Lexical Correspondences between 5th–18th Century Literary Georgian and Southern Dialects

Abstract

Since the 1990s, comprehensive research has been undertaken into the language, folklore, and cultural practices of the indigenous population and descendants of the Muhajirs from the Chorokhi Valley. The findings indicate that several historical regions—Adjara, Shavsheti, Klarjeti, Tao, and Speri—took shape within the Chorokhi river basin. The inhabitants of these areas maintained close interaction both internally and with neighboring regions, resulting in speech forms that are linguistically adjacent. Consequently, these varieties are classified as a distinct group, commonly referred to as Southern dialects or Southern Georgian speech. From a linguistic, historical, and geographical perspective, the Southern dialects encompass Adjarian, Shavsheti, Klarjeti, and Tao subvarieties.

Today, the Adjarian dialect remains in active use within the borders of Georgia, along with fragments of the Klarjeti dialect (three villages: Mirveti, Kvemo Maradidi, and Kirnati) and the Shavsheti dialect (in the lower Machakhlistskali Gorge, a part of historical Shavsheti). However, the majority of these dialects are now located within the territory of the Republic of Turkey, where Georgian is largely forgotten. Nevertheless, the remaining Georgian speech has preserved valuable linguistic elements and archaic lexical units.

Certain words preserved in the Southern dialects display meanings that directly correspond to those found in literary Georgian texts dating from the 5th to the 18th centuries. This paper examines several such lexical items:

gankarveba – to vanish’, to disperse’: ghmertma gigikaros, ratskha derdi gak (May God make it disappear; some sorrow has vanished).

shektseva – to turn back’, to return’: k'arshi ar guushvebdit, ar shuuktsioso (They wouldn’t let him in the house, saying: ‘May he never return).

modrek'a, modrek'ili, modrek'iloba – to humble oneself’, to bend down’, to kneel’; bending’: shuamtashi shevel, ek'lesia dabali iqo, modrek'ili shevel (We entered Shuamt’a; the church was low, so we had to bend to enter).

tsudi – worthless’, ineffective’: tsude ram yarebi (A worthless wound it was).

dzeli//shesha – timber’, plank’, log’: dzelis sakhleb gavak'etebdit; shishis(<sheshis)mukhi gaak'atavden (We built houses from timber; they made a bench from oak firewood).

jinch'veli – nettle’: jinch'velia, ant'eroghli ant'eri! (It’s nettle, That annoying ant!).

mzis-tvali – literally eye of the sun’, sun’: erti-ori dghe tsivia, imis uk'an zitvalia; bzituali chevda, go, ar shegets'qina? (It’s cold for a day or two, then the sun returns; The sun came out—did it bother you?).

suli – scent’: ra k'ay suli gidiso (What a nice scent you're giving off).

t'arosi – weather’: t'arosebi atsivdeba, ts'avalt (The weather is getting colder, let's go).

The Southern dialects contain numerous additional lexical items that also appear in early Georgian literary scripture. These linguistic parallels provide valuable material for exploring the relationship between these dialectal forms and the literary tradition of the Georgian language.