-ք

See also: ք and Ք

Armenian

Etymology

From Old Armenian -ք (-kʻ). The -եք (-ekʻ) in երեխեք (erexekʻ) and other words ending in -ա (-a) developed from Old Armenian -այք (-aykʻ), through the regular sound change այ (ay) → ե (e); thus Old Armenian երեխայք (erexaykʻ) → Armenian երեխեք (erexekʻ).

Pronunciation

• (Eastern Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [-kʰ]
• (Western Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [-kʰ]

Suffix

-ք • (-kʻ)

1. (colloquial, dialectal) plural nominative case marker for words suffixed with -ցի (-cʻi) and certain others

   երեխեք ― erexekʻ ― nominative plural of երեխա (erexa)

   բանկեք ― bankekʻ ― nominative plural of բանկա (banka)

   գյուղացիք ― gyuġacʻikʻ ― nominative plural of գյուղացի (gyuġacʻi)

   վրացիք ― vracʻikʻ ― nominative plural of վրացի (vracʻi)

2. forming nouns

Derived terms

Armenian terms suffixed with -ք

See also

• -եր (-er), -ներ (-ner)

References

• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009) Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian (London Oriental and African Language Library; 14), Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 65

Old Armenian

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. What follows is Matasović’s summary of opinions, word for word (adjusted for Wiktionary style).

Some scholars (e.g. Meillet and Godel) take the obvious course and derive it from Proto-Indo-European *-s [the masculine-feminine plural nominative case ending], but the sound development of word final *-s to *-kʿ is not universally accepted, though it may be supported by the development of PIE *treyes (“three”) (Latin trēs) > Arm. երեք (erekʻ), and *kʷetwores > Arm. չորք (čʻorkʻ). Other linguists assume a pronominal particle added to the bare stem, but the origin of that particle has never been explained. A recent hypothesis derives the morpheme *-kʿ- from the agglutinated Proto-Indo-European *dwoh₁ (“two”); it would have been originally a dual marker, subsequently replacing the inherited plural. It is worth noting another possibility, although it is a mere speculation: the plural marker *-kʿ can be regularly derived from *-s-wes, with the ending of the u-stems *-w-es agglutinated to the regular Nom[inative] plural marker *-s (cf. the Vedic agglutinated Nom[inative] pl[ural] in -ās-as, e.g. अश्वासस् (aśvāsas)).

Suffix

-ք • (-kʻ)

1. plural nominative case marker

   շունք ― šunkʻ ― nominative plural of շուն (šun)

2. forming names of countries

   հայ ― hay ― an Armenian

   հայք ― haykʻ ― the Armenians collectively

   Հայք ― Haykʻ ― Armenia, the country of Armenians

Derived terms

Old Armenian terms suffixed with -ք

Descendants

• Armenian: -ք (-kʻ)

Further reading

• Fortson, Benjamin W. (2010) Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, second edition, Oxford: Blackwell, page 388
• Godel, Robert (1975) An introduction to the study of classical Armenian, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 102