Zan languages
(Redirected from
Zan language
)| Zan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | South Caucasus, Anatolia |
| Linguistic classification | Kartvelian
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | zann1245 |
The Zan languages, or Zanuri (
areal features
resulting from geographical proximity and historical close contact common for dialect continuums.
The term Zan comes from the
Colchian tribes, which is almost identical to the name given to the Mingrelians by the Svans (მჷ-ზა̈ნ mə-zän). Georgian linguist Akaki Shanidze
proposed the name "Colchidian" for Zan.
History
According to a
G. Klimov, the Zan languages had split from the Common Kartvelian group by about the 8th century BC. Zan was spoken by a continuous community stretching along the Black Sea coast, from modern day Trabzon, Turkey into western Georgia, also existing in modern-day Giresun and Ordu provinces
of Turkey.
In the mid-7th century AD, Zan speakers were split by migration of Georgian-speaking peoples from
Iberia (eastern Georgia), driven by the Arabs, who took over the regions of Imereti, Guria, and Adjara
.
Separated by geography, and later by politics and religion, northern and southern Zan eventually diverged into Mingrelian and Laz. Since the differentiation was basically complete by early modern times, it is not customary to speak of a unified Zan language today. Presently, Mingrelian is spoken by the
Mingrelians primarily in northwestern Georgia (Mingrelia and Abkhazia), whereas Laz is spoken by the Laz people
in Turkey (and in a small portion of Adjara, southwestern Georgia).
References
- Amerijibi-Mullen, Rusudan, ed. (2006). K'olxuri (megrul-lazuri) ena: Colchian (Megrelian-Laz) language. ICGL (Universali: Tbilisi, Georgia), www.icgl.org. (see also Andrew Higgins. "Review of Colchian".)
- Jost Gippert; Irakli Dzocenidze; Svetlana Ahlborn. "The Zan language". Armazi Project: Georgian Academy of Sciences (Chikobava Institute of Linguistics). Archived from the originalon 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
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