բորենի

Learned borrowing from Old Armenian բորենի (boreni)

• (Eastern Armenian) IPA^(key): /boɾeˈni/, [boɾení]
• (Western Armenian) IPA^(key): /poɾeˈni/, [pʰoɾení]

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բորենի • (boreni)

1. hyena

   Synonym: (dialectal) քավթառքոսի (kʻavtʻaṙkʻosi)

In colloquial Eastern Armenian, Russian гие́на (gijéna) is often used instead.

• բորեան (borean), բորէ (borē)

From Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”), either as an inheritance or more likely a borrowing from the Iranian cognate: compare Middle Persian [script needed] (bwl /⁠bōr⁠/, “reddish-brown, bay, chestnut (horse)”), Persian بور (bur) and possibly Khwarezmian [script needed] (rknβwryk, “hyena”). If the original meaning was 'fur of hyena', the word may contain the fur-suffix -ենի (-eni).

See also բոր (bor), բորեկ (borek).

բորենի • (boreni)

1. hyena
   • 5th century, with changes and additions in later centuries, Baroyaxōs [Physiologus] Earliest recension (TR).27.2:^[1]

     Բարոյախաւսն ասէ զբորենոյ, թէ արու եւ էգ է․ երբեմն արու լինի եւ երբեմն էգ։

     Baroyaxawsn asē zborenoy, tʻē aru ew ēg ē; erbemn aru lini ew erbemn ēg.

     • Translation by Gohar Muradyan

       Physiologus says about the hyena that it is hermaphrodite: at times it becomes male and at times female.

• → Armenian: բորենի (boreni)

• Ačaṙyan, Hračʻya (1940) Hayocʻ lezvi patmutʻyun [History of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), volume I, Yerevan: University Press, pages 42–43
• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1971–1979) “բորենի”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press
• Awetikʻean, G., Siwrmēlean, X., Awgerean, M. (1836–1837) “բորենի”, in Nor baṙgirkʻ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Lurje, Pavel B. (2010) Personal Names in Sogdian Texts (Iranisches Personennamenbuch, Band 2, Faszikel 8), Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, § 328, page 151
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, page 189
• Petrosean, Matatʻeay (1879) “բորենի”, in Nor Baṙagirkʻ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy