PERSONAL NAMES, IRANIAN For many centuries Armenian life and
culture has been influenced in a distinctive manner by Iran
because of Armenia’s great political dependence on Iran’s
powerful rulers. This influence was most intensive under the
auspicious conditions of the Parthian period, when the Arsacids
ruled Armenia directly and with the support of the Parthian
nobility, and it also penetrated the Armenian language to a
considerable extent. Linguistic research has documented that the
majority of Iranian lexical and other borrowings in Armenian
originated in the Parthian language (Meillet; Bolognesi). The
borrowings include even common words of the basic vocabulary and
everyday language, whereas the Middle Persian linguistic
influence under the Sasanians is confined to particular titles
and technical terms that were only superficially integrated
within the Armenian language (see ARMENIA AND IRAN iv, no. 1).
The onomasticon, and especially the personal names attested in
Armenian sources, are a case similar to t