Daniel Ohanian

@dohanian
69 Followers
62 Following
198 Posts
Historian of the #Ottoman and #Armenian past. Interested in cross-cultural interaction, structure & agency, and transitions. Co-founder of a research & translation company.
Homepagehttp://danielohanian.ca
Academia.eduhttps://ucla.academia.edu/DanielOhanian
Research & Translation Serviceshttps://www.gesariaservices.com/
Daniel OhanianMay 24

Discount code: Manoukian20

https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/purist-pursuits

"Purist Pursuits chronicles how and why Armenians in the #Ottoman Empire fashioned a new #language called Western #Armenian. Tracing its rise from the eighteenth to the early-twentieth centuries, Jennifer Manoukian studies the evolution of an ever-changing ideology that undergirded all phases of the language's formation: #linguistic #purism. … Her work charts a new course in the study of language in the Ottoman Empire."
@histodons

Purist Pursuits | Stanford University Press

Purist Pursuits chronicles how and why Armenians in the Ottoman Empire fashioned a new language called Western Armenian. Tracing its rise from the eighteenth to the early-twentieth centuries, Jennifer Manoukian studies the evolution of an ever-changing ideology that undergirded all phases of the language's formation: linguistic purism. Constituting the primary preoccupation of the Ottoman Armenian intelligentsia, linguistic purism dictated that Armenians needed to abandon Turkish loanwords and fundamentally alter the way they wrote and spoke.

Stanford University Press
Daniel OhanianApr 22
On Thursday April 23 at 7:30 PM Eastern Time (US), I will be giving an online talk called "Contexts and Legacies of the #Armenian #Genocide ." The lecture is hosted by Ramapo College in New Jersey and is designed to be accessible to those who are new to the topic as well as interesting to those who are already well versed in it. All are welcome.
Zoom registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aZfasl0WQZulT2mhg3XS6Q#/registration
The website of Ramapo's Center for Holocause and Genocide Studies: https://www.ramapo.edu/holocaust/ .
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Contexts and Legacies of the Armenian Genocide - With Dr. Daniel Ohanian. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

Dr. Ohanian will address the political and human contexts within which the Armenian Genocide took place, as well as its multiple and ongoing legacies. What was life like for Armenian in the Ottoman Empire before 1915? What motivated the genocide? How has that atrocity and its resonances affected the Armenian past and future?

Zoom
Daniel OhanianFeb 14
Some unexpected #Ottoman on the New York City subway circa 1960.
The #Turkish alphabet was switched from Perso-Arabic to Latin in the 1930s, but, a friend pointed out, perhaps most Turkish readers in the city had already immigrated before then.
Source: New York City Transit Museum
Daniel OhanianJan 8
The latest from Michael Erdman at the British Library: on #Armenian s in 20th-century #Cyprus .
https://fromaltaytoyughur.blog/2026/01/05/%d5%af%d5%ab%d5%ba%d6%80%d5%b8%d5%bd-%d5%af%d5%b2%d5%a6%d5%ab-cyprus-in-britanahay/
Կիպրոս Կղզի: Cyprus in Britanahay

A closer look at Gibrahay (Cypriot Armenian) communities, their appearance in the Britanahay display, and further resources on their history.

From Altay to Yughur
Daniel OhanianNov 5, 2025

Everything has a history, and nothing is simple.

On the complexities of the humble pencil and other everyday objects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj0ze8GnBKA

Why Simple Everyday Objects Are Impossible to Make

YouTube
Daniel OhanianAug 22, 2025

Here is part 2 of "Armenian First Names Through the Ages" from Gesaria #Armenian Research and Academic Services. What do names like Lori, Taline, and Ani have in common? Where do Karlen, Mels, and Ninel come from? (A hint: think #Soviet .) Read on to find out.
@histodons #onomastics #anthroponymy

https://www.gesariaservices.com/glimpsesofthepast/armenian-first-names-through-the-ages-part-ii

Armenian First Names Through the Ages (Part II)

In part I of "Armenian First Names Through the Ages," we explored the world of Armenian first names up until the end of the nineteenth century. Our guide was Hratchia Adjarian’s magisterial...

Gesaria Armenian Research and Academic Services
Daniel OhanianAug 15, 2025

A super-interesting article about #music and #SciFi, among other things.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@publicdomainrev/115028846557226845

Daniel OhanianMay 16, 2025
Ever wondered where #Armenian names like Raffi and Zabel come from? Check out the latest in our Glimpses of the Past series about the surprising history of the names of yesteryear.
https://www.gesariaservices.com/glimpsesofthepast/armenian-first-names-through-the-ages-part-i
Armenian First Names Through the Ages (Part I)

Names are often the starting point for any family history project. They populate our family trees. They appear on postcards and letters from long ago. And, if we are lucky, they live on in our family...

Gesaria Armenian Research and Academic Services
Daniel OhanianApr 18, 2025
"Remember Gevork, who drew this horse with his own hand, on […?] December 1735, on the day known as Friday. Amen."
"Յիշատակէ գէվորքի որ այս ձիս գիրեց ուր ձեռամբէ թվին ռ՟ ճ՟ ձ՟ դ՟ ին Դկտէբէրին ծ՟ բ՟ ին [?] օրէ յորբաթ կօչի ամէն:"
#Ottoman #Armenian #manuscripts @earlymodern
Daniel OhanianMar 31, 2025

​#Armenian history has tended to lionize figures like Lord Byron, an Englishman who briefly set his sights on mastering Armenian in the nineteenth century. But it rarely shines a spotlight on the scores of Armenians in the past who were born into #language s other than Armenian and spent years of their lives learning it and making it their own.

https://www.gesariaservices.com/glimpses-of-the-past/armenians-learning-armenian-echoes-from-the-past

Armenians Learning Armenian in the 19th & 20th Centuries

​Somewhere deep in the Armenian imaginary lies the idea that all Armenians in the past were perfectly proficient speakers, readers, and writers of Armenian. As the thinking goes, these model...

Gesaria Armenian Research and Academic Services