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Thomas Wier

@trwier.bsky.social

1.2K followers 690 following 590 posts

Linguist & Caucasologist • Professor at the Free University of Tbilisi • Research languages of the Caucasus, the Tonkawa language • Author of 'Tonkawa Texts' • Weekly Georgian Etymologies Academic research: https://freeuni.academia.edu/ThomasWier

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · Nov 13

I just set up a Starter Pack for people doing research or have interest in the languages and linguistics of the Caucasus! If you want to be on it, let me know!

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 8h

They are definitely native to Georgian as far back as we can reconstruct the language. They are also found in all the other autochthonous families (Abkhaz-Adyghean and Nakh-Daghestanian), very old in the region. In Ossetian they result from borrowings mostly from Georgian.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 8h

But when did Kartvelian languages come into contact with Akkadian? Akkadian had already become a trade language in eastern Anatolia by the late 3rd mill. BCE, and ceased to be spoken there after the Fall of Assyria. Probably the word spread through trade and diplomatic networks such as these:

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

Across languages, a shift in meaning from one weather phenomenon to another is commonplace:

English dew < PIE *dʰewh₂- smoke, haze
Lithuanian rūkas fog < West Germanic raukijas smoke
Latin cālīgō fog, vapor < PIE *kel- be dark
French brume fog < Latin brūma winter

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

The Georgian-Zan root is in turn a loan from Akkadian 𒈾𒀊𒋗 nalšum dew, more likely from a northern Assyrian dialect which shifted *š > s. This noun is derived from the verb 𒈾𒆷𒀀𒋗 nalāšum to fall as dew, which is of unknown origin but probably neither Semitic nor Sumerian.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

ნისლი nisli is clearly reconstructible to Georgian-Zan *nisɬ, as it appears in related Megrelian ნირსი nirsi with regular sound-changes: *ɬ regularly becomes /r/ in Megrelian in non-initial position. Megrelian also frequently metathesizes *sr sequences:

*nisɬ > *nisr- > nirs-

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

Which translates: "But he says: 'Come near to repentance!' and, like fog, all evils will be taken from him"

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

The word is first attested in 9th century Old Georgian texts, such as a translation of St Meletius of Antioch's work on repentance: არამედ იტყჳს: „მიეახლე სინანულსა!” და ვითარცა ნისლნი, განეძარცუნენ მისგან ყოველნი უკეთურებანი

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 10h

Weekly Georgian Etymology: ნისლი nisli 'fog, mist', from Old Georgian ႬႨႱႪႨ nisli, from Georgian-Zan *nisɬ- fog, metathesis of Akkadian 𒈾𒀊𒋗 nalšum dew, deverbal noun of 𒈾𒆷𒀀𒋗 nalāšum fall as dew. Across languages, 'fog' words are often related to other weather phenomena.

Gergeti Monastery in Stepantsminda, Georgia, shrouded in fog and clouds

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

This is not true though. Today the wine industry (including vineyards and the entire wine value chain) employs around 680k-700k people in the US; only around 60k of these are directly in vineyards. Coal at its peak in the 1920s employed around 800k-900k people.

Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

In both Greek and Mesopotamian art, the κάλαθος and the 𒄭𒆷𒌅 ḫallatum became metaphors for prosperity, which is the origin of our modern notion of the cornucopia. Here for example is King Ashurbanipal of Assyria holding aloft a basket representing wealth:

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

In Greek the word is fairly old; it is already attested in the 5th century BCE play 'The Birds' by Aristophanes, but has no agreed upon origin; Beekes suggests it is 'pre-Greek'. A more plausible alternative is Akkadian 𒄭𒆷𒌅 ḫallatum, a kind of basket used to ship goods.

The world's oldest intact basket was found in the Judean desert in Muraba’at Cave, dating to around 10,000 years before present.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

The Old Georgian word is in turn a late Byzantine borrowing from Greek κάλαθος, which probably referred to a specific type of basket with 'top hat' and a narrow base. Though few/no wicker originals survive, we see them depicted on ancient Greek pottery for storing wool:

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

In modern Georgian, most nouns that end in -a truncate in the genitive and instrumental cases:

NOM კაბა ḳaba 'dress'
GEN კაბის ḳabis
INST კაბით ḳabit

Something similar must have happened to კალათა ḳalata, but in reverse.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

The modern word in -a represents a reanalysis of the Old Georgian form in -i. This is likely because early speakers heard the unfamiliar word in an inflected form like კალათისა ḳalatisa or კალათთა ḳalatta and interpreted it as truncating: ḳalat-i > ḳalat-isa >> ḳalat-a.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

The word is first attested in an 11th century translation of Flavius Josephus' Jewish Antiquities: რამეთუ სჯული იყო იუდელთა მეკარვეობასა შინა ქონებად ითოეული კალათთა ფჳნიკითა და კიტრაჲთა 'For it was the rule amongst Jewish guards to have a basket of dates and cucumbers'

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 16d

Weekly Georgian Etymology: კალათა ḳalata 'basket', from late Old Georgian ႩႠႪႠႧႨ ḳalati, from Greek κάλαθος basket, probably from Akkadian 𒄭𒆷𒌅 ḫallatum basket for transporting goods, from Sumerian 𒂁𒄬 hal pot, basket.

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Thomas Wier @trwier.bsky.social · 21d

For those who want to follow me in a more visual format, I now also make my weekly post about Georgian historical linguistics on Instagram at: www.instagram.com/georgian_ety...

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