-= Vostikan =-

[MosJan]

Hayastanum ogtagortsum eyinq naxkinum Militsyoner, teyev rusern er kochum@ sakayn ogtagortsvum er boloris kormits, isk nerkayum@s ogtagortsum enq Vostikan,

 

hetaqerqri e gitenal Vostikan bari arbyur@ yve n@shanakutyun@.

 

Vost- Vostan?

 

NAxapes SHnorhakal em

[Harut]

Movses jan,

im gitenalov Vostikan bar@ arajin angam ogtagortsvel a Arabakan shrjanum (7 darits sksats). Vostikanner@ dranq Arab harkahavaqnern ein, voronq nayev inchvor orenqner ein hskum.

bari batsatrutsyun@ chgitem.

 

bayts hishum em, mi angam Nvard@ batsatrets. jishtn asats chem hishum. vor mangas kgtnes, estegh forumum a.

[Arpa]

OSTIKAN
The reason I spelled the word without the initial V is intentional as it is intended to be pronounce "ostikan" and "vostikan" much like words beginning with the fifth letter, "ech" (not yech). There is not a definite reason and a time in our history when "e", equivalent to the Greek Epsilon began to be pronounced as "ye", Erevan not Yerevan, Ervand not Yervand, ekeghetsi (from ecclesia) not yekeghetsi. There is suspicion that it was affected from the Russian just like Eltsin pronounced Yeltsin etc.
The 24th letter of the Ayb Ben Gim was never intended to be pronounced as "vo" but "o". This only happens at the beginning of a word, never in the middle. Sometimes even in the biginning, we may have heard people say Ter Oghormia and not Ter Voghormia. There is ample evidence that in the early days this letter was pronounced as "o" judging from words and names transliterated to other languages and visa versa, the best examples of which are words loaned out to the Georgian where lentil, "osp" in Armenian became "ospi" and not "vospi".
Similarly words beginning with o borrowed into the Armenian were written with the "vo"(?) to sound as o and not vo. Ostikan is one of those words. Many have attempted to trace its roots, some may have some merit, some have tried to link it with "ostan/ostanik" (later about this) and others have gone to ridculous ends to associate it with Turkish such as "ustu" (above, over), the latter is totally out of the question as the word was in use long before Turkish was even heard in those lands. As Harut correctly indicates "ostikan" became a household word during the Arab rule over Armenia. They were the (appointed) governors, sometimes also called "kousakal", usually an Arab prince but sometimes even an Armenian "trustee"(note this word). As Harut also indicates their main duty was collection of taxes and watch for unrest and report it to preempt major uprisings. The most logical explanation of the word, often interpreted as "verakatsou", "hramanatar", "ishkhan" and "kousakal" will be found in the Pahlavi "ostikan" and possibly in the Pazdeyan "ostiyan" that meant "faithful/trustworthy", or by extension "loyal". [As to "ostan/ostanik", in the old days there was a class of people in the Armenian royal circles who were known as "ostaniks", they were people who were assigned land as a reward for their loyalty to the king. The word was based on "ostan" that basically means "land/region"(from which all the countries that end in "-stan".]
As to when and why the "ostikan" got to be used in the sense of governor, there was a time when the above mentioned trustees of the King were called the "havatarims", the "trustees. In time "ostikan" which also means "loyal/trustee" replaced the Armenian word "havatarim".
In the modern sense "ostikan" simply means police which is in the same sense as the original "ostikans" whose main function is supervise and enact the law. (And sometimes collect taxes be they legal or not