Արմենակ Եղիայեան2026-01-272026-01-272014Եղիայեան, Ա., «Օ տառը», «Հայկազեան հայագիտական հանդէս», 2014, Պէյրութ, էջ 9-20https://haigrepository.haigazian.edu.lb/handle/123456789/1127During the process of the corruption, probably starting in the 7ᵗʰ century, of the Armenian diphthong աւ, it was pronounced aw (exactly as au is pronounced in contemporary Italian and German, like Paulus, Paulo) when it preceded a consonant. Gradually its pronunciation shifted to a single sound and was pronounced as the letter օ was pronounced in the 5ᵗʰ century classical Armenian alphabet. Some authors of the time were aware of the development and replaced the աւ with the 5ᵗʰ century classical Armenian letter ո, like ծնաւտ-ծնոտ, կարաւտ-կարոտ, etc. However, for reasons unknown, as of the 12ᵗʰ century, Armenian scribes came up with diverse solutions regarding this replacement. Among these the replacement of ու with the Greco-Latin օ letter prevails. This article is a discourse on the complications and implications of the confusion that resulted from the diverse options adopted and particularly the usage of the letter օ. The author concludes that in the presence of the Armenian letter ն, the adoption of օ created an unnecessary overlapping. It resulted in having two letters for a single pronunciation and was against the principles of classical Armenian orthography. Nonetheless, the letter օ now has an Armenian legacy of 1000 years. Revising its usage needs a unified pan-Armenian decision. However, the author suggests that within the Western Armenian language, for the sake of uniformity, the transliteration of contemporary foreign proper names which include the letter օ or its pronunciation, should use the Armenian ո letter, like Paul–Փոլ, Kilo–քիլո, Bordeaux–Պորտո, Աւօ-Աւո. The author makes a further recommendation of replacing all the օ pronunciations of the Armenian language with ո, except when it is at the very beginning of the word.