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Armenian Calligraphy

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The most stunning examples of Armenian calligraphy lie in the tens of thousands of manuscripts that have been preserved to this day. As works of art, these manuscripts have fostered a period of scientific and philosophical learning for a number of academic (philological and linguistic) communities, and are themselves living cultural remnants of exceptional aesthetic value.

Over 30,000 manuscripts survived the devastation wrought upon the Armenian nation by continuous invasions of Arabs, Mongols and Ottoman Turks (i.e., over 10,000 manuscripts were burned by Seljuk Turks in 1070 after a 40-year siege of the capital Kapan of the Suinik province of the Armenian Bagratuni Kingdom), and today parts of collections are housed at libraries and museums in Jerusalem, Venice (San Lazzaro Island), New Julfa, Moscow, Paris, London and Los Angeles. The largest collection by far is that housed at the Matenadaran (Մատենադարան) in Yerevan, Armenia with more than 11,000 manuscripts in total. The oldest surviving complete Armenian manuscript is the Mlk'é Gospel of 862 at San Lazzaro.




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Erkatagir (Iron Script)


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The term Erkatagir Երկատազիր has engendered some controversy among specialists, for erkat‘ or 'iron' in Armenian and gir 'letter' translates in a literal sense to 'iron letters', the exact meaning of which is not totally clear. The famous New Dictionary of the Armenian Language published by the Venice Mekhitarist fathers in 1836-7 defines the word as meaning 'written with an iron stylus' or with derivative meanings of 'old manuscript', and 'capital letter'.

The term Mesropian erkat‘agir, suggesting letters invented or used by Mesrop, describes the script used exclusively in the earliest Armenian Gospel manuscripts, lapidary inscriptions, and the Jerusalem mosaics. As we have seen above, of the two theories that explain the word erkat‘agir, neither is totally convincing; one suggests an iron stylus was used to form the letters, while the other contends that a ferrous oxide was employed in the ink of early Armenian manuscripts.

The script is monumental by style, majuscule, and its letters are large, very erect, with gracefully rounded lines connecting the vertical elements of the letters (or springing from them). All the letters were written on the base line between two imaginary parallel lines, with ascending and descending elements being only slightly extended. The exception is with letters ֆ and ք where those elements extend more drastically. Across the range of manuscripts, up to 10 varieties of this script are observable.

Round Erkatagir is characterized by a contrast of the thick vertical forms and razor-thin connecting curved strokes. The proportion of height to width is typically 5:3, 4:3, 3:2. The same proportion is applied to the width of characters and the distances between them. The columns are well defined and characters are clearly separated, which gives the script a more geometrical essence and feeling.

Straight Erkatagir differs by slanting to the right at varying angles. Connecting strokes have more variety, and the proportion of height to width is 1:1. Characters are placed more closely than in Round Erkatagir. The height of letters comprises half of the space between lines. These factors give this particular script a certain dynamism.

Seventeenth century citations make it clear that Erkat‘agir in the minds of the scribes had become an archaic script used for decorations and titles. We have seen that large erkat‘agir was the preferred script of early Armenian stone inscriptions. An iron chisel was used to carve the letters.25 Indeed, there is an instantly perceptible monumentality in early inscriptions; it is as though the letters were fashioned from iron and would, therefore, endure forever. The term erkat‘agir, therefore, likely refers to a type of writing made by instruments of iron (lapidary inscriptions), which were the same in form as textual majuscule. In early manuscripts erkat‘agir was especially used for the Holy Gospels, thus associating the 'iron letters' with the Old Testament tradition of writing the holy text with a stylus of iron. If the term originated out of the scribal tradition from early Gospel manuscripts, one can speculate that the initial meaning of erkat‘agir was simply the equivalent of 'scriptural writing.'

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Bolorgir (Minuscule Script)


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Bolorgir or minuscule, the ancestor of modern Armenian type fonts, dominated scribal hands from the 13th to the 16th centuries, and continued on well through the 19th. It has developed more elegant and graphic forms and although by its definition it is a round script, the characters are slanted and letters appear to have sharp corners. The contrast between the base shape and the connecting strokes is not as extreme as in Erkatagir, and it is a more cursive type of script (characters are placed closer to one another), with smaller sizes and altered shapes. It is a “four line” script with the body of the letters positioned between base-line and cap-line with extensions placed between ascending and descending lines that terminate the typeface. The proportion of the script’s height to width is 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2. Some characters are composed of two elements, therefore growing twice larger in width, with the height of the letters including the extension of doubles or triples. There are two varieties of Boloragir: the Cilician and the Eastern (Armenia proper), with the former being more articulate and precise, while the latter retains some of the cornerstone elements of Erkatagir.

A hypothetical reform or standardization of Armenian bolorgir was localized in the late 12th or early 13th century at the Cilician court. It was the moment of active contact and interaction between the Armenians and the incoming Crusaders from France and Germany. The impact of the Latin West on Armenian culture in language and the arts has been amply documented. Several 13th century Armenian manuscripts were copied in Rome, Perugia, and other Italian cities.45 13th -century Armenian documents from the royal court of Cilician Armenia addressed to the Pope and written in Latin have also survived. Nevertheless, the impact of Medieval Latin or Greek on the evolution of Armenian script has yet to be thoroughly understood.








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Notrgir (Notary Script)


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Notrgir (notary script) is a blend of Boloragir and Shchagir with predominant small and cursive forms. It was used in the 17th and 18th centuries. The secretary working as a scribe (in Latin notarius, in Armenian dpir ) at the royal court or the Catholicosate, by necessity employed time-saving cursive versions of bolorgir and even smaller notrgir letters. The structure could have entered Armenian writing traditions from either the late Byzantine Greek or Latin periods.







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Shchagir (Cursive Script)


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