Hrach Martirosyan an Armenian linguist call it a Mediteranean substratum
An excerpt from his paper
https://www.academia.edu/4197641/Th..._the_relationship_with_Greek_and_Indo-Iranian
6.2. Armenian and Greek: isolated words.
These words have no Indo-European etymologies and may therefore be treated as words
of substrate origin, that is to say, common borrowings from an unknown language (for a dis-
cussion of the substrate, see section 7).
6.2.1. *antȹ(r)- ‘coal’: Arm. ant‘-eł ‘hot coal, ember’ (Łazar P‘arpec‘i, Hexaemeron, etc.),
dial. *ant‘(e)ł-oc‘ ‘metal rod for poking or stirring a fire, poker’, dial. *ant‘-(a)r- ‘coal, ember’ in
*ant‘-r-oc‘ and *ant‘-ar-oc‘ ‘poker’ (note also ant‘ayr ‘spark’ in Ba girk‘ hayoc‘ and NHB, proba-
bly from *ant‘-ar- V); Gr. ἄνθραξ m. ‘charcoal’.123
6.2.2. *drepan-eh2: Arm. artewan-un-k‘, gen.pl. artewan-a-
c‘ ‘eyelashes; eyebrow’ (Bible+),
Gr. δρεπάνη, δρέπανον ‘sickle’ (from δρέπω ‘to pluck, cut off’). According to this fascinating
etymology suggested by de Lamberterie (1983; 1992: 239; 2013: 22), the human eyebrow
(and/or eyelash, see below) is taken as sickle-shaped.124
The basic meaning of artewanunk‘ is usually presented as ‘eyelid’ since it usually corre-
sponds to Gr. βλέφαρον ‘eyelid’ in the Bible. NHB and HAB, however, describe the Armenian
word as ‘eyelashes’, and so does de Lamberterie (1983: 21) in French, ‘cils’. Indeed, in some
biblical passages ‘eyelash’ (or ‘eyebrow’) would make more sense than ‘eyelid’, e.g. Proverbs
6.25 (mí yap‘štakic‘is artewanambk‘ nora “do not be captivated with her eyelashes/eyebrows”) or
Jeremiah 9.18 (ew artewanunk‘ jer błxesc‘en ǰur “and let your eyelashes drop water”). Note also
that the derivatives of Gr. βλέφαρον display a semantic vacillation between ‘eyelid’ and ‘eye-
lash’. And finally, a few passages from original (non-translated) literary sources make the
meaning ‘eyelash’ quite clear (e.g. maz artewanac‘ “hair of eyelashes”).
In a remarkable passage from Movsēs Xorenac‘i 2.42 we reed: “a multitude of vineyards
resembled the beautiful crescent of thick lashes (zartewananc‘ xit ew gełec‘ik cir); on the northern
side its curved form truly imitated the arching brows of charming maidens (geławor kusic‘
yōnic‘)” (transl. Thomson 2006: 180). We can see that artewanunk‘ cannot mean ‘eyelid’ here since
it is compared to vineyards. Nor does it mean ‘eyebrow’ since the latter is present here by its
main designation, yōnk‘. There can be no doubt that Thomson’s translation as ‘eyelash’ is correct.
6.2.3. *sepȹ-s- or *seps- ‘to boil, cook’: Arm. ep‘em ‘to cook, boil’; Gr. ἕψω ‘to boil, seethe (of
meat and the like); to smelt, refine (of metals)’.125
6.2.4. *t(a)rp-eh2: Arm. t‘arp‘ / t‘arb (abl. i t‘arb-ē) ‘large wicker fishing-basket, creel’, Gr.
τάρπη f., ταρπός, τερπός m., ταρπόνη f. ‘large wicker basket’; probably a common borrowing
from a lost source.126
6.2.5. * in l(u)m- ‘hinge’: Arm. cłxni, eastem (loc.sg. i cłxnw-oǰ, gen.dat.pl. cłxn-e-ac‘), čxni,
čx/łan, dial. člxan ‘door hinge’; Gr. γί(γ)γλυμος m. (dimin. γι(γ)γλύμιον n.) ‘hinge, joint, pivot,
gudgeon’. Mediterranean word (Martirosyan 2012). (HM)
6.2.6. *kalam- ‘aspen; plane’: Arm. kaǻamax(i) ‘white poplar, aspen’; Gr. καλαμίν-δαρ·
πλάτανος ἡδονιεῖς ‘plane’, obviously with *dar ‘tree’ (Hesychius); in neighbouring non-Indo-
European languages: Salmast Turk. k‘äläm-bär ‘aspen’, T‘avriz Turk. qälämä ‘poplar’; in Dagh-
estan languages: Lak kalaxi, Rutul kalax ‘aspen’. For the semantic relationship, cf. Arm. čandar
‘poplar’ and ‘plane’; op‘i ‘poplar, aspen’ and Łarabaǻ *hop‘i ‘plane’. The ending ax in Armenian
may be a suffix, possibly seen also in meǻ-ex ‘the handle of an axe’ (if related with Gr. μελία
‘manna ash, ashen spear’) and taws-ax ‘box-tree’. The correspondence Arm. k vs. Gr. κ here and
in a few of the lexemes that follow points to a later stage of Mediterranean substrate vocabulary.
6.2.7. *kast(an)- ‘chestnut’: Arm. kask-eni ‘chestnut-tree’ if from *kast-(u)k-eni (for the suf-
fix, cf. hačar-uk and dial. hačar-k-i ‘beech-tree’); Gr. κάστανον n. ‘chestnut’, καστανέα f. ‘chest-
nut-tree’.
6.2.8. *karid- ‘crayfish’: Arm. karič, astem ‘scorpion’, dial. ‘crayfish’ < *karid- ā f.; Gr.
κᾱρίς, ίδος, ῖδος (also κουρίς, κωρίς) f., probably a general term for small crustaceans, in-
cluding shrimp and prawn. For the (old feminine) suffix *ieh2, note Arm. dial. *mormonǰ ‘ant’ <
*mormon- eh2 (cf. morm ‘tarantula’ and Gr. Μορμώv ‘bogey, bugbear’, see § 6.4.8). Note also
Arm. kor, gen. kor-i ‘scorpion’ (Dersim dial. g r-ǰ), which is reminiscent of the Greek by-forms
κουρίς, κωρίς.
6.2.9. *gorio- ‘drain’: Arm. kori ‘drain, channel’, Gr. γοργύριον n. ‘subterranean channel’. (HM)
6.2.10. *gɀ(e)m/bȹur eh2 ‘bridge’: Arm. kamurǰ, astem ‘bridge’, Gr. γέφῡρα f. (Boeot. βέφυρα,
Cret. δέφυρα, Lac. δίφουρα) ‘bridge’; in non-Indo-European languages: Hatt. amuru(wa)
‘beam’, Abkhaz *qɀ (m)b l -ra ‘beam over the hearth, cross-beam’, etc. The Proto-Armenian
theoretical by-form *kaburǰ- may have been reflected in Urart. qaburzani possibly meaning
‘bridge’ in a recently discovered inscription.
6.2.11. *mos ȹ-o/io- ‘young bovine’: Arm. mozi ‘young bovine, calf’,127 dial. mozi or di-
minutive mozik, mostly ‘male or female calf’, in some dialects: ‘young ox’, ‘female foal, filly’,
‘young buffalo’; Gr. μόσχος m.f. ‘calf, young bull, any young animal’, metaphorically ‘boy’ or
‘girl, maid’, m. ‘young shoot or twig’, μοσχάς, άδος f. ‘shoot, slip; heifer’, μοσχίας ‘like a calf
(used of any young animal); three-year-old ram’; diminutives: μοσχίον ‘young calf’, μοσχίδιον
‘small shoot’, μοσχ-άριον n. ‘young calf’.1
...
6.2.13. *(H)olur-: Arm. oloṙn, an-stem ‘pea, bean’, dial. hǘlì( ) n (Goris, Łarabaǻ hǘlì n );
Gr. ὄλυραι f. pl. ‘spelt; rice-wheat’ (cf. Akkad. allūru, i/ullūru, etc.).
6.2.14. *osp- ‘pulse, legumen’: Arm. ospn, an-stem ‘lentil’, Gr. ὄσπριον n. ‘pulse, legumen’.132
6.2.15. *pɁortȹo- or *(t)portȹo- ‘sprout, young twig’: Arm. ort‘, ostem ‘vine’, Gr. πτόρθος m.
‘sprout, shoot, young twig’, πόρθος· πτόρθος, κλάδος, βλάστος (Hesychius).133
6.2.16. *kȹsan-t(e)r- ‘wool-carder, comb’: Arm. santr / sandr, ins.sg. santr-o-v (Łazar
P‘arpec‘i 3.61), abl.sg. i sandr-ē (Ephrem) ‘comb; weaver’s comb’, dial. sander-k‘ (Karin santr-ì-
k‘) ‘weaver’s large comb’;134 Gr. ξαίνω ‘to card, comb wool’, ξάντης m. ‘wool-carder’ξάντριαι
(title of a play by Aeschylus).135 In view of the incompatibility of the Armenian initial s- with
Greek *ks- in Indo-European terms, this comparison is considered to be uncertain.136 I assume
that we are dealing with a substrate word: *kȹsan-t(e)r- > Arm. sandr, pl. sander-k‘.
6.2.17. *si/ekȹu- ‘melon, gourd’: Arm. sex (gen. sexoy in Hexaemeron) ‘melon’, Gr. σικύα,
Ion. ύη f. ‘bottle-gourd, round gourd; gourd used as a calabash’, σέκουα ‘id.’ (Hesychius),
σίκυος, σικυός m., σίκυς f. ‘cucumber’, σίκυος πέπων ‘a kind of gourd or melon, not eaten till
quite ripe’. The relationship with Russ. týkva ‘pumpkin’ and Lat. cucumis ‘cucumber’ is unclear.
6.2.18. * eno-/* en(e) o-: Arm. sin, ostem ‘empty’, Gr. Att. κενός and Ion. κεινός from
*κεν ός, Epic κενε( )ό, ‘empty, idle’.
6.2.19. *ste/oibo- or *ste/ibeh2: Arm. stēp, ostem, astem ‘haste, alacrity; zeal, diligence; fre-
quent, frequently; hastily, quickly, stipem ‘to constrain, compel, force; to urge, hasten’; Gr.
στείβω ‘to tread (on something), densify by treading, trod, trample, trend’, στοιβή f. ‘stuffing,
cushion, bulge’, στίβος m. ‘trodden road, path, footstep, trail’. The appurtenance of OLith.
staibus ‘strong, brave’ and other cognates is uncertain.137
6.2.20. *srungȹ- ‘snout, nostrils’: Arm. ṙungn, mostly pl. ṙng-un-k‘, instr. ng-am-b-k‘,
*ṙung-k‘, astem ‘nostrils’; Gr. ῥύγχος, ῥύγχεος n. ‘snout (e.g. of a pig), muzzle, beak’.
6.2.21. *ps(e)ud-e/os-: Arm. sut, ostem ‘false; falsehood, lie’, Gr. ψεῦδος n. ‘lie’, also ψύδος.
6.2.22. *skórp-i, gen. *(s)k p-i-ós: Arm. k‘arb, istem ‘basilisk, asp’; Gr. σκορπίος m. ‘scor-
pion; a sea-fish’, σκορπίς, ίδος f. ‘a sea-fish’. These words have been claimed to be derived
from IE *(s)ker(p)- ‘to cut’: Arm. k‘er-(t‘), k‘er-b/p‘- ‘to scratch, chop, carve’, Gr. κείρω ‘to cut
(off), shave, mow off, ravage’, OHG sceran ‘to cut’, OEngl. sceorfan ‘to scratch’, etc. However,
scholars are now more inclined towards a substrate origin.