Saberdzneti (Georgian:საბერძნეთი[sabeɾdznetʰi]) was an ambiguous geographic term used inmedieval andearly modernGeorgian historical sources to refer toAncient Greece, theRoman Empire and theByzantine Empire,[1] whileberdzeni (Georgian:ბერძენი) was a name for people who lived in those states.[2] Later the namesaberdzneti came to mean simply "Greece" andberdzeni "theGreek".[3]Saberdzneti literally means "land of theberdzens" (i.e. "land of theGreeks.)[4]
The ethnonymberdzeni is presumed to be related to the pre-GreekPelasgians (Πελασγοί,Pelasgoi), it being derived from the phonetical variantpel of the rootber. Thedz ofber-dz-eni may be a variant of thePel-as-goi, as s/z may have changed to dz in Georgian. This is also indicated by the existence of the stembersen alongsideberdzen inGeorgian surnames like "Bersenadze".[5]
There is also another theory thatberdzeni was actually coined from the Georgian word "wise"brdzeni (Georgian:ბრძენი),[6] thussaberdzneti would literally mean "land where the wise men live", possibly referring to theAncient Greek philosophy.[7] The same root is also adopted inAbkhazian and Greece is referred asbarzentyla (Барзентәыла).
