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Concept
Artsakh (historical province)
Summary
Artsakh (Artsʻakh, ɑɾˈtshɑχ) was the tenth province (nahang) of the Kingdom of Armenia from c. 189 BC until 387 AD, when it was made part of Caucasian Albania, a subject principality of the Sasanian Empire, following the Peace of Acilisene. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control. In 821, it formed the Armenian principality of Khachen and around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, one of the last medieval eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.
Cuneiform inscriptions left by Urartian kings mention a land or lands called "Ardakh/Adakh", "Urdekhe/Urtekhini", and "Atakhuni", which some scholars identify with Artsakh. When speaking about Armenia in his Geography, the classical historian Strabo refers to an Armenian region which he calls "Orchistene", which is also believed to be a rendering of the name Artsakh. Some early Armenian sources spell the name as Ardzakh (Արձախ).
Many different proposed etymologies and interpretations of the name Artsakh exist. The 19th-century Armenian scholar Ghevont Alishan writes of the name's origin that it "remains unknown, but perhaps it would not be out of place to think that it comes from the name of bushes and trees tsakh, in accordance with the land's forested character". David M. Lang connects Artsakh with the name of King Artaxias I of Armenia (190–159 BC), founder of the Artaxiad dynasty that ruled Greater Armenia. Another scholar proposed that Artsakh consists of the elements art ("field" in Armenian) and aght (a Classical Armenian word for "black").
Based on the putative attestations of Artsakh as Urtekhe and Orchistene, historian Babken Harutyunyan hypothesizes that the initial vowel in Artsakh was originally an "o" sound (the vowel sounds "o" and "u" are not distinguished in cuneiform) that later underwent a vowel shift to an "a" sound, which is typical of Indo-European languages.
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