On Language Mediation in Iranian-Georgian Language Contacts

• Patman Antadze-Malashkhia ^[1]
  1. [1] Tbilisi State University

     Tbilisi State University

     Georgia

     
• Localización: Actas del X congreso de la Sociedad Española de Iranología (SEI): celebrado en Tbilisi los días 20 y 21 de octubre de 2022 / Tea Vardosanidze (ed. lit.), Gerardo Matallana Medina (ed. lit.), 2024, ISBN 978-9941-36-204-0, págs. 58-76
• Idioma: español
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro (pdf)
• Resumen

  • The Iranian-Georgian language contacts embrace all the three periods of the history of Iranian languages (Old – 6th-3rd centuries B.C., Middle – 4th century B.C. – 9th century A.D., and New – from the 10th century A.D.). At the same time, it is impossible to identify whether certain Midian, Avestan or Old Persian language units were borrowed by Georgian in the Old Iranian or Middle Iranian period, because the first Georgian written monument dates back to the 5th century A.D. i.e. the period which is contemporary to Middle Iranian. Unlike the Old Iranian language period, it is easier to establish the dates of borrowing of words in the Middle and New periods. Iranian loans penetrated into Georgian either directly or by means of a mediator language.In the Middle Persian period, the Georgian language borrowed words from Persian either directly or via Armenian. The distinction between direct and indirect borrowings is based on the phonetic criteria revealed by Ilia Abuladze and Mzia Andronikashvili, who identified certain phonetic differences regarding the transfer of Iranian words in Georgian and Armenian (Andronikashvili, 1966). In my opinion, these criteria can be enriched by one more characteristic feature, according to which, Middle Persian č, reflected in Georgian by means of ძ/ʒ points to the Armenian mediation. This opinion is based on the fact that Middle Persian and Parthian č was transferred into Armenian as /ǰ/ and identical Georgian sound ძ/ʒ; for instance, Middle Persian čašmīd „visible, obvious” – Armenian čšmarit „true, real, certain, genuine; undoubted; reliable” – Georgian česmarit -i¹, „true, real, certain, genuine”.The distinction between direct and indirect (via Armenian) Persian loans in Georgian can be made on the basis of semantic comparison of Middle Iranian, Armenian and Georgian parallels. Cf. Middle Persian bun „basis, key principle, cause, root” > Armenian bun „nature, essence, feature, beginning, origin, genesis, root, initial cause” and Georgian bun-eba² 1) „really existing organic and inorganic world”; 2) „essence, key feature, nature”, the second meaning of which in fact coincides with the meanings of the polysemantic Armenian word bun „nature, essence, key feature, origin”. This coincidence points to the fact that this Iranian word penetrated into Georgian via Armenian.In the New Iranian language period, Persian itself served as a mediator language for the Arabic loans in Georgian. This mediation started in the 11th-12th centuries when Arab domination ended in Georgia and the direct Arabic-Georgian language contacts ceased. The direct Arabic loans and Arabic words borrowed by Georgia via Persian can be distinguished based on the chronological factor as well as phonetic criteria worked out by M. Andronikashvili (Andronikashvili, 1965). If the loans do not contain the specific phonemes represented in Georgian differently in case of direct Arabic borrowings and in case of borrowing Arabic words via Persian, the phonetic criterion is irrelevant. In such cases, apart from chronological and semantic factors, we should take into account hyper-calques i.e. compound verbs and verbal idioms borrowed from Persian. Frequently, when the nominal part of such verbal structures is represented by an Arabic word, the Arabism is borrowed by Georgian as a component of a compound verb or verbal idiom. For instance: New Persian compound verb zarar dīdan < عربی zarar „to be damaged, to have losses”, New Persian verbal idiom halal-at bāšad < عربی halal-iš „he/she has earned it!, May he/she use it well! May it not be begrudged!”It has turned out that in the New Iranian period, a certain portion of Persian loans penetrated into Georgian via Turkic languages (Anatolian Turkish or Azerbaijani). This can be proved by the comparison of the Persian etymon and the corresponding Turkish/Azerbaijani and Georgian loans. For example, terzi, the phonetic form of which points to its Turkish origin: Georgian terzi „tailor of man’s clothes” < Turkish terzi (cf. Azerbaijani dərzi) < Persian darzi „tailor”; compare also another word of Azerbaijani origin: Georgian dazga < Azerbaijani dəzgah (cf. Turkish tezgâh) < Persian dastgāh „machine-tool, lathe”. Thus, the factor of mediator language in Persian-Georgian language contacts has been revealed with regard to the Middle Iranian and New Iranian stages of language development. At the same time, on both these stages, there are both direct and indirect (through mediation of some other language) contacts between Persian and Georgian.