-ք

From Old Armenian -ք (-kʿ). The -եք (-ekʿ) in երեխեք (erexekʿ) and other words ending in -ա (-a) developed from Old Armenian -այք (-aykʿ), through the regular sound change այ (ay) → ե (e); thus Old Armenian երեխայք (erexaykʿ) → Armenian երեխեք (erexekʿ).

-ք • (-kʿ)

1. (colloquial, dialectal) plural nominative case marker for words suffixed with -ցի (-cʿi) and certain others

   երեխեք ― erexekʿ ― nominative plural of երեխա (erexa)

   բանկեք ― bankekʿ ― nominative plural of բանկա (banka)

   գյուղացիք ― gyułacʿikʿ ― nominative plural of գյուղացի (gyułacʿi)

   վրացիք ― vracʿikʿ ― nominative plural of վրացի (vracʿi)

• -եր (-er), -ներ (-ner)

• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009) Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian (London Oriental and African Language Library; 14), Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 65

The origin is uncertain. What follows is Matasović’s summary of opinions.

Some scholars (e.g. Meillet and Godel) take the obvious course and derive it from Proto-Indo-European masculine-feminine plural nominative case ending *-s, but the sound development of word final *-s to *-ք (*-kʿ) is not universally accepted. Other linguists assume a pronominal particle added to the bare stem, but the origin of that particle has never been explained. A recent hypothesis derives -ք (-kʿ) from the agglutinated Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”); it would have been originally a dual marker, subsequently replacing the inherited plural. Another possibility, which is a mere speculation: the plural marker -ք (-kʿ) can be regularly derived from *-s-wes, with the ending of the u-stems *-w-es agglutinated to the regular nominative plural marker *-s.

-ք • (-kʿ)

1. plural nominative case marker

   շունք ― šunkʿ ― nominative plural of շուն (šun)

2. forming names of countries

   հայ ― hay ― an Armenian

   հայք ― haykʿ ― the Armenians collectively

   Հայք ― Haykʿ ― Armenia, the country of Armenians

• Armenian: -ք (-kʿ)

• Fortson, Benjamin W. (2010) Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, second edition, Oxford: Blackwell, page 388
• Godel, Robert (1975) An introduction to the study of classical Armenian, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 102
• Matasović, Ranko (2009) A Grammatical Sketch of Classical Armenian‎ (pdf), Zagreb, page 19