant de Florival in 1841, and into German by Lauer (Regensburg 1869). Other celebrated Armenian authors of the golden age are Eznik of Golp; Korune, the biographer of the learned Mesrop; Elis aeus, author of a history of the Vardanants; Lazar of Parpi; Agathangelos, and the histor ian Faustus of Byzantium, who probably wrote in Greek. In the 6th century Haikan litera ture first remained stationary, and then began to decline. It revived somewhat in the 12th century but after the 14th declined steadily until the 17th. During this period authors abounded, but in a literary sense their pro ductions were worthless. A few histories, however, national, Tartar, Arab etc., some of them in verse deserve esteem for the informa tion they contain. In the 17th century Arme nian schools and colleges arose in the East and in the West, .Armeman printing presses were set up in various towns, and Armenian litera ture began to revive. In the 18th century the revival was complete, very much owing to the zealous and judicious exertions of Petro Mechitar, a Catholic Armenian, who in 1701 founded a religious society at Constantinople for the purpose of elevating the Armenians by diffusing among them a knowledge of their ancient literature and language. Being perse cuted by the opposite sect he fled with his ad herents to the Morea, then under the Vene tians, and established a monastery and acad emy at Modon. The Morea reverting to the
Ottoman sceptre, Mechitar transferred his in stitution to the small island of San Lazaro at Venice, where it has ever since remained and prospered. Abbot Mechitar, during the re mainder of his life (he died in 1749) success fully exerted himself to render his monastic college the chief seat of Armenian erudition and education. The best Armenian press ex tant is the Mechitarist, from which issues a newspaper that circulates widely in the Levant. Here many of the classical works of England, France, Italy, and Germany have been trans lated into Armenian. There is also a Mechita rist college in Vienna, and a branch in Munich. Wherever any extensive community of Armeni ans have settled they have set up a printing press, as in Amsterdam, Leghorn, Moscow, Venice, Astrakhan, Constantinople, Smyrna, Tiflis, Saint Petersburg, Madras, Calcutta, etc., and at several of these places periodicals are published. The founder and greatest master of modern Armenian literature is the novelist Raffi (1837-1:•:;). A splendid dictionary of the Armenian language with Latin and Greek equivalents for each word was published by the Mechitarist press at Venice in 1836. The best Armenian dictionaries for foreigners are the Armenian-French one published at Venice in 1812; the Armenian-Italian of Emmanuel Tchaktchak (Venice 1837) ; the Armenian English of Aucher as improved by Bedrossian (Venice 1868-79, both Armenian-English and English-Armenian) ; and the French-Arme nian of Norayr (Constantinople 1884).
Bibliography.— General Works.— Buxton, N. and H., 'Travel and Politics in
(New York 1914); Bryce, J., 'Transcaucasia and Ararat' (London 1896); Deniker, J., 'Races of Man> (London 1900); Gaidzakian, 0., 'Illustrated Armenia and the
(Boston 1898) ; Gatteyrias, J.,
(Paris 1882); Hoffmeister, E. V.,