The New International Encyclopædia/Georgian

GEORGIAN, or Iberian, or Grusinian Language. The principal language of the Caucasian group of dialects. This family of languages is divided into North and South Caucasian, the former group comprising Abkhasish, Avarish, Kasikumük or Lak, Arkish, Hürkanish, Kürinish, Udish, Tchetchentsish, and Thushish, and the latter division consisting of Georgian itself, Mingrelish, Lazish, and Suanish. The Caucasian languages, which are, broadly speaking, agglutinative in type, although they show inflection in many instances, are comparatively poor in vowels, but they abound in difficult combinations of consonants, especially of gutturals and sibilants. The noun and the verb are highly complicated, and the North Caucasian distinguishes in gender between the six categories of animate and inanimate, rational and irrational, masculine and feminine. The number system in most of the dialects is vigesimal. The Georgian is the only Caucasian dialect that has developed a literature; it begins with a translation of the Bible in the eighth century. This literature is written in a modified Armenian script, and it is quite considerable in extent. It embraces poetry, romance, history, and theology, and it reached the period of its highest development during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Bibliography. The best general outline of the Caucasian languages, including Georgian, is that of Friedrich Müller in Grundriss der Sprachwissenschaft, vol. iii., sec. 2 (Vienna, 1887). Consult also: Erckert, Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes (Vienna, 1895); Brosset, Eléments de la grammaire géorgienne (Paris, 1836); Dictionnaire géorgien-russe-français (Saint Petersburg, 1840); Leist, Georgische Dichter verdeutscht (Leipzig, 1887).