Iamze Vashakidze
Caucasus University
Associate Professor
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: https://orcid.org
Raphiel Eristavi about the Vocabulary and Style
of the Georgian Literary Language
The second half of the 19th century is considered an exceptionally important period in the history of the Georgian literary language: at that time, the advanced Georgian society, contrary to the imperial policy, actively began to fight for the development of national writing and the restoration of the rights of the Georgian language in the educational and scientific spheres.
The generation that came to the public arena in the 50s, who echoed the pain of the nation from the pages of the only Georgian periodical - "Tsiskari" magazine, lamenting the problems of the Georgian literary language, prepared a strong atmosphere for Ilia Chavchavadze and the "60s" (“Samotsianelebi”) in general. A prominent representative of this generation is the famous writer, translator and researcher Rafiel Eristavi. His observation of the vocabulary and style of the literary language gave us the basis for the following conclusion:
R. Eristavi continues the tradition of scientific work with his theoretical provisions and practical work: It logically develops the methodology of the scribes of the previous period and helps to outline the correct orientation in the study of the vocabulary and style of the literary language, namely: It forms into a single system the best ideas of different/opposite positions in relation to archaic vocabulary and new words; The main principle for conveying new concepts is to use the lexical and word-forming resources of the language as much as possible, and in the absence of such resources - to borrow/translate a foreign word;
- He strives to create a solid base of literary language and use it for scientific purposes, on the one hand, he considers, collecting old manuscripts and folklore material, on the other hand, to expanding lexicological and lexicographic studies;
- At the same time, but not opposite to each other, it will raise the issues of reference style and stylistic diversity of the literary language, the positive solution of which was and is important for the development of the literary language.
Keywords: Raphiel Eristavi, 19th century Georgia, Georgian literary language