ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Armen Y. Petrosyan
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia
Yerevan, Armenia

Armenian Demons Called Kaj: Image and Name

Voprosy onomastiki, 2018, Volume 15, Issue 1, pp. 51–64 (in Russian)
DOI: 10.15826/vopr_onom.2018.15.1.003

Received 10 June 2017

Abstract: The article provides a study of Armenian demons, the kajs, and their superior deity — the dragonslayer Vahagn, in the historical-etymological and ethno-cultural perspective. Specific features of kajs and their leader as imagined by ancient people are identifi ed: they resemble vishap-dragons and devs, live in the mountains and have temples there, make war, hunt, steal wheat and wine from people, love music, arrange weddings, drive people crazy, braid horsehair, and so on. Clear linkages are drawn between Armenian kajs and their leader with the mythological characters of Indo-European (Iranian, Indian) traditions. In Armenian, the fi rst meaning of k‘aǰ is ‘good, select; of fi ne / better quality’. This is exactly how some Armenian spirits, including kajs, are often referred to — as “good” — mezane laver, mezne ałekner ‘better than us,’ ałek manuk ‘good youngster / warrior’. This is also true to some other traditions: the Persian az mā behtarān, German Gude (cf. also the names of Indian vasu and sādhya). The article develops

the etymology of the name k‘aǰ (a corrected version of that proposed by H. Pedersen in 1906): *swo-sHdhyo- — ‘self / own + right / righteous,’ i.e. ‘good’. This image passed into the Georgian and Ossetian traditions (Georgian kajs, Ossetian kadzi).

Keywords: Armenian language, etymology, theonymy, Armenian mythology, Caucasian mythology, Indo-European mythology, pre-Christian deities, dragonslayers (vishap-slayers), kajs, god Vahagn

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