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89-524: Kerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian ( Armenian : Քըրք Քըրքորյան ; June 6, 1917 – June 15, 2015) was an Armenian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the president and CEO of Tracinda Corporation , his private holding company based in Beverly Hills, California . Kerkorian was one of the important figures in the shaping of Las Vegas and, with architect Martin Stern Jr. , is described as

178-473: A Pontiac Firebird , Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Ford Taurus . Kerkorian died in Beverly Hills, California , on June 15, 2015, nine days after his 98th birthday. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California , near Los Angeles. Kerkorian was married four times, first to Hilda Schmidt from 1942 to 1952. His next marriage, to Jean Maree Hardy, lasted from 1954 to 1984. The two had met at

267-588: A Canadian by origin, reached an agreement with Sir Edward Beatty , a friend and chairman of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company , to provide ground facilities and support. MAP would discreetly provide civilian crews and management. Previously, aircraft had been assembled, dismantled and then transported by ship across the Atlantic, and were subject to long delays and frequent attacks by German U-Boats. Former RAF officer Don Bennett ,

356-489: A Ford Taurus and Jeep Cherokee. Kerkorian once owned 9.9 percent of General Motors (GM). According to press accounts from June 30, 2006, Kerkorian suggested that Renault acquired a 20 percent stake in GM to rescue GM from itself. A letter from Tracinda to Rick Wagoner was released to the public, to pressure GM's executive hierarchy, but talks failed. On November 22, 2006, Kerkorian sold 14 million shares of his GM stake (it

445-541: A Kirk Kerkorian stamp in 2017. The city of Gyumri unveiled a statue of Kerkorian in 2018. Armenian language Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Armenian

534-520: A consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that

623-613: A fairly skilled amateur boxer under the tutelage of his older brother Nish Kerkorian, fighting under the name "Rifle Right Kerkorian" to win the Pacific amateur welterweight championship. Kirk Kerkorian also had an older sister, Rose Kerkorian. Sensing the onset of World War II , and not wanting to join the infantry , Kerkorian learned to fly at the Happy Bottom Riding Club in the Mojave Desert —adjacent to

712-468: A loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian եւ yev , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. Loan words from Iranian languages , along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led some linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that

801-425: A network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened

890-718: A specialist in long distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of the Pathfinder force , led the first test delivery formation flight in November 1940. The mission was so successful that by 1941, MAP took the operation out of the hands of CPR to put it under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero") which was set up by Morris W. Wilson , a banker in Montreal . Wilson hired civilian pilots of widely different backgrounds and nationalities to fly

979-406: A tactical advantage in the divorce proceedings, an allegation that was later proven true. Pellicano also took a strand of Bing's used dental floss (surreptitiously acquired from rubbish) and used it to prove that it was Bing and not Kerkorian who fathered Bonder's daughter. Attorney Terry Christensen was subsequently convicted of racketeering for hiring Pellicano to tap Bonder's phone, and received

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1068-546: A three-year prison sentence that was confirmed on appeal. Kerkorian's short-lived fourth marriage (2014) was to Una Davis, born in 1966. The marriage lasted only 57 days and divorce proceedings were underway when Kerkorian died on June 15, 2015. Kerkorian was active in philanthropy through his charitable foundation, The Lincy Foundation, named after his daughters, Linda and Tracy. The foundation reportedly donated more than $ 1 billion, though Kerkorian never allowed anything to be named in his honor. The foundation covered half of

1157-552: Is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages . It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization , although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian ), Albanian and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian

1246-561: Is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language * ne h₂oyu kʷid ("never anything" or "always nothing"),

1335-474: Is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós , with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá ), Avestan ( ərəzifiia ), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios ). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely

1424-471: Is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian , although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam , "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta , "head". In 1985,

1513-518: Is speculated that this action was due to GM's rejection of Renault and Nissan's bids for stakes in the company as both of these bids were strongly supported by Kerkorian); the sale resulted in GM's share price falling 4.1% from its November 20 price, although it remained above $ 30/share. The sale lowered Kerkorian's holding to around 7% of GM. On November 30, 2006, Tracinda said it had agreed to sell another 14 million shares of GM, cutting Kerkorian's stake to half of what it had been earlier that year. By

1602-603: Is the working language. Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus , Hungary , Iraq , Poland , Romania , and Ukraine . It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . RAF Ferry Command RAF Ferry Command was the secretive Royal Air Force command formed on 20 July 1941 to ferry urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in

1691-629: The 1988 earthquake . Kerkorian also provided money to ensure that a film based on the history of the Armenian genocide would be made. The resulting film, called The Promise , premiered in April 2017 in the United States. In 2000 Time magazine named him the 10th largest donor in the US. Kerkorian was declared an honorary citizen of Armenia. He was bestowed the title of National Hero of Armenia ,

1780-466: The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet (" օ " and " ֆ "), bringing the total number to 38. The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of

1869-508: The Armenian genocide , mostly in the diaspora ). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon 's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis ),

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1958-641: The Greek language , the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages . Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek ( s > h ). Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe

2047-643: The Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands , the " Armenian hypothesis ". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic , splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian ). Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar ), attested from

2136-491: The Justice Department who filed an antitrust suit due to his owning stock in two studios. In 1979, Kerkorian issued a statement claiming that MGM was now primarily a hotel company; however, he also managed to expand the overall film library and production system with the purchase of United Artists from Transamerica in 1981, becoming MGM/UA Entertainment Company. In March 1986, he sold MGM to Ted Turner . After

2225-671: The Las Vegas Hilton and the Flamingo Hilton , respectively. After he purchased the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio in 1969, Kerkorian (with architect Martin Stern Jr.) opened the original MGM Grand Hotel and Casino , larger than the Empire State Building and the largest hotel in the world at the time it was finished. On November 21, 1980, the original MGM Grand burned in a fire that

2314-542: The Mekhitarists . The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar , was published in grabar in 1794. The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages , primarily Parthian , and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian . An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and

2403-541: The Thunderbird resort in Las Vegas. Hardy, a dancer from England, traveled the world instructing dance troupes. They met and fell in love while she was sent to check opportunities to choreograph a performance in Las Vegas. The marriage produced Kerkorian's two daughters, Tracy and Linda, whose names serve as a portmanteau for Kerkorian's personal holding company, Tracinda Corporation, and his charitable organization,

2492-708: The United States Army Air Corps 's Muroc Field, now Edwards Air Force Base . In exchange for flying lessons from pioneer aviator Pancho Barnes , he agreed to milk and look after her cattle. On gaining his commercial pilot's certificate in six months, Kerkorian learned that the British Royal Air Force was ferrying Canadian-built de Havilland Mosquitos over the North Atlantic to Scotland . The Mosquito's fuel tank carried enough fuel for 1,400 miles (2,300 km), while

2581-611: The "father of the mega-resort ". He built the world's largest hotel in Las Vegas three times: the International Hotel (opened in 1969), the original MGM Grand Hotel (1973) and the current MGM Grand (1993). He purchased the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie studio in 1969. Of Armenian descent, Kerkorian provided over $ 1 billion for charity in Armenia through his Lincy Foundation, which was established in 1989 and particularly focused on helping to rebuild northern Armenia after

2670-408: The 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian , attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from

2759-481: The Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually,

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2848-463: The Chrysler arm of Daimler-Chrysler was sold to Cerberus for $ 7.4 billion. Kerkorian began buying Ford Motor Company stock in April 2008, and spent about $ 1 billion to accumulate a 6% stake in the automaker. By October 2008, the investment had lost two-thirds of its value, and he began selling. Tracinda explained, "In light of current economic and market conditions, it sees unique value in

2937-462: The Chrysler division on February 14, large investors such as Cerberus Capital Management , The Blackstone Group and Magna International each announced intentions to bid on the company. Kerkorian's bid, while not expected, was not surprising given his long involvement in the U.S. automobile industry. During the bidding process, he sought the aid of his close associate Jerome York who was a former CFO at both Chrysler and IBM . On May 14, 2007, 80% of

3026-467: The Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv , meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu . This word

3115-481: The Lincy Foundation. Although divorced, they remained close friends and confidants. Kerkorian's short-lived third marriage (1999) was to professional tennis player Lisa Bonder , 48 years his junior, which lasted only one month. The two had signed a prenuptial agreement before marrying. Kerkorian subsequently was involved in a breach of privacy suit filed against him by Steve Bing . Kerkorian claimed Bing

3204-545: The RAF home commands. This was pioneering work. Before Ferry Command, only about a hundred aircraft had attempted a North Atlantic crossing in good weather, and only about half had made it. Over the course of the war, more than 9,000 aircraft were individually ferried across the ocean and the aircraft played a significant role in the outcome of the war. This was accomplished without the use of radar by specially trained navigators who primarily used celestial methods. Ferry Command

3293-669: The Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide . In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous , Armenian is spoken among the diaspora . According to Ethnologue , globally there are 1.6 million Western Armenian speakers and 3.7 million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling 5.3 million Armenian speakers. In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of

3382-459: The Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul , whereas Tbilisi became

3471-833: The Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages . Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne ), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu ), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri ). Some of

3560-696: The United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the Second World War. It was later subsumed into the new Transport Command on 25 March 1943 by being reduced to Group status. The practice of ferrying aircraft from US manufacturers to the UK was begun by the Ministry of Aircraft Production . Its minister, Lord Beaverbrook ,

3649-522: The aircraft to the UK. Because the planes were now being flown on their own, each aircraft required specially trained navigators and radio operators. These crews were then brought back by ships in convoys. "Atfero hired the pilots, planned the routes, selected the airports [and] set up weather and radiocommunication stations." Aircraft were first transported to Dorval Airport near Montreal, and then flown to RCAF Station Gander in Newfoundland for

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3738-434: The center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to

3827-509: The cost of an 80-kilometer highway in Armenia. Over the next decade, Kerkorian financed more than $ 200 million of infrastructure projects in Armenia, including $ 60 million to the reconstruction of schools and streets and the renovation of many museums, theaters and concert halls. The Lincy Foundation was dissolved in 2011 after 22 years of charitable activities after dispensing its last $ 200 million to University of California, Los Angeles . Half

3916-474: The end of November 2006, he had sold substantially all of his remaining GM shares. After Kerkorian sold, GM lost more than 90% of its value, falling as low as $ 1/share by May 2009, and filed bankruptcy on June 1, 2009. On April 5, 2007, Kirk Kerkorian made a $ 4.58 billion bid for the Chrysler Group , the U.S. arm of Daimler-Chrysler . After Daimler-Chrysler announced they were interested in selling

4005-561: The end of the war, crossing the Atlantic had become an almost routine operation, presaging the inauguration of scheduled commercial air transport services after the war. Above and Beyond (2006), a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) four-hour mini-series, was inspired by the true story of RAF Ferry Command, recounting the delivery of aircraft across the North Atlantic to the Royal Air Force. The film concludes with

4094-580: The existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in

4183-525: The gaming and hospitality and oil and gas industries and has, therefore, decided to reallocate its resources and to focus on those industries." On October 21, Tracinda sold the 7.3 million Ford shares at an average price of $ 2.43, and said it planned to cut further its existing 6.1 percent stake in Ford, for a potential total loss of more than half a billion dollars. Kerkorian sold his remaining stake in Ford on December 29, 2008. Kerkorian's net worth in 2008

4272-581: The gaming company, dropping from 53.8 percent to 39 percent and even after pledging to purchase 10 percent of the new stock offering they now remain minority owners. Kerkorian had an on-again/off-again relationship with the American auto industry. His involvement began in 1995 when with the assistance of retired Chrysler chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca , Kerkorian staged a takeover attempt of the Chrysler Corporation . Chrysler's management treated

4361-516: The hands of the French bank, Crédit Lyonnais . Crédit Lyonnais invested significant sums to revive the moribund company and eventually sold it back to Kerkorian in 1996. Kerkorian soon expanded the company, purchasing Orion Pictures , The Samuel Goldwyn Company and Motion Picture Corporation of America from John Kluge 's Metromedia in 1997, and bought the pre-April 1996 PolyGram Filmed Entertainment library in 1999 from its parent Philips , which

4450-598: The highest state award. Kirk Kerkorian was born on June 6, 1917, in Fresno, California , to Armenian parents who escaped present-day Turkey via cattle boat during the Armenian Genocide . Armenian was his first language and he "didn't learn the English language until he hit the streets." His family moved to Los Angeles following the depression of 1920–21 . Dropping out of school in eighth grade, Kerkorian became

4539-555: The hotel's enormous Showroom Internationale were Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley . Presley brought in some 4,200 customers (and potential gamblers) every day for 30 days straight, breaking in the process all attendance records in the county's history. Kerkorian's International Leisure also bought the Flamingo Hotel ; eventually, both hotels were sold to the Hilton Hotels Corporation and were renamed

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4628-425: The hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages , based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies ), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy )

4717-470: The interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or

4806-405: The land from Kerkorian. The rent and eventual sale of the land to Caesars in 1968 made Kerkorian $ 9 million ($ 70 million today). In 1967, he bought 82 acres (33 ha) of land on Paradise Road in Las Vegas for $ 5 million and, with architect Martin Stern Jr. , built the International Hotel , which at the time was the largest hotel in the world. The first two performers to appear at

4895-434: The late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by

4984-468: The lot was sold to Sony Corporation's Columbia Pictures Entertainment in exchange for the half of Warner's lot that it had rented since 1972. Also in 1990, the MGM film company was purchased by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti , who then merged the former Cannon with the MGM purchase to create the short-lived MGM-Pathé Communications . Parretti defaulted on the loans he'd used to buy MGM, leaving MGM in

5073-567: The morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism . In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire , while Western Armenia , containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between

5162-403: The now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of

5251-541: The official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian was also official in the Republic of Artsakh . It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian

5340-639: The oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir . The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet . While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that

5429-483: The parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek

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5518-407: The path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. After World War I ,

5607-570: The population. The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified . The current Republic of Armenia upholds

5696-440: The pre-May 1986 MGM library, Associated Artists Productions (the pre-1950 Warner Bros. Pictures library and Fleischer Studios / Famous Studios Popeye cartoons) and RKO Radio Pictures libraries, as well as Gilligan's Island and its animated spin-offs The New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet . The MGM studio complex was sold to Lorimar-Telepictures , which was later acquired by Warner Bros.; in 1990,

5785-488: The purchase was made, Turner sold the United Artists subsidiary back to Kerkorian. Turner kept ownership of MGM from March 25 to August 26, 1986. He racked up huge debts and Turner simply could not afford to keep the studio under those circumstances. To recoup his investment, Turner sold the production/distribution assets and trademarks of MGM (including its post-April 1986 libraries) to United Artists while retaining

5874-436: The representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family , ancestral to

5963-525: The risk was that one in four planes failed to make it, the actual rate was closer to one in forty . In May 1944, Kerkorian and his Wing Commander John de Lacy Wooldridge rode the wave and broke the old crossing record. Wooldridge got to Scotland in six hours, 46 minutes; Kerkorian, in seven hours, nine minutes. In two and a half years with RAF Ferry Command , Kerkorian delivered 33 planes, logged thousands of hours, traveled to four continents and flew his first four-engine plane. After

6052-468: The similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family . The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary . He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded

6141-675: The struggling MGM and sold off massive amounts of historical memorabilia, including Dorothy's ruby slippers from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz , the majority of the studio's backlots in Culver City and overseas operations such as the British MGM studio at Borehamwood. Kerkorian sold MGM's distribution system in 1973, and gradually distanced himself from the daily operation of the studio. He also owned minority interest in Columbia Pictures but his holdings were thwarted by

6230-406: The takeover as hostile, and after a lengthy battle, Kerkorian canceled his plans and sold his Chrysler stake in 1996. As part of the settlement, Iacocca was placed under a gag order forbidding him from discussing Chrysler in public or print for five years. Two years later, Chrysler management agreed to be acquired by German automaker Daimler-Benz . Kerkorian always drove an American vehicle, including

6319-519: The terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European , he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan , have rejected many of

6408-413: The trans-Atlantic flight. The organization was passed to Air Ministry administration, though retaining civilian pilots, some of whom were Americans, alongside RAF and RCAF pilots, navigators and radio operators. The crews were briefed by local meteorologists including R. E. Munn . After completing delivery, crews were eventually flown back to Canada, returning to Dorval for their next run. Ferry Command

6497-425: The trip directly was 2,200 miles (3,500 km). Rather than take the safer Montreal – Labrador – Greenland – Iceland –Scotland route (although, going further north could mean the wings icing, and the plane crashing), Kerkorian preferred the direct "Iceland Wave" route, which blew the planes at jet-speed to Europe—but it was not constant, and could mean ditching . The fee was $ 1,000 per flight. Although accounts claim

6586-509: The types available to No. 45 Group as required. In September 1945 the squadron moved to Bermuda , where it disbanded on 15 January 1946. In summer 1945, 45 Group included No. 112 (North Atlantic) Wing at Dorval, with 231 Squadron, 5 Aircraft Preparation Unit, 6 Ferry Unit all at Dorval; 6 APU at Bermuda; 313 Ferry Training Unit at North Bay; and RAF Station Reykjavik with the RAF Hospital there and No. 9 Mechanical Transport Company. By

6675-572: The war, having saved most of his wages, Kerkorian spent $ 5,000 on a Cessna . He worked as a general aviation pilot and made his first visit to Las Vegas in 1944. After spending much time in Las ;Vegas during the 1940s, Kerkorian quit gambling and in 1947 paid $ 60,000 for Trans International Airlines , which was a small air-charter service that flew gamblers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. He then bid on some war surplus bombers, using money on loan from Seagram's . Gasoline, and especially airplane fuel,

6764-453: The world, rather than the more general routes that Transport Command later developed, including routes over the jungles of South America and Africa and the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Ferry Command's operational area was initially the North Atlantic, and its responsibility was to bring the larger aircraft that had the range to do the trip over the ocean, with the addition of extra fuel tanks, from American and Canadian factories to

6853-606: Was $ 16 billion according to Forbes magazine, making him the 41st richest person in the world and the richest person in California at that time. By 2011, Kerkorian was among those hardest hit by the stock market recession as his net worth tumbled to $ 3.2 billion. In 2013, he was listed as the 412th richest person with a net worth of $ 3.9 billion. Kerkorian was an "intensely private person". He almost never gave interviews and seldom appeared in public. "Kerkorian rarely attended board meetings and never gave speeches. He

6942-509: Was a worldwide formation, rather than a single-mission command. Bowhill became the first commander of Transport Command. On 8 September 1944, No. 231 Squadron RAF reformed at Dorval , Canada, from No. 45 Group Communications Squadron. The squadron's Coronado flying boats operated between North America, West Africa and the UK, using Largs on the Firth of Clyde as its British terminal. Other flights were flown with landplanes, using several of

7031-493: Was earmarked for medical research, scholarships and other projects while the other half was earmarked to create the "Dream Fund" for charitable causes around the country. Most of the $ 2 billion estate was left to charity, with a three-person committee left to distribute the funds within three years. In December 2018, the estate settled with his 4th wife for $ 12.5 million, along with $ 10 million and $ 50 million for two philanthropic foundations, advised by his 4th wife. Armenia issued

7120-496: Was formed on 20 July 1941, by the raising of the RAF Atlantic Ferry Service to Command status. Its commander for its whole existence was Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill . Dorval, near Montreal, continued as its base of operations. The main function of Ferry Command was the ferrying of new aircraft from factory to operational unit. Ferry Command originally did this over only one northern area of

7209-559: Was in process to sell PolyGram to Seagram . In 2005, Kerkorian sold MGM once more to a consortium led by Sony. He retained a 55% stake in MGM Mirage. On November 22, 2006, Kerkorian's Tracinda investment corporation offered to buy 15 million shares of MGM Mirage to increase his stake in the gambling giant from 56.3% to 61.7%, if approved. In May 2009, following the completion of a $ 1 billion stock offering by MGM Mirage, Kerkorian and Tracinda lost their majority ownership of

7298-679: Was in short supply at the time, so he sold the fuel from the planes' tanks, paid off his loan, and still had the airplanes. He operated the airline until 1968 when he sold it for $ 104 million to the Transamerica Corporation . In 1962, Kerkorian bought 80 acres (32 ha) in Las Vegas , across the Las Vegas Strip from the Flamingo for $ 960,000. This purchase led to the building of Caesars Palace , which rented

7387-570: Was one of the worst disasters in Las Vegas history. The Clark County Fire Department reported 84 deaths in the fire; there were 87 deaths total, including three which occurred later as a result of injuries sustained in the fire. After only 8 months the MGM Grand reopened. Almost three months after the MGM fire, the Las Vegas Hilton caught fire, killing eight people. In 1986, Kerkorian sold the MGM Grand hotels in Las Vegas and Reno for $ 594 million to Bally Manufacturing . The Las Vegas property

7476-596: Was shy, but was a tough negotiator. Those who knew him describe him not as a Hughesian hermit, but as a gentle, gracious, normal guy." Kerkorian was an avid tennis player , played in tournaments, associated with other players like Lornie Kuhle, and routinely played with Alex Yemenidjian , a former MGM executive, and former owner of the Tropicana Las Vegas resort. He had a penchant for expensive clothes (especially custom-made outfits by Italian designer Brioni ), but drove relatively inexpensive vehicles, such as

7565-405: Was situated between Proto-Greek ( centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian ( satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages . The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Another text translated into Armenian early on, and also in the 5th-century,

7654-808: Was subsequently renamed Bally's . Spun off from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , MGM Resorts International owns and operates several properties, including the current MGM Grand , the Bellagio , the New York-New York , Mandalay Bay , The Luxor , Excalibur , Park MGM , the Cosmopolitan and the CityCenter complex in Las Vegas. MGM sold its Treasure Island Hotel and Casino property to billionaire and former New Frontier owner Phil Ruffin for $ 750 million. In 1969, Kerkorian appointed James Thomas Aubrey Jr. as president of MGM. Aubrey downsized

7743-409: Was subsumed into the new Transport Command on 25 March 1943 by being reduced to Group status as No 45 (Atlantic Ferry) Group . No. 45 Group RAF 's main task was the ferrying of U.S. and Canadian built aircraft across the Atlantic. It also administered trans-Atlantic passenger and freight services. The group still retained responsibility for Atlantic aircraft ferrying operations, but Transport Command

7832-682: Was the Armenian Alexander Romance . The vocabulary of the language has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages , particularly Parthian ; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian , and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since

7921-609: Was the father of Bonder's daughter, an allegation which was later confirmed by DNA paternity testing . On August 10, 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Kerkorian's attorneys were being sued by Bonder because of their connection to former high-profile private investigator Anthony Pellicano , who in 2008 began serving a fifteen-year prison sentence for running a wiretapping scheme. Bonder's attorney alleged that Kerkorian's lawyers hired Pellicano to wiretap telephone calls between him and Kerkorian's ex-wife in order to gain

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