Learn Russian

well, almost-- since Грузия is the *Russian* name. In keeping with your examples, we should call it Sakartvelo :)

From:

ex-ilvar.livejournal.com

You speak about etimology of word "Georgia"?
I have to think about it :)

From:

Let me know what you discover! It's a long way from "Sakartvelo" to Грузия...

From:

ex-ilvar.livejournal.com

I think i've just didn't understand the question that time.
Sorry )

From:

"Гюрджистан" или "Гюрчистан" (по-азербайджански/турецки), вроде ближе к Georgia, чем "Грузия".. Интересно.

From:

The working language of this community is English. Please provide a translation.

From:

fixed

From:

thanks for cooperation :)

From:

Gurcistan or Gurjistan (in azerbaijanian/turkish) seems to be closer to Georgia, than Грузия. That's interesting...

From:

well, in fact no, quite the contrary, since Georgia refers to St. George.

From:

Disputable- see below.

http://www.angelfire.com/ga/georgian/history.html

Georgians do not call themselves Georgians but Kartvelebi and their land Sakartvelo. These names are derived from a pagan god called Kartlos, said to be the father of all Georgians. The foreign name Georgia, used throughout Western Europe, is mistakenly believed to come from the country’s patron saint, St George. Actually it is derived from the name s Kurj or Gurj, by which they are known to the Arabs and modern Persians. Another theory purports that the name comes from the Greek geo (earth); because when the Greeks came to Georgia they saw the Georgians working the land. The Classical world knew the inhabitants of eastern Georgia as Iberians, thus confusing the geographers of antiquity who thought this name applied only to the inhabitants of Spain. The Romans called it Iberi and the people Iberians; The Slaves called it Iveria and the peoples Ivers.

From:

Грузия is indeed the correct name... in Russian. It is called something altogether different in Georgian (грузинский язык), though. I have no idea why Грузия became Georgia in the first place. But you got Георгия most certainly from the popular male name Георгий which is Russian form of George. The heavenly patron of Грузия is Saint George (which might explain the etimology of English name - Saint George's land, страна святого Георгия).

From:

Грузия, as far as I know, derived from Persian (Iranian) name of Sakartvelo (which is the original Georgian name of the St.George's Land.)

From:

By the way, the US state is called Джорджия, never Георгия.

From:

Georgia is called "Sakartvelo" by its inhabitants. There are several stories about how Georgia received its name.

The word "Georgia" is related to the greek word for farmer, which makes sense considering that Georgia was then (and still is) agriculturally driven. At the same time, St. George is the patron saint of the country, and there might be some link between the english (British) mind re: the patron saint and the country's name.

You probably just picked up Георгия from a mistake somewhere along the way... as far as I know, Грузия is simply the Russian variant of "Georgia".

From:

"Грузия is simply the Russian variant of "Georgia""

I don't think so. The name Георгий does not have any forms similar to "Грузия".

From:

Good point. I'm not sure then how the Russians pucked up Грузия-- unless there was some sort of sound mutation. Sounds like we should take the Грузия/Георгий debate over to linguaphiles! :)

From:

urgh, that should be "picked" up. Can't type.

From:

alon_68

Georgia was transformed to Gürc (Гюрдж), Gürcüstan (Гюрджюстан) by Turks. Russian have taken this name from Turks, neither from Greek nor Georgians themselves. So, Гюрджи became грузин, and Гюрдж - Грузия.

From:

Makes sense

From:

ahh, I've heard that too, but I'm brain dead right now. Thanks for the explanation!

From:

oh, what did you study at Tbilisi State university?

From:

alon_68

Physics and microprocessor systems (это было давно и неправда :) )
А вы как-то связаны с Тбилиси и ТГУ?

From:

Я жила в Тбилиси в 1999 и 2000. Я работала с Александр Рондели; насколко Я знаю ему был глав факултета политологии в университете тогда…

typing in Russian is hard! I will practice more after my final exams are over. And how does one decline Georgian names? I wasn't sure if I should decline "Aleksandr" since I didn't decline his last name.

From:

since you wrote that in Russian, the 1st name should be declined alright, it is only last names with "neutral" or "feminine"-sounding endings which wouldn't decline (nominative vs. dative: Самвел Григорашвили - Самвелу Григорашвили, Луарсаб Саакадзе - Луарсабу Саакадзе, etc.)

From:

alon_68

Ah, thanks to your nickname, I didn't realize that you are not USSR-born person. Now I understand that you are American, aren't you? Do you have some connection to Russia/Rep. of Georgia or it's simply your scientific interest?

From:

Yes, I'm an American. I don't have any background connections to Georgia- just interest alone! I went while I was in college in 1999 and then again in 2000 to conduct research for my thesis (evaluating shevardnadze's commitment to democracy).

From:

alon_68

OK, thnx

From:

Грузия, as far as I know, derived from Persian (Iranian) name of Sakartvelo (which is the original Georgian name of the St.George's Land.)

From:

alon_68

The name Sakartvelo is derived from the ethnonym "kart" and has nothing common with St.George. Can you explain how do you see the phonetic way from "Sakartvelo" to "Грузия"?

From:

Please re-read my comment. It says that "Грузия" is derived from IRANIAN name of Georgia, while its original GEORGIAN name is "Sakartvelo".

Its Iranian name is, if I recall it from the right memory cell, GURDJISTAN, and a single Georgian is GURDJI. This became "грузин" in Russian (late 16th - early 17th century), thus "Грузия" was accepted as the name of the land formerly (12th century) occupied by the united Georgian tsardom (by that time, early 17th century, it was a bunch of semi- and fully independent princedoms and tsardoms - Imereti, Svaneti, Tusheti, Abkhazeti, Samtskhe-Saatbago, Samukhrano, Kakheti, Kartli etc.)

From:

alon_68

Sorry, if I didn't understand you earlier. I always regarded the variant "Gurj" as Turkish one as I've posted above. Actually, it can be Persian as well.

From: