Herher

Herher is a village in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Pashali (Azizbeyov, Vayk) district, and currently in the Vayots Dzor province. The provincial centre is located 32 km to the east of the town of Keshishkend (Yeghegnadzor), near the Herher River, the right tributary of the Arpachay, at a height of 1,680 m above sea level. It was marked as “Harhar” in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1728, as “Gerger” (Herher) on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. The Alban temple in the village was built in 1291.

In 1831 it was inhabited only by 213 Azerbaijanis. In 1850–1870 the Armenians relocated from the Salmas province of Iran were settled in the village. Along with the Armenians, the village was inhabited by 647 Azerbaijanis in 1873, 656 in 1886, 1,047 in 1897, and 1,220 Azerbaijanis in 1914. In 1918 the village was invaded by Armenian armed forces, and the Azerbaijanis were deported. The survivors returned to their historical and ethnic lands following the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia. The village was inhabited by 156 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 220 in 1926 and 278 Azerbaijanis in 1931. By the special decision of the USSR government, the Azerbaijanis living in the village were forcibly relocated to Azerbaijan in 1948–1953. At present, the village is inhabited by Armenians.

The toponym was formed on the basis of the name of the Gargar tribe mentioned in Strabo’s “Geography”. The Gargar tribe is one of the ancient Turkic tribes. The sound “g” in the ethnonym “Gargar” changed to “h” and became “Herher”. The vowel substitution of “q~h” is typical for the Azerbaijani language: the vowel substitution of “q~h” is clearly represented in some words as “qamu-hamı”, “qansı-hans”. The toponym was coined from the ethnonym “herher” used in the Azerbaijani language as a phonetic form of the Gargar Turkic tribe. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative territory of the Vayots Dzor province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 39°46’, N., longitude: 45°32’ E.