Further notes on image 3115
*Aslan
– a Turkish
word meaning “lion” was/is also used a proper noun.
**Pirigul
– is actually
the name Pirgul, from the Perian
pir,
meaning “saint or old,” and quli, “slave” or “servant.” We
know of a certain Pirigul who was among the Armenian leaders involved in
the defense of Yerevan against the Ottomans in c. 1719-1724. It’s
hard to say if deceased Aslan’s father and the above Pirigul are one and
the same; the chronology fits well.
The use of this name among the Armenians is very rare.
*** Yozhbar(?)
– one would
expect to see the name of a place here but the wording in this and the
following two lines is not clear. The shapes of the letters are
also misleading. It is tempting to read YOZHBAR as two words,
meaning “very good” and take the phrase as modifying the word “land.”
The line would read: “He was from the very good land and …”
****Gokhtan District
– or Goghtn is the southernmost region of present day Nakhichevan.
In ancient and medieval times it was renowned for its vineyards and
gardens.
*****Gaghgochi
– There is no
such village in or near Goghtn, but there is a well known village called
Gagh or Gal in the neighboring district to the north. It is hard
to say what
gochi stands for. It could be taken as a
verb meaning “called,” but a verb with the same meaning in line 3 is
spelled differently. If gochi is taken as a verb, the text
would read: “from a village called Gagh.”
******longer cycle
– This seems
to refer to the cycle of 532 years that was in regular use among
the Armenian, and is still in use in the Armenian Church. The
cycle is a listing of dates for Easter. When the cycle is
completed, it is repeated. Its first year is AD 552.
1221 – + 551 corresponds to AD. 1772, as seen in the second half
of the last line of the inscription. The number 156 that appears
under 1772 is the year according to Azaria’s calendar (156 + 1616=1772).
February 25 – is presumably the date according to the
Gregorian calendar. The date according to the Julian calendar
would be February 14, and the the first of Nirhan. In the photo of the
inscription, at the end of the last line there seems to be a small mark
following the word
Nirhan. It’s not clear if this is a symbol, or
part of a letter indicating the date.
Fr. Krikor Maksoudian comments: “Note – This is an interesting tombstone that merits some comments.
a) The majority of the tombstones with long inscriptions have Christian
symbols, whereas this one does not.
b) The framework — enclosing a flower, presumably a carnation — at the
top of the present inscription seems to have an Islamic design.
c) Unlike the other longer inscriptions, this one has no reference to God
or Christ. The phrase “went up to the paternal [realm]” poses the
question “whose paternal realm?”
d) The very rarely used name Piriguli raises questions, particularly in
view of the fact that the majority of the deceased mentioned in
the other inscriptions and their fathers have Armenian Christian names.
e) In the longer inscriptions the family names of the deceased are
specifically mentioned, whereas Aslan son of Piriguli is not identified
by any family affiliation.
These considerations may tempt one to draw conclusions about the origin
and identity of Aslan. But there is one basic question that remains to
be answered. If Aslan is not an Armenian Christian, why is he buried in
an Armenian cemetery, amidst people that have Armenian names and
Armenian family affiliations? Armenian cemeteries were and still are
considered to be sacred ground. The graves of the faithful are buried
and then “sealed” with the sign of the Holy Cross by the officiating
priest. (In other words, the priest blessed the shrouded body or the
coffin on its four sides with his hand cross. Thereafter the “sealing”
is repeated each time that the grave is blessed. The teaching of the
Church as reflected in the text of the burial ritual states that the
“seal” will/must remain intact until the Second Coming when the “dead
shall rise.” “
Further notes on image 3119
* Gitun – means
“knowledgeable,” “learned” or “wise,” which is not an appropriate
epithet for a four year old child. Though there is no record of
gitun to have ever been used as a
proper noun, there is no other explanation why a child of four should be
called gitun unless it is his name. If gitun is used as a
first name could it be a translation? The equivalent of
gitun in Arabic, Ottoman and modern Turkish is arif which is
used as a name. There is also at least one mention of an Arif who
was Armenian. Could the deceased child’s actual name have been
Arif Joseph?
**170 – according
to Azaria’s calendar: 170 + 1615 = AD 1785.
*** Ghamar 7 = July 25
(Julian); August 5 (Gregorian).
Further notes on image 3121
* Hazarapet –
is a common noun, meaning “Chiliarch” or “commander of a thousand men,”
that is also used as a proper noun. This usage is probably based on
the Armenian texts of the apostolic epistles where in some instances the
word steward (of good graces)is translated as hazarapet. The
earliest use of this word as a proper noun appears in the 13th
century.
** Ugrhlu
– is from the Ottoman Turkish ugurlu meaning “lucky.” Its used both
as a male and a female name by the Turks as well as the Armenians.
*** 159, Damay 25
= AD 1774, November 10 (Julian); November 21 (Gregorian).
Further notes on image 3123
*
The words Lord, God, Jesus and Christ are all abbreviated as usual.
** Hayrapet
– means “patriarch” and is used as a proper name
*** Mansurents
– Whereas the end part of the family name — that is, -RENTS — is
clear in the inscription, the first part is not. Two of the three
characters preceding the above are ligatures. The third, namely
the Armenian letter for N, may also be a ligature. One possibility
is to read the name as MANSURENTS.
Mansur is an Arabic word meaning “victory” that is also used as a
proper noun. The name appears in an inscription dated 1604 in the
chapel of the Holy Forty Martyrs Armenian Church in Aleppo. A man
with the same name is mentioned in a colophon from c. 1630-1633.
One of his sons was a priest and was probably connected with one
of the churches in New Julfa.
****Year 1139 …Nakha 2
= AD 1691; Nakha 2 = June 20 (Julian), June 30 (Gregorian).
Further notes on image 3128
THE DAUGHTER OF BARSEGH [BASIL]; HER NAME
WAS KATAN,* WIFE OF
ZAKARIA SHUKOREAN. SHE LIVED
IN THIS WORLD FOR THIRTY
AND MORE YEARS. SHE PASSED ON TO THE
UPPER REALM, THE HOPE OF ALL, IN THE YEAR
1765, TIRA 15, SATURDAY.**
* Katan –
If this is the abbreviated form of Catherine –
Katarine in Armenian – one would expect Kata instead of Katan, unless
the final –n is the definite article.
** Tira 15, Saturday
– October 1 (Julian); October 12 (Gregorian).
Further notes on image 3132
Tnakert
– or Tanakert was/is a village located at a distance of 6-7 km to the
northwest of Ordubad, Nakhichevan.
** 1231
= AD 1782-1783. The Armenian New Year was on August 11.
*** Ovdan 25
= February 8 (Julian); February 19 (Gregorian), 1783. The day of
the week checks out as a Wednesday.
Further notes on image 3138
*Khojazata
– refers to Petros’ ancestry, “born of a khoja.” Khoja [“lord”] and zade
[“born of”]are Persian words. The term khoja was used by the
Armenians in eastern Armenia, Iran and India in reference to rich
merchants.
**Hana
– The correct transliteration of the name as it appears is Yana, but
there is no such name listed in dictionaries. Sine the initial Y
is pronounced H in Modern Armenian, the name is Hana, presumably a form
of Anna.
***Shayin –
In this name also the letter Y should be read as H. Shahin appears
in various forms, but it is a male name, whereas the person mentioned in
the above inscription is a female. Shayin may be the shorter form
of Shahinar.
****Ovdan 2
– corresponds to January 16 (Julian calendar) and January 27 (Gregorian
calendar), 1729.
Further notes on image 3142
* Evum
– H. Adjarian, in his Dictionary of Armenian Personal Names, vol. 2,
states that Evum, a name of unknown etymology, is mentioned but once in
an 18th century document. The document is dated
1727-1729. This inscription is obviously the second place where
the name appears in written form.
** The date
– Nirhan 7, 161 of “the Lesser Era” corresponds to AD 1777, February 20
(Julian); March 3 (Gregorian).
Further notes on image 3159
SHE WAS BLOSSOMING WITH
FRUIT,* [WHEN] SHE DEPARTED THIS LIFE.**
SHE WAS THE CONSORT OF
STEPANNOS [= STEPHAN]
CALLED SON OF AGHABAB.
DESCENDED FROM A [NEW] JULFA
FAMILY
NAMED EREWANTS.
SHE WAS RAISED AS A VIRTUOUS
DAUGHTER
[TO ONE] NAMED NAZAR
TILAN.***
INVITED BY THE CREATOR
SHE PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE
OF NINETEEN,
IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND
SEVEN HUNDRED,
EXTENDED BY EIGHTY-FOUR
[YEARS];
AS MARCH TWENTYFOURTH CAME
IN,****
SHE RESIGNED FROM THIS
WORLD.
* Blossoming with fruit
– is presumably in reference to the pregnant state of the deceased.
** [When] she departed this
Life – is the translation of
barely legible and partially damaged two words at the end of the line 4 –
which I am reconstructing as “keans vechareal”.
*** Nazar Tilan – appears in the nominative case instead of the
dative, which one would expect. This may be due to the fact that all
of the sixteen lines in the epitaph end with past participles ending in –eal
[the nominative form of the past participle]. Putting the name Nazar
Tilan in the dative case would have required putting the participle
modifying the name in the dative form as well and disrupting the rhyme.
**** The deceased passed
away on March 24, 1784. The Armenian wording suggests that she died
in the early hours of March 24.
Note
from Father Krikor:
“It has a sad story to tell about a very young woman with child. Her
family name Tilan appears in the list of families that lived in New Julfa.
There was also a Tilanian family living in 19th century
Russia.”
Extract from ‘Armenians in India’ by Mesrovb Seth:
Stephen Agabob’s
first wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of one Nazar Milan, had died on the
24th March, 1784 at the age of 15 and is buried in the Armenian cemetery
at Surat. Old Agabob, who evidently had a passion for girl wives, died in
1802, aged 61 years and lies buried in the Surat cemetery.
Further notes on image 020
* Shams 4 –
corresponds to March 24 (Julian) and April 4
(Gregorian).
** The final two words in
the last line (line 5) are abbreviated. In the first of the two
words a single ligature reads SOWR = SUR- and the word ends with the
letters TS, and
seems to spell Surat + S.
The final -S is probably the definite article which simply indicates the
place where the grave is. The second and final word in the line
reads HNGTI, on top of which, clearly visible, is the abbreviation sign.
The best I can suggest is the word HANGIST, meaning “rest,” that could
also mean cemetery or place of eternal rest in the genitive/dative form of
the word, presumably used as a locative.
A more remote possibility would be “at the port of Surat.” The
regular word for “port” in Armenian is “nawahangist,” ”naw” meaning
“ship.”