1845.] 



On the invention of the Armenian Alphabet. 



523 



thus writes in his history of Apollonius Tyanseus: — " A panther was 

 once caught in Pamphylia, having round its neck a gold collar, on 

 which were inscribed these words in Armenian characters, D.fj.-J 

 \L„<± m -»^ mw.m)r*su t^-ttt-rtj s Sing Arsaces to the god Nysceus" 



The improvement and perfection of the Armenian alphabet was 

 immediately followed by the establishment of numerous elementary 

 schools and colleges for the instruction of the sons of Haic in scholastic 

 books written in their own characters. The Scriptures were also 

 translated from the original Greek into Armenian, together with such 

 select Greek works as were calculated to enlighten and elevate the 

 minds of Armenian students. Thus a happy change was wrought, 

 in the beginning of the fifth century, by the introduction of Armenian 

 letters; and the reign of Viramshapuh, like the Augustan age, is con- 

 sidered as the golden era of the cultivation of Armenian literature. 



The Armenian alphabet consists of thirty-eight letters, of which 

 twenty-two existed, though in a rude form, prior to the Christian era; 

 fourteen were invented by St. Mesrop, and two were borrowed from 

 the Greeks in the twelfth century. 



The following are their forms, names, and sounds. 



Forms. 



Names. 



Sounds. 



u 



Ui 



*** 



I be (as in 



tribe) 



A (as in father) 



p> 



F- 



t .. 



Bien, 



• 



B soft. 



<h 



Hr 



* .- 



Kim, 



. . 



K. C. Q. 



t> 



t 



T •• 



Tail, 





T soft. 



l> 



tr 



fr .. 



Yetch, . . 





Ye (as in yes.) 



£. 



*Z. 



t •• 



Zah, 



. . 



Z or S soft. 



1? 



kr 



k .. 



E. .. ., 



. 



E (as in met.) 



c 



E 



c .. 



Yet, 





U (as in us.) 



1^ 



P 



e- .. 



Twoh, - . 





T hard. 



d- 



S- 



* .. 



J. or Zh, 



•• 



J- French, or as English S. in the 

 words pleasure, measure. 



h 



b 



fr .. 



Inni, 





I or E. 



U 



L 



i - 



Luine, .. 





L. 



lu 



t» 



h .. 



Khe, . . 





Ch. German, or as \ Greek. 



fr 



& 



s- .. 



Dzah, .. 





Dz. 



