-ք

From Old Armenian -ք (-kʻ). The -եք (-ekʻ) in երեխեք (erexekʻ) and other words ending in -ա (-a) developed from Old Armenian -այք (-aykʻ), through the regular sound change այ (ay) → ե (e); thus Old Armenian երեխայք (erexaykʻ) → Armenian երեխեք (erexekʻ).

• (Eastern Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [-kʰ]
• (Western Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [-kʰ]

-ք • (-kʻ)

1. (colloquial, dialectal) plural nominative case marker for words suffixed with -ցի (-cʻi) and certain others

   երեխեք ― erexekʻ ― nominative plural of երեխա (erexa)

   բանկեք ― bankekʻ ― nominative plural of բանկա (banka)

   գյուղացիք ― gyuġacʻikʻ ― nominative plural of գյուղացի (gyuġacʻi)

   վրացիք ― vracʻikʻ ― nominative plural of վրացի (vracʻi)

2. forming nouns

• -եր (-er), -ներ (-ner)

• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009) Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian (London Oriental and African Language Library; 14), Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 65

The origin is uncertain. What follows is Matasović’s summary of opinions, word for word (adjusted for Wiktionary style).[1]

Some scholars (e.g. Meillet and Godel) take the obvious course and derive it from Proto-Indo-European *-s [the masculine-feminine plural nominative case ending], but the sound development of word final *-s to *-kʿ is not universally accepted, though it may be supported by the development of PIE *treyes (“three”) (Latin trēs) > Arm. երեք (erekʻ), and *kʷetwores > Arm. չորք (čʻorkʻ). Other linguists assume a pronominal particle added to the bare stem, but the origin of that particle has never been explained. A recent hypothesis derives the morpheme *-kʿ- from the agglutinated Proto-Indo-European *dwoh₁ (“two”); it would have been originally a dual marker, subsequently replacing the inherited plural. It is worth noting another possibility, although it is a mere speculation: the plural marker *-kʿ can be regularly derived from *-s-wes, with the ending of the u-stems *-w-es agglutinated to the regular Nom[inative] plural marker *-s (cf. the Vedic agglutinated Nom[inative] pl[ural] in -ās-as, e.g. अश्वासस् (aśvāsas)).

-ք • (-kʻ)

1. plural nominative case marker

   շունք ― šunkʻ ― nominative plural of շուն (šun)

2. forming names of countries

   հայ ― hay ― an Armenian

   հայք ― haykʻ ― the Armenians collectively

   Հայք ― Haykʻ ― Armenia, the country of Armenians

• Armenian: -ք (-kʻ)

• Fortson, Benjamin W. (2010) Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, second edition, Oxford: Blackwell, page 388
• Godel, Robert (1975) An introduction to the study of classical Armenian, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 102