ძამლი
Old Georgian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Attested only once in the translation of Physiologus.
Marr, unaware of the Kartvelian origin of the obscure ძამლი (ʒamli), supposed that მწავ[ი] ძამლი (mc̣av[i] ʒamli) represented a partial calque of Old Armenian շնջրի (šnǰri, “otter”, literally “aquatic dog”) thus considering ძამლი (ʒamli) to be a miswriting of ძაღლი (ʒaɣli) and corrupting the phrase to მწავ-ძაღლი (mc̣av-ʒaɣli, literally “otter-dog”). This incorrect assumption was accepted by other scholars and henceforth copied into other dictionaries of Old Georgian.[1]
Marr's theory however was rejected by Gigineišvili, according to whom a miswriting of ძამლი (ʒamli) instead of ძაღლი (ʒaɣli) is hard to accept due to the fact that მ (m) and ღ (ɣ) don't look similar in any of the alphabets (cf., Ⴋ against Ⴖ in Asomtavruli, ⴋ against ⴖ in Nuskhuri). Furthermore he notices the relationship of ძამლი (ʒamli) with Laz ძემური (żemuri, “rat; squirrel”), for which he reconstructs Proto-Georgian-Zan *ʒaml- (“rat”), thus making the need to change text in anyway obsolete.[2] Accepted by Fähnrich and Klimov.[3][4]
Noun[edit]
ძამლი • (ʒamli)
- rat
- c. 970 CE, Physiologus Chapter XXVIII:[5]
- [...] მწავ[ი] ძამლი მდინარისაჲ არს.
- [...] mc̣av[i] ʒamli mdinarisay ars.
- [...] the otter is a river rat
- [...] მწავ[ი] ძამლი მდინარისაჲ არს.
References[edit]
- ^ Marr, N. (1904) Тексты и разыскания по армяно-грузинской филологии. Книга VI. Физиолог. Армяно-грузинский извод [Texts and research in Armenian–Georgian philology. Book VI. Physiologus. Armenian–Georgian recension] (Издания Факультета восточных языков Императорского С.-Петербургского университета; 5), Saint Petersburg: Academy Press, page 117
- ^ Gigineišvili, Bakar (1980) “"Saxismeṭq̇uelis" Kartuli targmanis erti adgilis gagebisatvis [On the interpretation of a passage in the Georgian translation of the Physiologus]”, in Mravaltavi: pilologiur-isṭoriuli ʒiebani (in Georgian), volume 7, Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 123―126
- ^ Fähnrich, Heinz (2007) Kartwelisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch [Kartvelian Etymological Dictionary] (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.18) (in German), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 587
- ^ Klimov, G. A. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (Trends in linguistics. Documentation; 16), New York, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, page 277
- ^ Gigineišvili Bakar and Giunašvili Elguǯa, editors (1979), Šaṭberdis ḳrebuli X sauḳunisa [The Shatberdi Codex of X Century] (Ʒveli kartuli mc̣erlobis ʒeglebi; 1)[1] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 188
Further reading[edit]
- Abulaʒe, Ilia (1973) “მწავ-ძაღლი”, in Ʒveli kartuli enis leksiḳoni (masalebi) [Dictionary of Old Georgian (Materials)][2] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 309a, accepts the form corrupted by Marr
- Sardshweladse, Surab, Fähnrich, Heinz (2005) “ძამლი”, in Altgeorgisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch (Handbook of Oriental Studies; VIII.12), with the collaboration of Irine Melikishvili and Sopio Sardshweladse, Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 1468b