թեպեկ

Old Armenian

Alternative forms

• թեբեկ (tʻebek), թեփէկ (tʻepʻēk), թոբէկ (tʻobēk), թոբեկ (tʻobek)

Etymology

Borrowed from the unattested Byzantine Greek ancestor of Pontic Greek θώπεκας (thópekas), θέπεκας (thépekas), θεπέκ (thepék, “jackal”).

Noun

թեպեկ • (tʻepek) (post-Classical)

1. jackal
   • post-classical, John Chrysostom, Andriakan čaṙkʻ [Ad populum Antiochenum homiliae (De statuis)] 10:

     Բայց ոչ այսու միայն յայտնեցից, այլ այլովք իրօք․ զի ոչ վասն գեղեցկութեան սորա զսա աստուածացուցանէն, այլ յաղագս իւրեանց անմտութեանն․ թեպեկի վասն է՞ր երկիր պագանէին, կամ կոկորդիլոսի կամ շան, և որ այլ նուաստագոյն է ի գազանաց։

     Baycʻ očʻ aysu miayn yaytnecʻicʻ, ayl aylovkʻ irōkʻ; zi očʻ vasn gełecʻkutʻean sora zsa astuacacʻucʻanēn, ayl yałags iwreancʻ anmtutʻeann; tʻepeki vasn ē^?r erkir paganēin, kam kokordilosi kam šan, ew or ayl nuastagoyn ē i gazanacʻ.

     But this will be evident not from this proof only, but from another besides. For as a proof that it is not for its beauty they have made a deity of it, but by reason of their own folly, why do they adore the ape, the crocodile, the dog, and the vilest of animals?

   • Anonymous, Riddle :

     ԹԵՓԷԿ
     Այլ գեղեցիկ և իմաստուն,
     Հանց, որ առակս ասէ զնոյն,
     Դարպաս շինէ ընդ վիմով անհուն,
     Բայց գիշերն գող էր և անքուն,
     ՚Ւ երակ հաչեր նա զերդ ըզշուն։

     TʻEPʻĒK
     Ayl geġecʻik ew imastun,
     Hancʻ, or aṙaks asē znoyn,
     Darpas šinē ənd vimov anhun,
     Baycʻ gišern goġ ēr ew ankʻun,
     ’W erak hačʻer na zerd əzšun.

   • 12–13th century, Mxitʻar Goš, Aṙakkʻ [Fables] :

     Թոբէկ (var. թոբեկ) թախանձէր զոզնի, թե զորդիդ քո սան առից […] մերկացո՛ զնա, զի դիւրին իցէ ի գգուել․ և իբրև ետ զնա, սկսաւ ուտել։

     Tʻobēk (var. tʻobek) tʻaxanjēr zozni, tʻe zordid kʻo san aṙicʻ […] merkacʻó zna, zi diwrin icʻē i gguel; ew ibrew et zna, sksaw utel.

     The jackal was entreating the hedgehog։ give me your son as a nursling […] lay him bare [of his spines] so I can caress him easily. And when [the hedgehog] gave him, he started eating [him].

Usage notes

• In Chrysostom, թեպեկ (tʻepek) translates Ancient Greek πίθηκος (píthēkos, “ape, monkey”). The translator may have transliterated it as *պիթեկ (*pitʻek) which a later copyist found incomprehensible and replaced with a similar-sounding known word for another animal.
• Some sources incorrectly identify the Armenian term with the monkey, in particular with the baboon, based on the passage in Chrysostom and the similarity to Ottoman Turkish شبك (şebek).

Descendants

• > Armenian: թիբըգ (tʻibəg, “jackal”) (inherited) — Svedia, Kessab

Further reading

More information

• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1973) “թեպեկ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume II, Yerevan: University Press, page 173a
• Awetikʻean, G., Siwrmēlean, X., Awgerean, M. (1836) “թոբէկ”, in Nor baṙgirkʻ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), volume I, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 816c
• Awgerean, Mkrtičʻ, Čēlalean, Grigor (1865) “թեպեկ”, in Aṙjeṙn baṙaran haykaznean lezui [Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 323a
• Awgerean, Mkrtičʻ, Čēlalean, Grigor (1865) “թեբեկ”, in Aṙjeṙn baṙaran haykaznean lezui [Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 322a
• Awgerean, Mkrtičʻ, Čēlalean, Grigor (1865) “թոբեկ”, in Aṙjeṙn baṙaran haykaznean lezui [Pocket Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, page 328a
• Hovhannisyan, L. Š. (2010) “թեպեկ”, in Grabari baṙaran. Nor haykazyan baṙaranum čʻvkayvac baṙer [Dictionary of Old Armenian. Words Unattested in the New Haykazyan Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Edit Print, page 121a
• Ġazaryan, Ṙ. S., Avetisyan, H. M. (2009) “թոբէկ”, in Miǰin hayereni baṙaran [Dictionary of Middle Armenian] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 247b
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, pages 648, 729
• Norayr N. Biwzandacʻi (1996) Martiros Minassian, editor, Naxnikʻ [Corrections textuelles chez les anciens auteurs arméniens] (in Old Armenian), written in 1897–1915, Geneva: Martiros Minassian, page 368, derives by metathesis from *պեթեկ (*petʻek), from Ancient Greek πῐ́θηκος (píthēkos)
• Sargsyan, Artem et al., editors (2002), “թիբըգ”, in Hayocʻ lezvi barbaṙayin baṙaran [Dialectal Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), volume II, Yerevan: Hayastan, page 109b