In book 2, chapter 20 of his Ełc Ałandoc', Eznik Kołbac'i argues that some dreams reflect the thoughts one had while awake, while some include a prophetic warning from God, and, finally, others seek to tempt the recipient. The last type of dreams is demonic in origin. The present article analyses dreams (երազ) and visions (տեսիլ) present in Koriwn’s Vark' Maštcoc'i, Agat'angełos’s Patmut'iwn Hayoc', the Buzandaran, Łazar P'arpec'i’s Patmut'iwn Hayoc' and Ełišē’s Vasn Vardanay ew Hayoc' paterazmin. References to the Armenian translation of the Bible are also made. The bulk of the materials we collected concerns two aspects. One, more marginal, has to do with people being able to see, while awake, things others do not see. More relevantly for our purposes, the other aspect concerns dreams and visions through which God foretells future events, more or less enigmatically. This sort of communication can take place while the recipient is asleep or awake. The historians usually call this experience տեսիլ, while the Armenian version of the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, prefers երազ. That can be due, at least in part, to the influence of the source texts. The different usage of the two terms in the translated and original texts we analysed allows us to draw the following conclusion: in more than one case the two terms are used as near-synonyms, with a purely connotative distinction based on whether the focus is on the mode of manifestation (while the recipient is asleep → երազ), or on its being a visual, somewhat supernatural experience (տեսիլ).

Visions and Dreams Among 5th-century Armenians

Alessandro Orengo
2021-01-01

Abstract

In book 2, chapter 20 of his Ełc Ałandoc', Eznik Kołbac'i argues that some dreams reflect the thoughts one had while awake, while some include a prophetic warning from God, and, finally, others seek to tempt the recipient. The last type of dreams is demonic in origin. The present article analyses dreams (երազ) and visions (տեսիլ) present in Koriwn’s Vark' Maštcoc'i, Agat'angełos’s Patmut'iwn Hayoc', the Buzandaran, Łazar P'arpec'i’s Patmut'iwn Hayoc' and Ełišē’s Vasn Vardanay ew Hayoc' paterazmin. References to the Armenian translation of the Bible are also made. The bulk of the materials we collected concerns two aspects. One, more marginal, has to do with people being able to see, while awake, things others do not see. More relevantly for our purposes, the other aspect concerns dreams and visions through which God foretells future events, more or less enigmatically. This sort of communication can take place while the recipient is asleep or awake. The historians usually call this experience տեսիլ, while the Armenian version of the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, prefers երազ. That can be due, at least in part, to the influence of the source texts. The different usage of the two terms in the translated and original texts we analysed allows us to draw the following conclusion: in more than one case the two terms are used as near-synonyms, with a purely connotative distinction based on whether the focus is on the mode of manifestation (while the recipient is asleep → երազ), or on its being a visual, somewhat supernatural experience (տեսիլ).
2021
Orengo, Alessandro
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/1113048
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