Èrs people

The Èr people, also known as Èrsh or (in Georgian works) the Hers, are a little-known ancient people inhabiting northern modern Armenia, and to an extent, small areas of northeast Turkey, southern Georgia, and northwest Azerbaijan. Most of their history is constructed based on archaeological and linguistic (primarily based on placenames, with some elements) data, compared to historical trends in the region and historical writings, such as the Georgian Chronicles or the Armenian Chronicles, as well as a couple notes made by Strabo. They were a constituent of the state of Urartu, which either incorporated or conquered them during the 8th century BCE. Their relation to the main Urartians (who were probably ethnically separate from them, judging from place names) is unknown. Linguistically, based on placenames, they are thought to have been a Nakh people.

Language and culture

According to Amjad Jaimoukha, their language was a Nakh language. The Urartian fortress Erebuni was named after them. According to Jaimoukha, buni is a Nakh root, meaning shelter or home, the same root which gave rise to the modern Chechen word bun (pronounced /bʊn/), meaning a cabin, or small house. Hence, Erebuni meant "the home of the Èrs". It corresponds to modern Yerevan (van is a common Armenian rendering for the root bun).