Bedrossian 1875-9: 570.
i-stem. Contexts where the generic meaning 'belly' can be supposed are scant and marginal in the Classical Armenian corpus, but it seems that the basic term is
oɹovayn, which shows polysemy: 'stomach / womb', and potentially a more generic sense 'belly', cf. Gen. 3:14: {
i veray lanǰac` ew orovayni k`o gnasc`es, ew hoɫ keric`es zamenayn awurs kenac` k`oc`} [Zōhrapean 1805, 1: 11] "on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life" [NASB]. For 'stomach' and 'womb', cf.: 1Cor. 6: 13: {
Kerakur orovayni, ew orovayn kerakroy} [Zōhrapean 1805, 4: 410] "Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food" [NASB]; Lk. 1: 44: {
xaɫac` c`ncalov manuks yorovayni imum} [Künzle 1984: 137] "the baby leaped in my womb for joy" [NASB]. Etymology is unclear.
The meaning 'abdominal cavity', and potentially the generic sense 'abdomen', can be alternatively expressed by pʰoɹ {փոր}, o- or i-stem [Bedrossian 1875-9: 733]. Mtth. 12: 40: {ēr Yovnan i kitin zeris tiws ew zeris gišers} [Künzle 1984: 31] "Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster" [NASB]; Job 21: 24: {P`orn nora li ē čarpov} [Zōhrapean 1805, 3: 294] "His sides are filled out with fat" [NASB]. This word yields the Modern Armenian term for 'belly'. Etymology is unclear.
A more marginal term is non-inherited kušt {կուշտ}, i/a- or a-stem [Bedrossian 1875-9: 359], which can be translated as 'belly' and/or 'side of the body'. Judg. 3: 21: {ew aṙ zsurn yaǰoy azderē iwrmē, ew ehar i kšti Egɫomay} [Zōhrapean 1805, 1: 476] "took the sword from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly" [NASB]. Iranian loanword, cf. MPers. kust 'side; district' [Olsen 1999: 888; Durkin-Meisterernst 2004: 215].