ճճի

• ճիճի (čiči), ճի (či)

An ideophone^[1] for a squishy bug, with parallels in the languages of the Caucasus: compare Georgian ჭია (č̣ia), ჭუა (č̣ua), ჭიაჭუა (č̣iač̣ua), Laz წიწი (ǯiǯi), Budukh чич (čič), Kryts çiç (“worm”). Note also Middle Armenian ճիճու լինել (čiču linel, “to be squashed”) and Proto-Kartvelian *čečw- ~ *ččw- (“to soften”) (whence Georgian ჩვილი (čvili)).

ճճի • (čči)

1. bug, insect, worm, vermin

• Middle Armenian: ճճի (čči), ճճու (čču), ճիճու (čiču)
  • Armenian: ճիճու (čiču), ճճու (čču), ճճի (čči), ճիճու (čiču) — Akhaltsikhe, Ararat, Erzurum, Tbilisi, ճըջու (čəǰu) — Mush, ճիջու (čiǰu) — Alashkert, ջիջի (ǰiǰi) — Aslanbeg, Tokat, Zeitun, Haçin, Kharberd, Sivas, ճո̈ւճո̈ւ (čüčü) — Shamakhi, ջիջու (ǰiǰu) — Hamshen, ջուջու (ǰuǰu) — Nor Nakhichevan, ջիջա (ǰiǰa, “silkworm”) — Svedia
    • → Azerbaijani: cücü
    • → Turkish: cici, cucu, cücü

• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1977) “ճճի”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume III, Yerevan: University Press, page 206ab
• Awetikʻean, G., Siwrmēlean, X., Awgerean, M. (1836–1837) “ճճի”, in Nor baṙgirkʻ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (2010) “ճճի”, in Vahan Sargsyan, editor, Hayeren stugabanakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Asoghik, page 494b
• Nikolaev, Sergei L., Starostin, Sergei A. (1994) “*čVrčV / *č̣Vrč̣V”, in A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary‎^[1], Moscow: Asterisk Publishers
• Olsen, Birgit Anette (1999) The noun in Biblical Armenian: origin and word-formation: with special emphasis on the Indo-European heritage (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs; 119), Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, page 939
• Petrosean, Matatʻeay (1879) “ճճի”, in Nor Baṙagirkʻ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Thorsø, Rasmus (2023) Prehistoric loanwords in Armenian: Hurro-Urartian, Kartvelian, and the unclassified substrate‎^[2], PhD dissertation, Leiden University, page 62