Arshavir

Arshavir (Armenian: Արշաւիր, pronounced [ɑɹʃɑˈviɹ]) is an ancient Armenian name that means "virile" (from the Persian).^[1] According to Johann Heinrich Hübschmann (1848-1908) it means "man" (Zend aršan +vira).^[2]

This name is related to the family of the 9th-century Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius. Photius' mother Irene was the sister of Arshavir, who had married Calomaria, the sister of Caesar Bardas and the empress Theodora.^[3]

Arshavir, Photius' uncle, is often confused with Arshavir, the brother of John the Grammarian.^[4]

Notes

1. Awde, Nicholas; Losi, Emanuela (2001), Armenian First Names (1st ed.), New York, New York: Hippocrene Books, p. 72, ISBN 0-7818-0750-6
2. Armenian names - Male, Arshavir (No 75).
3. "John the Grammarian, Photius, Caesar Bardas and Leo the Philosopher seem to have been the prime movers. All four were, at least in part, of Armenian descent. ...as for Photius, the fact is that his mother Irene, was the sister of Arshavir, the Arshavir who had married Calomaria the sister of Bardas and the empress Theodora." The Armenians in the Byzantine Empire. By P. Charanis, Ph.D., Professor of History, Rutgers University, Livraria Bertrand, Lisboa, 1963, p.27-28.
4. "Arshavir, Photius' uncle, must not be confused with Arshavir, the brother of John the Grammarian." Role of the Armenians in Byzantine Science. By Nicolas Adontz, Armenian Review, vol. 3., No 3 (1950), p. 66.

See also

• Hayots andznanunneri baṛaran (Dictionary of the Armenian First Names), Yerevan, Vol. 1-5, 1942-1962.