լեառնակ

լեառնակ

Old Armenian

Alternative forms

• լեառնական (leaṙnakan) – variant reading

Etymology

Transliteration of Ancient Greek λάρναξ (lárnax), which must have stood in the Greek original of Paterica and was correctly transliterated by the Armenian translator as *լառնակ (*laṙnak). This was then "corrected" to լեառնակ (leaṙnak) by the later copying scribes, who were unfamiliar with the rare word and confused it with լեառն (leaṙn, “mountain”) and its derivatives, e.g. լեառնական (leaṙnakan, “mountainous”).

Noun

լեառնակ • (leaṙnak)

1. (hapax) larnax
   • Varkʿ srbocʿ harancʾ [Paterica] Vasn poṙnkutʿean:

     […] եւ մտեալ անկցիս ՚ի վերայ լեառնակի (var. լեառնականի) հարցն եւ ասա […]

     […] ew mteal ankcʿis ’i veray leaṙnaki (var. leaṙnakani) harcʿn ew asa […]

     […] and having entered, you shall fall on the larnax of the fathers and say...

Usage notes

The word is not included in the standard dictionaries of Old Armenian. It is attested only once in the Armenian Paterica and was brought to light in 1944 by the Georgian Armenologist Ilia Abuladze.

References

• Abulaje, Ilia (1944), “Hin hayerenum gorcacvac mi nor baṙ [A New Word Used in Old Armenian]”, in HSSṘ GA Tełekagir hasarakakan gitutʿyunneri [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR: Social Sciences]‎ (in Armenian), issue 1-2, pages 107–108
• Ačaṙyan, Hračʿya (1944), “Haykakankʿ A [Armeniaca I]”, in HSSṘ GA Tełekagir hasarakakan gitutʿyunneri [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR: Social Sciences]‎ (in Armenian), issue 5, page 25 of 25–30
• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1979), “Haykakankʿ (Armeniaca)”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), volume IV, 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 625