Doctor of Persian Language, Literature, and Oriental Studies
Head of the Department of Oriental Studies, Senior Research Fellow
Tamaz Beradze Institute of Georgian Studies, the University of Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia
ORCID: 0000-0002-2810-4245
a.chulukhadze@ug.edu.ge
The Semantics and Etymology of Precious Gemstones in Ancient Georgian Sources
Semantics and etymology of precious, semi-precious stones and pearls in ancient Georgian sources Precious and semi-precious stones have attracted people's attention since ancient times due to their rarity, beauty and natural properties. From the Stone Age to the late Middle Ages, people attributed magical and healing properties to precious, semi-precious stones and pearls, and they occupied a special sacred place in various religious concepts. Since ancient times, precious, semi-precious stones and pearls have been valued in Georgia and were generously used to decorate items made of precious metals for various purposes. This is evidenced by numerous artifacts of material culture found as a result of archaeological excavations. After the spread of Christianity in Georgia, special attention was paid to the special religious significance of precious and semi-precious stones, which is recorded in the Old Testament. For this purpose, On the Twelve Gems (De Gemmis) the encyclopedic work of Epiphanius of Salamis (Cyprus), was specially translated from Greek, which enjoyed great popularity as the main source on precious and semi-precious stones in the medieval Christian world. The ancient Georgian sources attest to the names of more than 50 precious and semi-precious stones, although it is assumed that the Georgians in the Middle Ages knew a much larger number of precious and semi-precious stones, the names of which are not recorded in the sources. The names of precious and semi-precious stones in Georgian, as in many other languages, sometimes cause confusion. The same precious and semi-precious stones may be registered under several, or even erroneously different, names. Most of them are borrowed to the Georgian language from Persian, some from Greek, and a small part from Arabic and Armenian came, which often indicates the origin of the corresponding precious and semi-precious stones. Certain types of precious and semi-precious stones have been mined in Georgia since ancient times, but over time some of their names were replaced by foreign borrowings and forgotten. The presented work is the first one to conduct a comprehensive semantic-etymological study and analysis of precious, semi-precious stones and pearls attested in ancient Georgian sources, which will help us to better understand and comprehend various places in ancient Georgian sources.
Keywords: precious stones, eponymous stones, semantics, etymology, Old Georgian sources, Persian loanwords, Greek loanwords, Arabic loanwords, Armenian loanwords.