Names of Georgia
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Georgia (
The first mention of the name spelled as "Georgia" was recorded in Italian on the mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte dated AD 1320.[1] In early appearances in the Latin world, the name was not always written in the same transliteration, the first consonant originally being spelt with J, as Jorgia.[2]
Both
All external exonyms are likely derived from gorğān (
The full, official name of the country is simply "Georgia", as specified in the
Endonym
The native Georgian name for the country is Sakartvelo (საქართველო). The word consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i (ქართველ-ი), first attested in the
The earliest reference to "Sakartvelo" occurs in the c. 800
Within the next 200 years, this designation was reconfigured so that it came to signify the all-Georgian realm which came into existence with the political unification of Kartli and Apkhazeti under Bagrat III in 1008. However, it was not until the early 13th century that the term fully entered regular official usage.[7]
The memory and dream of a united Georgia – Sakartvelo – persisted even after the political catastrophe of the 15th century when the
Georgia fell under successive
In other Kartvelian languages, like Mingrelian, Georgia is referred as საქორთუო sakortuo, in Laz it's ოქორთურა okortura, when in Svan it uses the same name as Georgian does, საქართველო sakartvelo. This same root is also adopted in Abkhaz and Georgia is referred as Қырҭтәыла Kyrţtwyla (i.e. Sakartvelo).
Exonyms
Iberia
One theory on the etymology of the name Iberia, proposed by Giorgi Melikishvili, was that it was derived from the contemporary Armenian designation for Georgia, Virkʿ (Վիրք, and Ivirkʿ Իվիրք and Iverkʿ Իվերք), which itself was connected to the word Sver (or Svir), the Kartvelian designation for Georgians.[10] The letter "s" in this instance served as a prefix for the root word "Ver" (or "Vir"). Accordingly, in following Ivane Javakhishvili's theory, the ethnic designation of "Sber", a variant of Sver, was derived the word "Hber" ("Hver") (and thus Iberia) and the Armenian variants, Veria and Viria.[10]
The Armenian name of Georgia is Վրաստան Vrastan, Վիրք Virk (i.e. Iberia). Ethnic Georgians are referred in Armenian as Վրացիներ (Vratsiner) literally meaning Iberians.
Georgia
The European "Georgia" probably stems from the
According to several modern scholars, "Georgia" seems to have been borrowed in the 11th or 12th century from the
Gruziya
The Russian exonym Gruziya (Russian: Грузия, IPA: [ˈɡruzʲɪjə] ⓘ) is also of Persian origin, from Persian گرجستان Gorjestân (Turkish Gürcistan, Ossetian: Гуырдзыстон Gwyrdzyston, Mongolian Гүрж Gürj).
The Russian name first occurs in the travel records of Ignatiy Smolnyanin as gurzi (гурзи) (1389).
—Travels in Jerusalem
Afanasy Nikitin calls Georgia as gurzynskaya zemlya (Гурзыньская земля, "Gurzin land") (1466–72).[17]
As a result of permutation of sounds "Gurz" transformed into "Gruz" and eventually "Gruz-iya". The Russian name was brought into several Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian) as well as other languages historically in contact with the Russian Empire and/or the Soviet Union (such as Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Hungarian, Yiddish, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uyghur, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese).[18]
Abandoning the name
In August 2005, the Georgian ambassador to Israel
In June 2011, the
In April 2015, Japan changed the official Japanese name for Georgia from Gurujia (グルジア), which derives from the Russian term Gruziya, to Jōjia (ジョージア), which derives from the English term "Georgia".[20][21]
In May 2018, Lithuania switched to Sakartvelas, which is derived from Georgia's original native name Sakartvelo. The new name would be an alternative for Georgia alongside the long-established Gruzija.
In June 2019, during the
See also
References
- ^ Rouben Galichian (2007) Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. pp. 188—189
- ISBN 978-0820459912
- ISBN 5-511-00775-7
- ^ "Article 2.1", Constitution of Georgia, Legislative Herald of Georgia,
'Georgia' is the name of the state of Georgia.
- ISBN 978-1-4422-4146-6
- ^ "Government changing official pronunciation of Georgia", The Japan Times, April 15, 2015, archived from the original on 2015-04-18
- ^ ISBN 90-429-1318-5
- ^ Rapp, Stephen H. (2003) Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium: Subsidia, Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts, Peeters Publishers, pp. 425-426
- ^ Constitution of Georgia. Chapter 1. Article 1.3. Parliament of Georgia. Retrieved on June 28, 2009
- ^ Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1978, p. 306.
- ^ GEORGIA i. The land and the people
- ^ Peradze, Gregory. "The Pilgrims' derivation of the name Georgia". Georgica, Autumn, 1937, nos. 4 & 5, 208-209
- ISBN 0-472-08452-6
- ISBN 0-7100-6959-6
- ^ Lang, David Marshall (1966), The Georgians, pp. 5-6. Praeger Publishers
- )
- ^ (in Russian) Vesmer, MAx (trans. Trubachyov, Oleg, 1987), «Этимологический словарь русского языка» (Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language), vol. 1, p. 464. Progress: Moscow (Online version)
- ^ "Tbilisi Wants to Be Referred as 'Georgia' Not 'Gruzya'". Civil Georgia. June 27, 2011. Archived from the original on 2020-02-16.
- ^ "Georgia on his mind: Republic's ambassador demands Hebrew name change". Haaretz.com. 2005-08-08. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
- ^ Government changing official pronunciation of Georgia The Japan Times
- ^ 国名呼称の変更(グルジア). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (in Japanese). 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019.
- ^ Lithuania Moves to Stop Calling Georgia by its Russian Name
- ^ "Lithuania Adopts Sakartvelas as Alternative Name for Georgia". Civil Georgia. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
- ^ Jackevičius, M. Gruzija nori būti vadinama "Georgija"
- ^ "Георгийский" министр пообещал уничтожить "Грузию" Lenta
- ^ Lithuania Moves To Change Official Name For Georgia To Sakartvelo From Gruzia
- ^ Samantha Guthrie Lithuania Gets a New Name in Georgian Georgia Today, 25 May 2018
- ^ "Authentic name of Georgia 'Sakartvelas' to be officially used in Lithuanian Language". Georgia First Channel. May 3, 2018. Archived from the original on 21 November 2020.
- ^ "Sakartvelo catching on – Georgia's historic name growing in popularity in Lithuania". LRT. 19 August 2019.
- ^ "Lithuania approves Sakartvelo as official name for Georgia". LRT English. 11 January 2021.
- ^ "Порошенко закликає МЗС України "перейменувати" Грузію на Сакартвело". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 2019-06-24. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
Bibliography
- (in Georgian) Paichadze, Giorgi (ed., 1993), საქართველოსა და ქართველების აღმნიშვნელი უცხოური და ქართული ტერმინოლოგია (Foreign and Georgian designations for Georgia and Georgians). Metsniereba, ISBN 5-520-01504-X