Anaheet

I'm only a goddess here...in RL I'm an archangel. Uh....yum? She made a lot of yogurt soup, though. And nazook, every so often. No, I'd just like my family to spell our name a different way (not the way I spelled it up there, the way they really spell it). I'd also like an actual Armenian first name in RL, but it seems a bit late to change it now. Sounds great!

True! True! Loved the Rowling reference.

OK, you've invoked my name, so I feel compelled to respond here. The problem was not that my father married an "odar." The problem was that he deliberately chose to not teach us the Armenian language. Yet at the same time, he taught us about what it is to be Armenian, about Armenian culture, Armenian history, etc. You can reject that or not- it's your choice. If my dad had wanted us to learn Armenian, it would have been a different story. My mom wanted to learn it. My dad didn't want us to learn it. Blame him for that, not marrying an "odar." I think Jews have a better idea. If you marry a Jew, your children are Jews. Why isn't it that way for us? If you marry an Armenian, your children are Armenians. Clear definition of lineage is BS. That's a nineteenth century ethnological concept with no basis in fact. Language and culture are more important than "bloodlines." Why do you think the Russians are so dominant? How many Russian speakers are ethnically Russian? Language and culture can be acquired. Seriously, you sound like you're trying to preserve some kind of royal family. (Another outdated concept.) Anyway, don't pretend to be speaking for me, since you're obviously not.

The Septuagint is the oldest translation of the Old Testament extant. It's a translation into Greek. "Septuagint" refers to "seventy"- it is traditionally believed that there were seventy translators. The Septuagint is the text that the Christian Church originally used for its Old Testament- the Orthodox Church still uses it. It would not surprise me if the Grabar text of the Old Testament was translated from the Septuagint. The Vulgate is the Latin Vulgate, translated from the Greek Septuagint into the commonly used Latin of the day (400s, I believe) by St. Jerome.

My great-great-grandfather was Popik Simonik (Barefoot Simon) since he never wore shoes, apparently!

Ok...I'm embarrassed to ask but I'll ask anyway...could somebody translate? I caught about four words, maybe five... Thanks!

Asghtrik (my great-aunt's name) means roughly the same as Esther: star Anahit was the ancient Persian/Armenian version of Astarte/Ashtoreth/Aphrodite. The goddess of love and fertility.

What about Nejdeh and Vrezh? I know "Vrezh" means "revenge" (it's my father's name)(sometimes spelled Vrej)- what about Nejdeh? Also, do you know the origin of Harand?

My father LOVES Charles Aznavour. He listens to him all the time. "Yesterday when I was young..."

Merci, Vava jan! I appreciate the welcome.

Thanks for the welcome! I am open to flirting with all comers, except Vigil (who wouldn't anyway!).

Um, hello, Jews (most of them) are not Christian...Christianity may have originally been derived from Judaism but it has diverged from it (or one might say Judaism has diverged from it- they share a common root). Besides that, what's wrong with having a Jewish-derived religion? You got something against Jewish people? They are nice folks- also much persecuted, also with a Diaspora.

What's Kragapasht? Why is it superior?

Yeah, no doubt. Don't forget about Leo the Issaurian (should be called Leo the Armenian. Levon the Armenian, if you like!). Of course he was an iconoclast, but putting that aside, he was one of ours...

My mother's (Armenian) side is from Istanbul..and before that both sides were from some villages near Divrig - (Sivas region) in Anatolia... My grandmother said we were "Mushi," so I guess some of my ancestors came from Mush...my understanding of it's a little garbled. Relatives in the KKK- OWCH! So we're getting it from both sides, aren't we? Isn't human nature great? BTW - you know expotentially more Armenian then I! Wow! I thought I couldn't know more Armenian than anybody! Except maybe my brother...he is terrible at languages...after 3 years of high school Spanish he can hardly speak a word of it. What I do is, I keep interrogating my relatives, and anybody else I find who speaks Armenian, and learning one little bit at a time. ...oh yes and I too do like my So did my grandmother (Mezmom)! She kept singing this song about it...something about Armenians loving wine. Since all I knew of it was 'gini', 'wine', I never learned it, alas. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Heto khosank! (TTYL)