Շաւասպ

Borrowed from an Iranian name, whose components go back to Proto-Iranian *cyaHwáh (“black”) and *Hácwah (“horse”), thus the name means "having dark-colored horses". Compare Avestan 𐬯𐬌𐬌𐬁𐬎𐬎𐬁𐬯𐬞𐬌- (siiāuuāspi-) and Sanskrit श्यावाश्व (śyāvā́śva).

The borrowing is from an uncertain Iranian language, in which Proto-Iranian *cy- yields a *š-, as opposed to *s-: compare Old Armenian Շաւարշ (Šawarš) and Georgian შავი (šavi) on the one hand and Old Armenian սեաւ (seaw) on the other. Alternatively, we may be dealing with a secondary dissimilation of the initial s- to š-.[1]

The name was common in the Artsruni dynasty.

Շաւասպ • (Šawasp)

1. a male given name, Shawasp, Shavasp

• Շաւարշ (Šawarš), սեաւ (seaw)
• հասբ (hasb)

• → Armenian: Շավասպ (Šavasp)

• Ačaṙyan, Hračʻya (1948) “Շաւասպ”, in Hayocʻ anjnanunneri baṙaran [Dictionary of Personal Names of Armenians] (Erewani petakan hamalsaran. Gitakan ašxatutʻyunner; 26) (in Armenian), volume IV, Yerevan: University Press, pages 154–155
• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 61
• Justi, Ferdinand (1895) “Syāwāspa”, in Iranisches Namenbuch‎ (in German), Marburg: N. G. Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 300
• Meyer, Robin (2017) Iranian-Armenian language contact in and before the 5th century CE. PhD thesis‎, University of Oxford, page 12, footnote 19