# խնձոր
## Armenian
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Armenian խնձոր (xnjor).

### Pronunciation

* (Eastern Armenian) IPA: /χənˈd͡zoɾ/, [χənd͡zóɾ]
* (Western Armenian) IPA: /χənˈt͡soɾ/, [χənt͡sʰóɾ]
* Audio (Eastern Armenian):(file)

### Noun

խնձոր • (xnjor)
* apple

#### Derived terms

* ադամախնձոր (adamaxnjor)
* ակնախնձոր (aknaxnjor)
* խնձորուկ (xnjoruk)
* խնձորօղի (xnjorōġi)
* կռվախնձոր (kṙvaxnjor)

### Further reading

* Pallas, Peter Simon (1784) “Pyrus malus”, in Flora Rossica (in Latin), volume I, part I, St. Petersburg: Academy Press, page 22, recorded as chansoer

## Old Armenian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Hurrian 𒄭𒂗𒍪𒊒 (ḫe-en-zu-ru /⁠ḫenzūru, ḫinzur(i)⁠/) (possibly to be transcribed ḫnzor(i)), or its unattested Urartian cognate. If the -uri of the Hurrian root ḫinz- itself is a suffix, a Dagestani source is suggested by Nielsen on comparison with Udi еъшӏ (e̱š:, “apple”), Budukh йеч (ječ), Kryts йеч (“apple”), Tabasaran вич (vič), Aghul хӏеч (ḥʳeč), Lezgi ич (ič, “apple”), Rutul еч (ječ), Tsakhur еч (ječ, “apple”), Archi анш (anš, “apple”), Dargwa гӏинц (ʿinc, “apple”), Lak гьивч (hiwč, “apple”), Avar гӏеч (ʻeč), Andi инчи (inči), Karata гӏече, Botlikh инчу (inču), Godoberi ичу, Chamalal гӏич (ʻič), Tindi ечи, Bagvalal гӏеч (ˀeč), Akhvakh гӏече (ʻʳeče, “apple”), Hunzib ẽš, Bezhta ẽš, Hinukh ʕiši, Tsez heneš, Khvarshi е̃ш (ẽš, “apple”), Khinalug mıç (“apple”), Ingush хьамиск (ḥʳamisk), Chechen хьаьмцаш (ḥʳämcaš, “medlar”), Ingush ӏаж (ˀaž), Chechen ӏаж (ˀaž, “apple”), Proto-Kartvelian *wašl- (“apple”). A Dagestani > Urartian > Armenian path is possible. But since the date given for the Middle East is relatively imprecise and the exact path of spread remains unknown, separate loans into Dagestani and Urartian are also possible. Akkadian 𒄭𒂗𒍪𒊒 (/⁠ḫinzūru⁠/), Aramaic חֲזוּרָא (ḥăzzūrā), Classical Syriac ܚܙܘܪܐ (ḥazzūrā) and possibly Sumerian 𒄑𒄩𒋗𒌫 ($^{GIŠ}$ḫa-šu-ur$_2$ /⁠ḫašḫur⁠/) are borrowed from Hurrian. The Urartian suffix behind -որ- (-or-) is also found in սալոր (salor, “plum”), աղտոր (aġtor, “sumac”), and գխտոր (gxtor, “gall (nut)”).
* Since a term for wild apple is unlikely to have been borrowed given the Hurrian attestation and Urartian source for the Armenian word, the domesticate's path of spread is relevant in discriminating between a direct Dagestani > Hurrian and an indirect Unknown > (Dagestani, Hurrian) origin. Although a role of the native Caucasian species Malus orientalis in the domestication of Caucasian and even European cultivars of Malus domestica had previously been suggested, it was not until 2012 that such introgression was genetically confirmed, the admixture being dated to approximately 4,500 years ago. Since this preceded the earliest secure attestation of apples in Mesopotamia, this opened the possibility that M. domestica arrived in North Mesopotamia from the Caucasus. In 2022 a study showed that Armenian landraces descend largely from native M. orientalis; the presence of some lowland ancestry may indicate a Dagestani role in the spread of the domesticated apple, but without a larger sample size, admixture/diversification dates could not be reliably computed, so the Armenian domestication event could date to a much later time (as with the Iranian landraces).

### Noun

խնձոր • (xnjor)
* apple (fruit)
** 5th century, Pʻawstos Buzand, Hayoc Patmutʻiwnʻ [History of the Armenians] V.7:Եւ ի ժամ աղանդեր մատուցանելոյ՝ եդին առաջի նորա միրգ, խնձոր եւ վարունգ եւ ամիճ, զի կերիցէ․Ew i žam ałander matucʻaneloy, edin aṙaǰi nora mirg, xnjor ew varung ew amič, zi kericʻē;Translation by Nina G. GarsoïanAnd at the time for the presentation of dessert, they placed fruit before [Aršak]—apples and cucumbers and amič, that he might eat.
* apple tree
* (figurative) the round part of the dome under the cross

#### Derived terms

* գետնախնձոր (getnaxnjor)
* խնծորխոտ (xncorxot)
* խնձորաբեր (xnjoraber)
* խնձորակուլ (xnjorakul)
* խնձորենի (xnjoreni)
* խնձորի (xnjori)
* խնձորիկ (xnjorik)
* կարմրախնձոր (karmraxnjor)
* ոսկեխնձոր (oskexnjor)

#### Descendants

* Armenian: խնձոր (xnjor)
* Middle Armenian: խնծոր (xncor)

### References

* ↑ Kapancjan, G. A. (1951) “Хурритские слова армянского языка [The Hurrian words of Armenian]”, in Archív Orientalni‎ (in Russian), volume 19, numbers 3–4, page 588 of 579–605 = Kapancjan, G. A. (1951) “Хурритские слова армянского языка [The Hurrian words of Armenian]”, in HSSṘ GA Teġekagir hasarakakan gitutʻyunneri [Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR: Social Sciences]‎ (in Russian), number 5, pages 33–34
* ↑ Thorsø, Rasmus (2023) Prehistoric loanwords in Armenian: Hurro-Urartian, Kartvelian, and the unclassified substrate‎, PhD dissertation, Leiden University, page 13
* ↑ Thorsø, Rasmus (2023) Prehistoric loanwords in Armenian: Hurro-Urartian, Kartvelian, and the unclassified substrate‎, PhD dissertation, Leiden University, page 20
* ↑ Валдемар Теодорович Лангенфельд, editor (1991), Яблоня: Морфологическая эволюция, филогения, география, систематика, →ISBN
* ↑ Schmitt, Thomas (2007 April 17) “Molecular biogeography of Europe: Pleistocene cycles and postglacial trends”, in Frontiers in Zoology‎, volume 4, number 11, →ISSN
* ↑ Volk, Gayle M. et al. (2009 July 1) “Capturing the diversity of wild Malus orientalis from Georgia, Armenia, Russia and Turkey”, in Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science‎, volume 134, number 4, →ISSN, pages 453-459
* ↑ Höfer, Monika et al. (2012 November 18) “Assessment of phenotypic variation of Malus orientalis in the North Caucasus region”, in Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution‎, volume 60, →ISSN, pages 1463-1477
* ↑ Cornille, Amandine, Giraud, Tatiana, Gladieux, Pierre (2013 June 28) “Crop-to-wild gene flow and spatial genetic structure in the closest wild relatives of the cultivated apple”, in Evolutionary Applications‎, volume 6, number 5, →ISSN, pages 737-748
* ↑ Cornille, Amandine et al. (2012 May 10) “New Insight into the History of Domesticated Apple: Secondary Contribution of the European Wild Apple to the Genome of Cultivated Varieties”, in PLoS Genetics‎, →ISSN
* ↑ Bina, Hamid et al. (2022 August 19) “Evidence of an additional centre of apple domestication in Iran, with contributions from the Caucasian crab apple Malus orientalis Uglitzk. to the cultivated apple gene pool”, in Molecular Ecology‎, volume 31, number 21, →ISSN, pages 5581-5601
* ↑ Garsoïan, Nina G. (1989) The Epic Histories Attributed to P‘awstos Buzand (Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘)‎, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, page 199

### Further reading

* Awetikʻean, G., Siwrmēlean, X., Awgerean, M. (1836–1837) “խնձոր”, in Nor baṙgirkʻ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
* Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1971–1979) “խնձոր”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press
* Bläsing, Uwe (2019) “Die armenischen Pflanzennamen in Peter Simon Pallas’ Flora Rossica. Eine Studie zu Etymologie und sprachlicher Interaktion”, in U. Bläsing, J. Dum-Tragut, T.M. van Lint, editors, Armenian, Hittite, and Indo-European Studies: A Commemoration Volume for Jos J.S. Weitenberg (Hebrew University Armenian Studies; 15) (in German), Leuven: Peeters, page 19
* Diakonoff, Igor M. (1985) “Hurro-Urartian Borrowings in Old Armenian”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society‎, volume 105, number 4, pages 597–603
* Diakonoff, Igor M., Starostin, Sergei A. (1986) Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Language (Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft; 12), Munich: R. Kitzinger, page 24
* Kitazumi, Tomoki (2013) “Zum Problem der Gleichung heth. Ḫayaša- = armen. haykʿ”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft (in German), volume 163, pages 512–514
* Kogan, Leonid (2011) “Proto-Semitic Phonetics and Phonology”, in Weninger, Stefan, editor, The Semitic Languages. An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft – Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science; 36), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 68–69
* Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎ (in German), volume 3, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 234
* Mkrtčjan, N. A. (1983) “Субстратные названия растений в армянском языке [Substratum Plant Names in Armenian]”, in Древний Восток‎ (in Russian), number 4, Yerevan: Academy Press, pages 27–28
* Nikolaev, Sergei L., Starostin, Sergei A. (1994) “*ʕämćō”, in A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary‎, Moscow: Asterisk Publishers, pages 237–238
* Petrosean, Matatʻeay (1879) “խնձոր”, in Nor Baṙagirkʻ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy