Armazic | |
States: | Caucasus |
Era: | 0–100 CE[1] |
Familycolor: | Afro-Asiatic |
Fam2: | Semitic |
Fam3: | West Semitic |
Fam4: | Central Semitic |
Fam5: | Northwest Semitic |
Fam6: | Aramoid? |
Fam7: | Aramaic |
Fam8: | (unclassified) |
Iso3: | xrm |
Linglist: | xrm |
Glotto: | none |
Armazic (also called Armazian) is an extinct written Aramaic language used as a language of administration in the South Caucasus in the first centuries AD.[2] Both the Armazic language and script were related to the Aramaic of northern Mesopotamia. The name "Armazic" was introduced by the Georgian scholar Giorgi Tsereteli in reference to Armazi, an ancient site near Mtskheta, Georgia, where several specimens of a local idiom of written Aramaic have been found. Beyond several sites in eastern Georgia, an Armazic-type inscription is also present on the temple of Garni in Armenia. The latest specimen of Armazic is an inscription of a 3rd-century plate from Bori, Georgia.[3]