ფიმფილი

Laz

Alternative forms

• ფინბილი (pinbili) — Atina
• ფიმბილი (pimbili) — Atina, Vizha, Okordule, Chanapeti

Etymology

Borrowed from Georgian ფიმფილი (pimpili, “corn hair; earlobe”), itself from Proto-Georgian-Zan *pimp-, whence also Mingrelian ფიმფი (pimpi, “corn hair”).

Noun

ფიმფილი • (pimpili) (Latin spelling pimpili) (Okordule, Sumla, Arkabi, Khopa–Batumi, Chkhala)

1. beard

   Synonym: ჩენგე (çenge)

   ბიჭეფეზ ფიმფილი ჲუხთამტაშა ოღუნე ფუზური აჩანენ

   biç̌epez pimpili yuxtamťaşa oğune puzuri açanen

   Men grow fine hairs before they grow a beard

Further reading

• Adjarian, H. (1898) “Étude sur la langue laze”, in Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris (in French), volume X, page 382, also glosses ფიმფილონი (pimpiloni, “king”, literally “bearded”).
• Bucaklişi, İsmail Avcı, Uzunhasanoğlu, Hasan (1999) Lazca-Türkçe Sözlük / Lazuri-Turkuli Nenapuna [Laz–Turkish dictionary] (in Turkish), Istanbul: Akyüz Yayıncılık, page 296, compares Mingrelian ფრიმული (primuli), which is probably not related.
• Tandilava, Ali (2013) “ფიმფილი”, in Merab Čuxua, Natela Kutelia, Lile Tandilava, Lali Ezugbaia, editors, Lazuri leksiḳoni [Laz Dictionary]‎^[1], online version prepared by Levan Vašaḳiʒe, Tbilisi
• Kiria, Č̣abuḳi, Ezugbaia, Lali, Memišiši, Omar, Čuxua, Merab (2015) Lazur-megruli gramaṭiḳa [Laz–Mingrelian Grammar] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Gamomcemloba Meridiani, page 842
• Čikobava, Arnold (1938) Č̣anur-megrul-kartuli šedarebiti leksiḳoni [Laz–Megrel–Georgian Comparative Dictionary] (Works; IV) (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, published 2008, page 72―73
• Marr, N. (1910) “ფიმფილი”, in Грамматика чанского (лазского) языка с хрестоматией и словарем [Grammar of the Chan (Laz) Language with a Reader and a Dictionary] (Материалы по яфетическому языкознанию; 2) (in Russian), Saint Petersburg: Academy Press, page 198a―199b