Old Armenian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Hurrian 𒀸𒊭𒀜 (aš-ša-at /⁠ašti, aštu⁠/, woman; wife), itself a loan from Akkadian 𒁮 (DAM /⁠aššatu, aštu, altu⁠/, wife, spouse).

Alternatively, from Proto-Armenian *ast (fiancée, bride), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂ḱ-ti(h₂)-, *ph₂ḱ-teh₂- (betrothal, engagement; betrothed (girl), fiancée, bride), from *peh₂ǵ-, *peh₂ḱ- (to fasten, strengthen); cognate with Latin paciscor (to negotiate, arrange; to make a settlement or come to terms; to engage oneself in marriage to).

Verb

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աստեմ (astem)

  1. (transitive) to look for a bride, ask in marriage

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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References

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  • Diakonoff, Igor M. (1985) “Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society[1], volume 105, number 4, pages 597–603
  • Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1971–1979) “աստել”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press
  • Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) “astem”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 119
  • Thorsø, Rasmus (2023) Prehistoric loanwords in Armenian: Hurro-Urartian, Kartvelian, and the unclassified substrate[2], PhD dissertation, Leiden University, page 23