խլէզ

Middle Armenian

Alternative forms

• խլեզ (xlez)

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. Some dialectal forms point to *խլէզն (*xlēzn).

Has been compared to Old Armenian մողէզ (mołēz), Arabic حَلَزُون (ḥalazūn), Classical Syriac ܚܠܙܘܢܐ (ḥəlāzōnā), Tsakhur калез, Azerbaijani kələz. Perhaps an Aramaic borrowing: see Arabic حِسْل (ḥisl) for more.

Noun

խլէզ • (xlēz)

1. lizard
   • 13–14th centuries, Kirakos Episkopos, Govkʻ Tʻṙčʻnocʻ [Praise of Birds] 37–40:

     Արագիլ մեծ հաւ ու հով,
     Երկայն ու բարակ ճըվերով,
     Ի ձոր ի վայր գայր խաղալով,
     Գորտներ ու խըլեզ (var. խըլէզ) քաղելով։

     Aragil mec haw u hov,
     Erkayn u barak čəverov,
     I jor i vayr gayr xaġalov,
     Gortner u xəlez (var. xəlēz) kʻaġelov.

     • Translation by John A. C. Greppin

       The Stork was large and shadowy,
       With long and thin legs;
       He went sporting down the vale,
       And gathered frogs and lizards.

Derived terms

• խլէզագի (xlēzagi)

Descendants

• Armenian: խլեզ (xlez), խըլէզնը (xəlēznə), խըլազնը (xəlaznə) — Karabakh, dialectological notation, խլէզ (xlēz) — traditional orthography
  • → Turkish: helez, hıliz, hilez, ḫıllez, ḫelez

Further reading

• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1973) “խլէզ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume II, Yerevan: University Press, page 373a
• Amatuni, Sahak (1912) “խլէզ”, in Hayocʻ baṙ u ban [Armenian Words and Idioms] (in Armenian), Vagharshapat: Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, page 280a
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (2010) “խլէզ”, in Vahan Sargsyan, editor, Hayeren stugabanakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Asoghik, page 333a
• Ġapʻancʻyan, Gr. (1927) “Hneabanakan” mi kʻani mnacʻordner hayerenum, Stugabanutʻyunner – “aṙiwc”, “morm”, “xlēz” [Some "paleontological" remains in Armenian; Etymologies – “aṙiwc”, “morm”, “xlēz”] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Haypoligrafhrat № 2 Press, pages 33–37
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, pages 762–763
• Norayr N. Biwzandacʻi (2000) “lézard”, in Martiros Minassian, editor, Baṙagirkʻ storin hayerēni i matenagrutʻeancʻ ŽA–ŽĒ darucʻ [Dictionary of Middle Armenian Based on the Literature of 11–17th Centuries]‎^[2], edited from the author's unfinished manuscript written 1884–1915, Geneva: Martiros Minassian, page 744b
• Norayr N. Biwzandacʻi (2000) “խլէզ”, in Martiros Minassian, editor, Baṙagirkʻ storin hayerēni i matenagrutʻeancʻ ŽA–ŽĒ darucʻ [Dictionary of Middle Armenian Based on the Literature of 11–17th Centuries]‎^[3], edited from the author's unfinished manuscript written 1884–1915, Geneva: Martiros Minassian, page 294
• Ġazaryan, Ṙuben, Avetisyan, Henrik (2009) “խլեզ”, in Miǰin hayereni baṙaran [Dictionary of Middle Armenian] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 321b
• Vinogradova, O. I., Klimov, G. A. (1979) “Об арменизмах в дагестанских языках [About Armenisms in Dagestanian languages]”, in Этимология‎^[4], number 1977, Moscow, page 157 of 154–158