| Old Georgian | |
|---|---|
| enay kartuli | |
| ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ | |
 Old Georgian ofBir el Qutt inscriptions | |
| Native to | Colchis,Kingdom of Iberia,Sasanian Iberia,Principality of Iberia,Kingdom of the Iberians,Kingdom of the Abkhazians,Theme of Iberia,Emirate of Tbilisi,Kingdom of Hereti,First Kingdom of Kakheti,Kingdom of Georgia |
| Region | Caucasus andEastern Anatolia |
| Ethnicity | Georgians |
| Era | 5th to 11th centuries, liturgical in theGeorgian Orthodox Church |
Kartvelian
| |
| Georgian script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | oge |
oge | |
| Glottolog | oldg1234 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Old Georgian (ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ,[1]enay kartuli) is aliterary language of theGeorgian monarchies attested from the 5th century. The language remains in use as theliturgical language of theGeorgian Orthodox Church and for the most part is stillintelligible. Spoken Old Georgian gave way to what is classified asMiddle Georgian in the 11th century, which in turn developed into the modernGeorgian language in the 18th century.
Two periods are distinguished within Old Georgian: Early Old Georgian (5th to 8th centuries) and Classical Old Georgian (9th to 11th centuries). Two different dialects are represented in Early Old Georgian, known as Khanmet’i (ხანმეტი, 5th to 7th c.) and Haemet’i (ჰაემეტი, 7th and 8th c.). They are so named after the presence of a second-person subject prefix and a third-person object prefixkh- orh- in the verbal morphology where Classical Old Georgian hash-,s- or zero.[2]
The corpus of Early Old Georgian texts is limited in size, consisting of a dozen inscriptions and eight manuscripts containing religious texts. The literature in Classical Old Georgian has a wider scope, including philosophical and historiographical works.
Old Georgian had 29 phonemic consonants and 5 phonemic vowels. The native spelling also distinguishes the semivowely, which is an allophone of the voweli in postvocalic position.
The table shows the consonants in theNational Transliteration System (2002). This system leaves aspiration unmarked, and marks glottalization with an apostrophe. International Phonetic Alphabet equivalents are included in square brackets when different.
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Alveo- palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sib. | |||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | aspirated | p[pʰ] | t[tʰ] | ts[tsʰ] | ch[tʃʰ] | k[kʰ] | q[qʰ] | |
| glottalized | p’[pˀ] | t’[tˀ] | ts’[tsˀ] | ch’[tʃˀ] | k’[kˀ] | q’[qˀ] | ||
| voiced | b | d | dz | j[dʒ] | g[ɡ] | [3] | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | sh[ʃ] | kh[χ] | h | |||
| voiced | z | zh[ʒ] | gh[ʁ] | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Semivowel | w | y[j] | ||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Low | a |
According to Schanidse,[4] word stress in Old Georgian fell on the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable of a word, exceptionally, stress fell on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable of a word if the word contained the question particle -Ⴀ (-a), e.g ႫႭႥႨႣႠ (móvida, "s/he/it came") but ႫႭႥႨႣႠႠ (movidáa? "Did s/he/it come?").
Old Georgian verbs arepolysynthetic withnoun incorporation was still an active morphosyntactic process; the incorporated object always precedes the head.
adgil-i-p’q’r=a
place-PRV-destroy=3SG.SUBJ.AOR
mun,
there
sada
where
or
two
dğe
days
adgil-i-p’q’r=a mun, sada i-q’=o, or dğe
place-PRV-destroy=3SG.SUBJ.AOR there where PRV-be=3SG.SUBJ.AOR two days
'he laid waste there where he was for two days'
vin
Who.NOM
aka
here
s̆ina
inside
ğ[mertma]n
God-ERG
s̆e-i-c'q'al-e-n
vin aka s̆ina tawq'an-is-x-c=es ğ[mertma]n s̆e-i-c'q'al-e-n
Who.NOM here inside worship-GEN-3SG.OBJ-give=3PL.SUBJ God-ERG PVB-PRV-bless-SCV-NOM.PL
'May God bless whoever worships inside here [this church]'
Old Georgian was written in its own alphabetic script, known asAsomtavruli "capital letters" orMrglovani "rounded". The alphabet is very nearly phonemic, showing an excellent "fit" between phonemes and graphemes. It is clearly modelled on the Greek alphabet, showing basically the same alphabetic order, and with letters representing non-Greek phonemes gathered at the end. Apart from letters for nearly all Georgian phonemes, the alphabet also contains three letters representing Greek phonemes not found in Georgian (ē,ü andō). Most individual letters seem to be entirely independent designs, with only a few based directly on their Greek counterparts (cf. GreekΦ Θ Χ [pʰ tʰ kʰ], AsomtavruliႴ Ⴇ Ⴕ).
| Greek | Α | Β | Γ | Δ | Ε | Ϝ | Ζ | Η | Θ | Ι | Κ | Λ | Μ | Ν | (Ξ) | Ο | Π | (Ϙ) | Ρ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asomtavruli | Ⴀ | Ⴁ | Ⴂ | Ⴃ | Ⴄ | Ⴅ | Ⴆ | Ⴡ | Ⴇ | Ⴈ | Ⴉ | Ⴊ | Ⴋ | Ⴌ | Ⴢ | Ⴍ | Ⴎ | Ⴏ | Ⴐ |
| Transliteration | a | b | g | d | e | v | z | ē | t | i | k’ | l | m | n | y | o | p’ | zh | r |
| Greek | Σ | Τ | Υ | Φ | Χ | (Ψ) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Ω | |
| Asomtavruli | Ⴑ | Ⴒ | Ⴣ | Ⴔ | Ⴕ | Ⴖ | Ⴗ | Ⴘ | Ⴙ | Ⴚ | Ⴛ | Ⴜ | Ⴝ | Ⴞ | Ⴤ | Ⴟ | Ⴠ | Ⴥ | |
| Transliteration | s | t’ | ü | p | k | gh | q’ | sh | ch | ts | dz | ts’ | ch’ | kh | q | j | h | ō |
Old Georgian orthography is quite consistent, in the sense that the same word is usually written in the same way in all instances. Spelling is nearly phonemic, with almost all phonemes exclusively represented by a single letter. The exceptions are described below.[5]
The most conspicuous exception to the rule that each phoneme is written with its own letter is the vowelu, which is consistently written with thedigraphႭჃ⟨oü⟩, for exampleႮႭჃႰႨ⟨p’oüri⟩p’uri "bread". This usage was evidently adopted from Greek spelling, which writes/u/ as⟨ου⟩. In the later Nuskhuri script, the original digraphⴍⴣ⟨oü⟩ merged into a single letterⴓ⟨u⟩ (modern Mkhedruli scriptუ). A matching Asomtavruli single-letter counterpartႳ was then devised; this letter was not part of the original alphabet, and was not used in the Old Georgian period.
The semivowelw is written in two ways, depending on its position within the word. When it occurs directly after a consonant, it is written with the digraphႭჃ⟨oü⟩, for exampleႹႭჃႤႬ⟨choüen⟩chwen "we",ႢႭჃႰႨႲႨ⟨goürit’i⟩gwrit’i "turtledove". The digraphႭჃ⟨oü⟩ thus represents bothw andu, without differentiation in the spelling, for exampleႵႭჃႧႨ⟨khoüti⟩khuti "five" vs.ႤႵႭჃႱႨ⟨ekoüsi⟩ekwsi "six".
In all other positions,w is written with the letterႥ⟨v⟩, for exampleႧႭႥႪႨ⟨tovli⟩towli "snow",ႥႤႪႨ⟨veli⟩weli "field",ႩႠႰႠႥႨ⟨k’aravi⟩k’arawi "tent".
The two spellings ofw clearly represent an allophonic variation like the one described for modern Georgian,[6] between[w] in postconsonantal position and[ʋ] or[β] in other positions. In modern Georgian spelling (as standardized in 1879), both[w] and[ʋ/β] are consistently written withვ⟨v⟩, and spellings withႥ⟨v⟩ instead of the expectedႭჃ⟨oü⟩ are already found in Old Georgian.[7]
The initial voweli- of a case suffix is realized asy- after a vowel, and this allophonicy has its own letter in the alphabet, for example:
ႣႤႣႠჂ ႨႤႱႭჃჂႱႠ
⟨deday iesoüysa⟩
deda-y iesu-ysa
mother-NOM Jesus-GEN
"the mother of Jesus"
The Asomtavruli alphabet contains three letters which are not needed for the writing of native words:Ⴡ⟨ē⟩,Ⴣ⟨ü⟩ andჅ⟨ō⟩. These were added to the alphabet in order to make possible a letter-for-letter transliteration of Greek names and loanwords. They were indeed occasionally used to write the Greek vowelsē (ēta),ü (ypsilon) andō (ōmega). As these vowels are alien to Georgian, they were replaced in actual pronunciation byey,wi andow respectively, as can be deduced from old variant spellings, and from corresponding modern forms. For example, GreekΑἴγυπτος is writtenႤႢჃႮႲႤ⟨egüp’t’e⟩egwip’t’e "Egypt" (cf. modern Georgianეგვიპტეegvip’t’e).
In native words, the letterჅ⟨ō⟩ was mainly used to write the vocative particle, for example:
Ⴥ
⟨ō
o
ႣႤႣႨႩႠႺႭ
dedik’atso⟩
dedik’atso
Ⴥ ႣႤႣႨႩႠႺႭ
⟨ō dedik’atso⟩
o dedik’atso
"o woman!"
The lettersჁ⟨ē⟩ andჃ⟨ü⟩ on the other hand were frequently used in the spelling of native words, as a short-hand way of representing the sequencesey andwi, for exampleႫႤႴჁ⟨mepē⟩mepey "king",ႶჃႬႭჂ⟨ghünoy⟩ghwinoy "wine". Spelling can thus vary within a paradigm, for exampleႱႨႲႷႭჃႠჂ⟨sit’q’oüay⟩sit’q’wa-y "word" (nominative case) vs.ႱႨႲႷჃႱႠ⟨sit’q’üsa⟩sit’q’w-isa (genitive).[8] The sequencesey andwi could also be written out in full however, for exampleႫႤႴႤჂ⟨mepey⟩mepey,ႶႭჃႨႬႭჂ⟨ghoüinoy⟩ghwinoy "wine" (alsoႶჃႨႬႭჂ⟨ghüinoy⟩, a mixed spelling).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)| Grammar |  | |
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| Writing | ||
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