Name of Armenia

The exact etymologies of the names of Armenia are unknown, and there are various speculative attempts to connect them to older toponyms or ethnonyms.

Multiple theories and speculations exist about the origin of the name Armenia, but no consensus has been reached by historians and linguists.

[2] In Greek, Αρμένιοι (meaning Armenians) is attested from about the same time, perhaps the earliest reference being a fragment attributed to Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 476 BC).

[4] Early 20th century Armenologists have suggested that Old Persian 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴 a-r-mi-i-n(a) and the Greek Armenoi are continuations of an Assyrian toponym Armânum or Armanî.

The earliest is from an inscription which mentions Armânum together with Ibla as territories conquered by Naram-Sin of Akkad in c. 2250 BC[6] identified with an Akkadian colony in the Diarbekr region.

"[10] The Arme tribe of Urartian texts may have been the Urumu, who in the 12th century BC attempted to invade Assyria from the north with their allies the Mushki and the Kaskians.

[12] Minni (מנּי) is also a Biblical name of the region, appearing in the Bible (Jeremiah 51:27) alongside Ararat and Ashkenaz, probably the same as the Minnai of Assyrian inscriptions,[13] corresponding to the Mannai.

[15] There have been further speculations as to the existence of a Bronze Age tribe of the Armens (Armans, Armani; Armenian: Արմեններ Armenner, Առամեններ Aṙamenner), either identical to or forming a subset of the Hayasa-Azzi.

The name Ḫāte was given by Urartians to all lands west of Euphrates, including the territory around Malatya (a region assumed to be occupied by speakers of Proto-Armenians).

[28] Others suggest that the etymology of the hay- stem derives from the name of a realm in proximity to the Armenian Highlands called Ḫayaša.

"[30] Additionally, a pronunciation like "Ḫayasa" (i.e. "Khayasa") can be reconciled with Hay as the Hittite h and kh phonemes are interchangeable, a feature present in certain Armenian dialects as well.

The presence of this resource piqued the interest of the Hittites and led to frequent clashes between Hayasa-Azzi and Hatti, who needed Hayasa's metals to produce weapons.

19th century linguists Friedrich Spiegel and Heinrich Kiepert proposed that hay might derive from *poti, Proto-Indo-European for "lord, master, husband."

[35] Petrosyan suggests that Etiuni, the name of a powerful tribal confederation to the immediate north of Urartu, may reflect a Urartian-language form of *hetiyo or *hatiyo.

[37] According to Professor James R. Russell of Harvard University, Somekhi refers to the Mushki, who Diakonoff suggested were Armenian-speakers.