ORIENTAL STUDIES IN ARMENIA VOLUME 3 Արևելագիտությունը Հայաստանում, հատոր 3 | Page 136

trace back to the same root. As supposed by G.Jahukyan, the Armenians also
may have had a deity named tiw.
Armenian proper name Harma and the toponym Armawir may have
originated from Luwian moon deity Arma attested in Hittite texts.
Similarly it is assumed that the Armenian proper name Mušeł may have
originated from Hittite royal name Muršilis. The name of the Hittite deity D Araš
can be compared with the first element of the Armenian god Ara Gełec‘ik;
their characters are also compatible. The author also discusses possible
Hittite-Luwian etymologies for the Armenian word astwac ‘god’.
The personal name Mažan, son of the Armenian king Artašēs, may be
another example of the Hittite-Luwian substrate.
Summarizing the above said it is possible to state that the Hittite-Luwian
peoples had powerful substrate impact on the Armenian culture and beliefs
which enable us to suppose through interrelation of historic, linguistic and
other evidences that the Armenian-Hittite-Luwian contacts in all probability
have been of direct nature and should be referred to the period of existence
of the Hittite Empire.
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