աղիջ

Etymology
As noted by Martirosyan, numerous etymologies have been proposed, none of which is. According to him the form is secondary and the word goes back to, which is an old feminine. After that two origins seem the most probable:

1) The word basically means ‘female grinder’ and derives from, from , whence , since the labour of grinding was mainly performed by women. This derivation was originally proposed by Meillet. Typologically compare 🇨🇬, from , a cognate of.

2) According to J̌ahukyan, the word basically means ‘young female’, from and related to.

For the sense development “girl” → “prostitute” see the notes in.

Noun

 * 1) virgin, girl
 * 2) prostitute attested only in the spelling

Usage notes
is attested only once; it is commonly used in its diminutive form.