shown. For this great contribution to philology we are indebted most of all to Heinrich Hübschmann. Valuable studies on the Armenian language and literature have also been made by Meillet, Bartholomæ, Bugge, and others. The Armenian language is divided into two parts: The Old, or Classical (grabar) Armenian and the Modern Armenian. The Classical Armenian language shows no dialectic variations, but the modern Armenian has many dialects, whose study is most important for a correct scientific philological knowledge of this Indo-Germanic tongue. The Classical Armenian is a fully inflected language, possessing seven declensions with six cases (nom., gen., dat., acc., abl., and instr.) and two supplementary cases (narrative and circumlocutory). There is also, as in all Indo-Germanic languages, a special mode of declension for the pronouns. There is no gender in Armenian, and but two numbers, singular and plural. Comparison of adjectives, which are often uninflected, is chiefly by auxiliary adverbs or by repetition of the adjectives to be compared. There are four conjugations, of which the fourth is generally passive in force, with present, imperfect, first and second aorist, and first and second future, present and future participle, and infinitive tenses. As in Greek, but one of the futures and aorists is commonly found in the same verb. The moods are the indicative, subjunctive, imperative (or more properly, prohibitive). The Modern Armenian differs from the grabar chiefly in the decay of its inflectional system, in the influx of loan-words from the Turkish, and in the interchange of pronounciation of the old tenues and mediæ with the new (Classical Armenian b, g, d, k, p, etc., pronounced p, k, t, g, b, etc., in Modern Armenian). The Armenian is fond of harsh combinations of consonants and it is particularly rich in affricative sounds. The accent is usually on the last syllable. The Armenian alphabet consists of thirty-six letters, to which two others, ō and f, were added in the Twelfth Century. This alphabet was introduced by Mesrob, a bishop of the Armenian Church, early in the Fifth Century, and was probably based upon the Greek letters, with additions from other sources to provide characters for sounds not represented in the Greek alphabet. In addition to the sounds familiar to our ears, Armenian possesses characters for the indefinite e in the man, for zh (French j), h (as in German, Greek χ), sh, ts, ds, tch, dsh, thsh, tsh, rolled r, for the aspirates th, ph, kh, and for a deep glottal catch corresponding somewhat in pronunciation to the Arabic ghain.
Armenian literature, properly speaking, begins only with the Fifth Century, when Mesrob devised the alphabet, and the entire Bible was rendered into Armenian by 410. Before the time of Mesrob there had been no Armenian literature (although a few Armenian songs are preserved by Moses of Chorene) despite the claims made for Agathangelos (ed. Venice, 1862, Tiflis, 1883) and Faustus of Byzantium (ed. Venice, 1889), who probably wrote in Greek, and was translated into Armenian later. Armenian literature is especially strong in history and in theology; but in poetry and belles-lettres it is very weak, and the drama does not exist. The principal Armenian writers (exclusive of translators) are as follows: Fifth Century, Eznik of Golp, Refutation of Heresies, especially valuable for its account of the Zoroastrian and Manichæan religions (ed. Venice, 1850); Moses of Chorene, History of Armenia, a most important source of material (ed. Amsterdam 1695, London 1736, Venice 1752, 1827, 1865, 1881, translated by Le Vaillant de Florival, Venice, 1841, and by Lauer, Regensburg, 1869), and a geography (ed. and tr. Venice, 1881); David the Philosopher (ed. Venice, 1823); Elisæus, History of Vardan and of the Battles of the Armenians (ed. Constantinople, 1764, 1823, Venice, 1828, 1852, 1859, 1893, tr. Neumann, London, 1830); Eighth Century, John of Ozim, a theological writer (ed. Venice, 1834); Ninth Century, Thomas of Ardsruni, an important historian; Tenth Century, Gregor Narek, religious writer (ed. Venice, 1827-40); Eleventh Century, Gregor Magistros, theologian, grammarian, and poet; Twelfth Century, Nerses Klayensis, poet, theologian, historian (ed. of his poetry, Venice, 1830), and his nephew, Nerses of Lampron, theologian, poet, and translator; Mechitar Gosh, fable-writer (ed. Venice, 1854) and lawyer (ed. Etchmiadzin, 1880); Thirteenth Century, Vardan, who composed an important history of Armenia (ed. Venice, 1862), a book of beast-fables (ed. in selection, Paris, 1825), and theological works; Vahram of Edessa, historian (ed. Madras, 1810); Johannes Erzingensis, historian, grammarian, theologian, and astronomer; Fourteenth Century, Gregor Datheriensis, theologian. The last great author who wrote in Classical Armenian was Tschamtschean (died 1823), whose most important work was a history of Armenia from the earliest times to 1784 (ed. Venice, 1784-86). The golden ages of Armenian literature are the Fifth Century and the Twelfth Century, and the Fourteenth Century marks the beginning of a steady decline. The first book printed in Armenian was the Psalms (Venice, 1565), and during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries printing-houses were established in many cities in Europe, as well as in Asia — at Julfa, Smyrna, and Madras. A special impetus toward the preservation of Armenian literature was given by the establishment of a college and convent by Mechitar on the island of San Lazaro near Venice, in 1717.
Bibliography. Petermann, Grammatica Linguæ Armeniacæ (Berlin, 1837); Brevis Linguæ Armeniacæ (Leipzig, 1872); Laurer et Carrière, Grammaire arménienne (Paris, 1833); Hübschmann, Armenische Studien (Leipzig. 1883); Armenische Grammatik I. (all out, Leipzig, 1897); Msériantz, Studies on Armenian Dialectology (Styudi po Armyanskoi Dialecktologie), I. (Moscow, 1897); Bedrossian, New Armenian-English Dictionary (Venice, 1875-79); Neumann, Geschichte der armenischen Litteratur (Leipzig, 1836); Nève, L'Arménie chrétienne et sa littérature (Louvain, 1886).
ARMENIAN VER'SION. See Bible.
ARMENTIERES, ar'milN'tyftr'. A town of
the department of Nord, France, on the Lys, 8 miles from Lille. It posseses a college, hospital, and insane asylum. The town is well built, and is active and prosperous, having manufactories of cotton, linen, and hemp, and a considerable trade in grain. Pop., 1901, 29,401.
ARME'RIA. See Thrift.
