Chapter 6

Divisions.—1. Eastern Georgians. 2. Western Georgians. 3. South-western Georgians. 4. Northern Georgians.

Locality.—The head-waters of the Kur.Name.—Cartulinian, from the Province called Carthueli, the ancient Iberia. The Cartulinian dialect is the Georgian of Teflis, and the Georgian of the Georgian literature.Alphabet.—Peculiar. Probably derived from the Armenian.

Locality.—The head-waters of the Kur.

Name.—Cartulinian, from the Province called Carthueli, the ancient Iberia. The Cartulinian dialect is the Georgian of Teflis, and the Georgian of the Georgian literature.

Alphabet.—Peculiar. Probably derived from the Armenian.

Localities.—Guriel, Imeretia, and Mingrelia,i.e., the valley of Phasis.Name.—Mingrelian.Language.—More like the Lazic than it is to either the Cartulinian or the Suanic.

Localities.—Guriel, Imeretia, and Mingrelia,i.e., the valley of Phasis.

Name.—Mingrelian.

Language.—More like the Lazic than it is to either the Cartulinian or the Suanic.

Locality.—Lazistan.Geographical Limits.—From the promontory of Kyemer-Burnu, east of Rizeh, east of Trebizond to the mouth of the Tchorok, south of Batoum. Not further than the Tchorok inland.Political Relations.—Subject to Turkey.Religion.—Mahometan; converted about 1580,A.D.Previously (at least in the reign of Justinian) Christians of the Greek Church.Alphabet.—Arabic. Native literature none or scanty. Sub-dialects numerous, according to Rosen one for almost every valley. Greek words intermixed; some, probably, of considerable antiquity.

Locality.—Lazistan.

Geographical Limits.—From the promontory of Kyemer-Burnu, east of Rizeh, east of Trebizond to the mouth of the Tchorok, south of Batoum. Not further than the Tchorok inland.

Political Relations.—Subject to Turkey.

Religion.—Mahometan; converted about 1580,A.D.Previously (at least in the reign of Justinian) Christians of the Greek Church.

Alphabet.—Arabic. Native literature none or scanty. Sub-dialects numerous, according to Rosen one for almost every valley. Greek words intermixed; some, probably, of considerable antiquity.

Locality.—The head-waters of the Tzchenistoquali, or Lasch-churi; the Hippus of the ancients.Name.—Suanic.Conterminous withthe Northern Mingrelian dialects of the Georgian, and the Absné dialect of the Circassian. Less like any of the other Georgian dialects than they are to each other. The Suanians call—Themselves,S`wan.The Caratschai Turks,Ows.The Absné,Mibchaz.The Irôn,Sawi-ar.The East Georgians,M`karts.The West Georgians,Mimrel.The Mingrelians,Mumgrel.

Locality.—The head-waters of the Tzchenistoquali, or Lasch-churi; the Hippus of the ancients.

Name.—Suanic.

Conterminous withthe Northern Mingrelian dialects of the Georgian, and the Absné dialect of the Circassian. Less like any of the other Georgian dialects than they are to each other. The Suanians call—

Descent.—As the Georgians may reasonably be considered to be the aborigines of the locality which they, atpresent, inhabit, they come before us as an ancient people. The Greek poet, who first sung of the Argonauts, knew, at least, enough of Colchis to make it a local habitation for his heroine—though that was not knowing much. The earliest navigator of the Euxine knew more; for, possibly, at a period anterior to the colonization of Asia Minor, he knew it as a real land. The Ægyptians, at the time of Herodotus, knew enough of it to claim it as a conquest of the great Sesostris. With this claim the question ofpurityof the Georgian race commences.

Two separate and definite immigrations have been supposed to have introduced into Colchis new ethnological elements.

1.The settlement from Ægypt under the reign of the Great Sesostris.

In §§ 103-105, of his Second Book, Herodotus writes thus:—Sesostris "overturned both the Scythians and the Thracians; and here, in my mind, the Ægyptian army reached its furthest point. Thus far the pillars in question appear; beyond, there are none. From these parts he turned back, and when he came to the river Phasis, I am unable to say truly, which of two things occurred; whether the King himself, having separated a portion of his army, left it as a settlement in the country, or whether some of his soldiers, harassed by their wanderings, stayed behind on that river. For the Colchians are evidently Ægyptians. I say this, having observed it myself, before I heard from any one else. And, whilst I was considering it, I asked both; and the Colchians remembered the Ægyptians better than Ægyptians the Colchians. The Ægyptians said, that they thought that the Colchians were from the army of Sesostris. This is what I guessed myself, from the fact of their being bothblack-skinned and curly-haired. This, however, goes for nothing. Others are so also. The main reason is that the Colchians, the Ægyptians, and the Æthiopians are the only men who originally practised circumcision: since the Phœnicians and the Syrians of Palestine confess that they learned it of the Ægyptians; whilst the Syrians about the rivers Thermodon and Parthenius, and the Macrones, who are their neighbours, say that they learned it recently, from the Colchians. Come, now, I must mention another fact concerning the Colchians, wherein they resemble the Ægyptians. They and the Ægyptians are the only ones who work flax in the same way. And the whole manner of life and language are mutually alike. The flax from Colchis is called by the Greeks,Sardonicon: that from Ægypt,Ægyptian."

As no external evidence will make it probable that the Georgians,as a nation, are of Ægyptian origin, and as, on the other hand, Herodotus speaks from personal observation, the exact truth is not easily attainable. Probably, there was an Ægyptian colony on the Black Sea. Possibly—though not probably—the Colchians were not Dioscurian aborigines, but immigrants.

2.The Orpelian settlement from China.—In the thirteenth century, according to those who are most willing to allow a comparatively high antiquity to Armenian literature, a work was composed in Armenian, by Stephen, Archbishop of Siounia. In this, it is stated that a noble family, calledOuhrbélêan, or Orpelian, entered Georgia, settled on the frontiers of Orpeth, and became the founders of one of the great families of Georgia; to which family the historian himself belonged. Finally, it is added, that this family came fromDjenasdanorChina. This is probably a mere tradition; one which, even if true, woulddenote an immigration wholly unconnected with the real ante-historical relations between Caucasus and the Seriform area.

Thetrueelements of intermixture with the Georgian family have been Greek, Persian, Armenian, Turk, and Russian; as may be collected from the history of the country. The amount of Lesgian, Irôn, Mizjeji, and Circassian blood is uncertain.

The safest view to be taken of the history of Georgian civilization is to remember that, different as may be the languages of Georgia and Armenia, the political history and the local relations are alike, and have generally been so. The Christianity of Georgia was from Armenia; so was its literature; so also its alphabet—although in their present rounded form its letters are very unlike the square and angular characters of Armenia.

Locality.—Eastern Caucasus, or Daghestan.Name.—No nativegeneralname. Called by the Circassians Hhannoatshe; by the Tshetshentsh, Suéli.Dialects.—1. Avar, spoken by the tribe who call themselves Marulan,=mountaineers, from Marul=mountain. Falling into the Anzukh, Tshari, Andi, Kabutsh, Dido(?), Unso(?) sub-dialects. 2. Kasikumuk. 3. Akush—sub-dialect Kubitsh. 4. Kura of South Daghestan.

Locality.—Eastern Caucasus, or Daghestan.

Name.—No nativegeneralname. Called by the Circassians Hhannoatshe; by the Tshetshentsh, Suéli.

Dialects.—1. Avar, spoken by the tribe who call themselves Marulan,=mountaineers, from Marul=mountain. Falling into the Anzukh, Tshari, Andi, Kabutsh, Dido(?), Unso(?) sub-dialects. 2. Kasikumuk. 3. Akush—sub-dialect Kubitsh. 4. Kura of South Daghestan.

Locality.—West and north-west of the Lesgians.Name.—Not native.Divisions.—1. Galgai, Halha, or Ingúsh. 2. Kharabulakh or Arshte. 3. Tshetshentsh. 4. Tushi.

Locality.—West and north-west of the Lesgians.

Name.—Not native.

Divisions.—1. Galgai, Halha, or Ingúsh. 2. Kharabulakh or Arshte. 3. Tshetshentsh. 4. Tushi.

Locality.—Central Caucasus; conterminous with the Mizjeji on the East, the Georgians on the south, the Circassians on the north, and Imeretia on the west.Name.—Called by themselves Irôn, by the Georgians, Osi (Plural Oseti).

Locality.—Central Caucasus; conterminous with the Mizjeji on the East, the Georgians on the south, the Circassians on the north, and Imeretia on the west.

Name.—Called by themselves Irôn, by the Georgians, Osi (Plural Oseti).

As the single skull of the Georgian female did all the mischief in the physiological ethnography of Caucasus, an Irôn vocabulary has been the prime source of error inthe way of its philology. Klaproth considered that the number of words common to the Irôn[40]and Persian languages was sufficient to place the former amongst the Indo-European languages. More than this, there were historical grounds for believing that the Irôn was the ancient language of Media[41]—also of the Alani of the later Roman empire. No man believed all this more than the present writer until the appearance of Rosen's sketch of the Irôn (Ossetic) grammar. He now believes that the Irôn is more Chinese than Indo-European.

Assuming, however, that Klaproth's position is correct, it follows that as the Georgian is undoubtedly akin to the Irôn, it may be Indo-European also. This is the view taken by Professor Bopp, from whose work, in favour of this position of the Georgian, the criticism relating to the numerals was taken. The method is as exceptionable as the result. If the Georgian be Indo-European, the Chinese is Indo-European also; and if the vaunted laws concerning the permutation and transition of letters lead to such philological leger-de-main as is to be found in more than one work of the German school, our scholarship is taking a retrograde direction.

However, the character of the Irôn grammar is as follows:—

The declension of nouns is simple; being limited to two numbers and four cases. Herein the inflection expressive of number can be separated from the inflection expressive of case—asfid-i=of a father,fid-t`-i=of fathers. Furthermore, the sign of casefollowsthat of number. Such is the structure of case and number in Irôn, and such thesequenceof the respective inflections expressive of each.

The comparative degree is formed by the addition of -dar; aschorz=good,chorz-dar=better. This has an Indo-European look. Compare it with the -τερ of the Greek comparatives. No superlative inflection.

The true personal pronouns (i. e., those of the two first persons) are as follows;—

1.Az=I. Defective in the oblique cases.

2.Man, orma—Defective in the nominative singular.

The signs of the persons are considered to be eminently Indo-Germanic. They are-in,-is,-i;-am,-ut`,-inc`;e. g.

I am as little prepared to deny as to affirm the likeness.

The addition of the sound ofthelpsto form the Irôn preterite. I sayhelps, because if we compare the forms-ko-t-on=I made, with the rootkan, or the formfé-qus-t-on=I heard, with the rootqus, we see, at once, that the addition oftis only apartof an inflection. Nevertheless, I am as little prepared to deny as to affirm its identity with the Persiand.

Beyond this, the tenses become complicated; and that because they are evidently formed by the agglutination of separate words; the so-called imperfect being undoubtedly formed by affixing the preterite form of the wordto make; thus used as an auxiliary. The perfect and future seem similarly formed, from the auxiliary=be.

This may be collected from the following paradigms.

Root, kus =hear.

Infinitive, qus-in.

Participles, Qus-ag, qus-gond, qus-in-ag.

It may safely be said, that no Dioscurian language ismoreIndo-European than the Irôn.

Locality.—West Caucasus.Divisions.—1. True Circassians, calling themselvesAdigé. 2. Absné.Sub-divisionsof the Absné. 1. Absné. 2. Tepanta (or Altekesek).

Locality.—West Caucasus.

Divisions.—1. True Circassians, calling themselvesAdigé. 2. Absné.

Sub-divisionsof the Absné. 1. Absné. 2. Tepanta (or Altekesek).

It may safely be said that no Dioscurian language islessIndo-European than the Circassian. Such being the case, its grammar forms a proper complement to that of the Irôn.

In respect to its sounds, it has the credit, even in Caucasus, of being the most harsh and disagreeable language of the Caucasian area; consonants being accumulated, and hiatus being frequent.

The declensional inflections are preeminently scanty.In English substantives there is a sign for the possessive case, and for none other. In Absné there is not even this—ab=father,ácĕ=horse;ab ácĕ=father's horse, (verbally,father horse). In expressions like these, position does the work of an inflection.

Judging from Rosen's example, the use of prepositions is as limited as that of inflections,sara s-ab ácĕ ist`ap I my-father horse give, orgiving am;abna amus`w izbit=wood bear see-did=I saw a bear in the wood;awinĕ wi as`wkĕ=(in)house two doors;ácĕ sis`lit=(on)horse mount-I-did.

Hence declension begins with the formation of the plural number. This consists in the addition of the syllablek`wa.

In the pronouns there is as little inflection as in the substantives and adjectives,i. e.there are no forms corresponding tomihi,nobis, &c.

1. When the pronoun signifies possession, it takes an inseparable form, is incorporated with the substantive that agrees with it, and iss-for the first,w-for the second, andi-for the third person singular. Then for the plural it ish-for the first person,s`-for the second,r-for the third:ab=father;

2. When the pronoun is governed by a verb, it is inseparable also; and similarly incorporated.

3. Hence, the only inseparable form of the personal pronoun is, when it governs the verb. In this case the forms are:

Insa-ra,wa-ra,ha-ra,s`a-ra, the-rais non-radical. The wordu-bart`is a compound.

The ordinal=first isachani. This seems formed fromaka=one.

The ordinal=second isagi. This seems unconnected with the wordwi-=two; just as in English,secondhas no etymological connection withtwo.

The remaining ordinals are formed regularly, by prefixing to the radical part of their respective cardinals,-a, and affixing-nto.

In the Absné verbs the distinction of time is the only distinction denoted by any approach to the character of an inflection; and here the change has so thoroughly the appearance of having been effected by the addition of some separate and independent words, that it is doubtful whether any of the following forms can be considered as true inflections. They arecompounds;i. e.forms likecan't,won't,I'll(=I will), rather than forms likespeaks,spoke, τέ-τυφ-α, &c.

The person and number is shown by the pronoun. And here must be noticed a complication. The pronoun appears in two forms:—

1st. In full,sara,wara, &c.

2nd. As an inseparable prefix; the radical letter being prefixed and incorporated with the verb. It cannot, however, be said that this is a true inflection.

1.Sing.1.sara s-c'wisl-oit=I ride2.wara u-c'wisl-oit=thou ridest3.ui i-c'wisl-oit=he rides.2.Plur.1.hara ha-c'wisl-oit=we ride2.s`ara s`-c'wisl-oit=ye ride3.ubart r-c'wisl-oit=they ride.

Original area.—The northward extension of the present Circassian area is limited by the Russians and the Nogay Turks. Now, as each of these areas hasencroached, it is reasonable to believe that, at an earlier period, Circassian tribes may have extended further northward than at present. At the same time we must be careful not to carry them too far; otherwise we infringe the area of the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other nations of antiquity; who, whatever else they were, were not very likely to have been Circassian. Some point between the Cuban and the Don is the likeliest limit for the most northern Circassians. The old line of frontier on the Caucasian side is incapable of determination.

Amongst the ancestors of the present Circassians are, most probably, the Zychi (Achæi), Abasgi, Heniochi, Cercetæ, Makropogones, Sindians, &c.

The question as to the original population of the country which now separates the nearest point of the Dioscurian area from the Seriform, will be considered in the section upon the distribution of the Iranian portion of the Indo-European division of the Iapetidæ. The following is a selection of words common to the Dioscurian and Aptotic languages:—

FOOTNOTES:[36]Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. 52.[37]Frompauros=few, andsyllabæ=syllable.[38]Dialects of the Georgian.[39]It is a general accredited fact, that in some cardinals we have the sign of the ordinal. Thus the-mindece-m, as compared with δέκα, is reasonably supposed to be the-m-indeci-m-us.[40]Quoted under the nameOssetic.[41]Asia Polyglotta, vox,Osseti.[42]Fid=father.[43]Moi=husband.[44]Ordachi.[45]Or fa-ko-t-on, &c.[46]Non-radical.[47]Or,am in the habit of riding.[48]The different dots denote the different classes of languages—the first the English, the second the Dioscurian, the third the Aptotic dialects.

[36]Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap. 52.

[37]Frompauros=few, andsyllabæ=syllable.

[38]Dialects of the Georgian.

[39]It is a general accredited fact, that in some cardinals we have the sign of the ordinal. Thus the-mindece-m, as compared with δέκα, is reasonably supposed to be the-m-indeci-m-us.

[40]Quoted under the nameOssetic.

[41]Asia Polyglotta, vox,Osseti.

[42]Fid=father.

[43]Moi=husband.

[44]Ordachi.

[45]Or fa-ko-t-on, &c.

[46]Non-radical.

[47]Or,am in the habit of riding.

[48]The different dots denote the different classes of languages—the first the English, the second the Dioscurian, the third the Aptotic dialects.

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