Armeno ar̄agast ‘tenda, vela’, ‘pressoio del vino’. Con un’appendice su ebraico biblico migdal*

Abstract

The Armenian noun ar̄ agast is described in modern lexicography as having not only the
meaning of ‘veil, tent, sail’, but also the one of ‘wine press’. The article investigates
this last semantic value, and argues that it could be ancient, even if it is not attested
in Classical Armenian: the argument developed considers the traditional technology
of vinification based on a hole, dug in the soil, presumably topped by a wood
structure covered by a tent. The same referent can be proposed for the Biblical
Hebrew migdal in Is. 5, 2.