Odishi ოდიში | |
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 A map of Odishi, originally by Archangelo Lamberti, 1654. | |
.svg) Flag  Coat of arms | |
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| Coordinates:42°34′30″N41°40′40″E / 42.57500°N 41.67778°E /42.57500; 41.67778 | |
| Country |  Georgia |
| Largest city | Zugdidi |
| Since the early 19th century,toponym Odishi has been supplanted bySamegrelo (Mingrelia) | |
Odishi (Georgian:ოდიში) was a historical district in westernGeorgia, the core fiefdom of the formerPrincipality of Mingrelia, with which the name "Odishi" was frequently coterminous. Since the early 19th century, thistoponym has been supplanted byMingrelia (Samegrelo).[1]
Like most historical regions of Georgia, Odishi had fluctuating borders.[2] It was bounded by theBlack Sea to the west and theTskhenistsqali river to the east; to the northwest, Odishi bordered and at times expanded intoAbkhazia; to the north were the mountains ofTakveri, that is, the letter-dayLechkhumi, andSvaneti; and theRioni river formed the border between Odishi andGuria to the south. In its narrower sense, Odishi referred to a tract of land between theInguri andTekhuri rivers, bathed by the Black Sea. The chief town and largest settlement wasZugdidi.Chqondidi atMartvili served as the principalChristian cathedral. A Georgiandemonym for the people of Odishi wasodishari.[3]
The etymology of Odishi is not clear. According toGeorgy Klimov, inMingrelian the term Odishi breaks down as Od-ish-i, where od- goes back toProto-Kartvelian *ad- (yellow azalea) and -ish- is a topoformative element.[4] There also is an explanation of this name inLaz, Odi-shi (Odişi) meaning "From Odi". The early-18th-century Georgian scholarPrince Vakhushti, who included a detailed geographical account of the region in hisDescription of the Kingdom of Georgia, suggested afolk etymology of Odishi as meaning "once [odeshi] this land was ours."[3] A modern hypothesis relates Odishi to apagan deity from the Mingrelian folklore, named Odi.[1] The name of Odishi survives in those of aplateau in western Georgia, avillage in theZugdidi Municipality, and a broadcasting company based in Zugdidi.
Odishi first appears in theGeorgian Chronicles under the reign ofQueen Tamar (r. 1184–1213) as a fief ruled by theeristavi ("duke") of the dynasty with gentilitial titles ofBediani andDadiani, derived from the respective localities. The dynasty, henceforth surnamed Dadiani, acceded to the rank of sovereign princes after the dissolution of theKingdom of Georgia in the 1490s.[5] Natively, and in the early modern Georgian historical literature, Odishi was the name of both the district and the whole Dadiani-ruled principality. The latter came to be known to the Europeans as Mingrelia after theprincipal group of people inhabiting it, but they were also familiar with Odishi as the name of one of the two principal subdivisions of the Principality of Mingrelia, the other beingLechkhumi.[6][7][8] The Georgian equivalent of Mingrelia,Samegrelo, although referenced in much earlier records, did not enter the common usage until after the imposition of theImperial Russian hegemony in 1804.[1] The Mingrelian signatory to the 1804 treaty with Russia, PrinceGrigol Dadiani, referred to himself as the "lawful Lord of Odishi, Lechkhumi, Svaneti, Abkhazia, and all the lands anciently belonging to the ancestors of mine."[9]
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