He received initial education at the Aramian and Sahagian Schools in Samatya,[4] then at the Getronagan (1889–93), where he learned French, Turkish, and Persian.

[5][2][1] Acharian moved to Russian (Eastern) Armenia and began a teaching career at the Gevorgian Seminary in Ejmiatsin (1898–1902).

[11][1] He mostly taught Persian and Arabic[2] and in 1940 initiated the establishment of the Department of Oriental Philology/Oriental Languages and Literature at YSU.

[12] Acharian knew numerous languages: Armenian (both modern and classical), French, English, Greek, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, German, Italian, Latin, Kurdish, Sanskrit, Sureth, Avestan, Laz, Georgian, Middle Persian (Pahlavi).

He was accused of being a spy for numerous foreign countries (Britain, Turkey) and being a member of a counter-revolutionary group of professors.

[19] Acharian's most cited work is the Armenian Etymological Dictionary (Հայերէն արմատական բառարան, Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran).

The latter entries include early Armenian references, definitions, some 30 dialectal forms, and the borrowing of the word by other languages.

Godel added, "As a dictionary of Armenian, Ajarian's work has a particular value, owing to his extensive knowledge of the classical literature as well as of the modern dialects.

"[28] R. T. Nielsen notes that it "retains much of its relevance to this day" and continues to be the "only near-complete historical treatment of the Armenian lexicon.

"[29] Vrej Nersessian wrote in 1993 that despite "advances in Indo-European linguistics since 1926, the bulk of the etymologies cited are still valid."

"[32] James Clackson called it "excellent" but too noted that it is "not easily accessible to western scholars" as it is written in Armenian.

[33] James R. Russell wrote that it "represents an important advance on the etymological researches" of Hübschmann, "adding greatly to our knowledge of Iranian in Armenian."

"[34] Patrick Considine noted that the "impressive size of the work is unfortunately in part due to the inclusion of a great deal of dead wood.

These include publications on the dialects of Nor Nakhichevan (1925), Maragha (1926–30), Agulis (1935), Nor Jugha (1940), Constantinople (1941), Hamshen (1940), Van (1952), and Ardeal/Transylvania (1953).

[20] Acharian authored a Dictionary of Armenian Proper Names (Հայոց անձնանունների բառարան), which was published in five volumes from 1942 to 1962.

[48][49] The first two parts, examining the historical sources and the life of Mesrop Mashtots were published in Eastern Armenian in 1968.

[54][45] Acharian translated the Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit, which was published by the Armenian Church press in 1911.

[62][63] Panos Terlemezian (1928)[64] and Martiros Saryan (1943)[65] painted portraits of Acharian and Ara Sargsyan created a plaquette in 1957/58.