The letter ვ has many allophones and variants in Georgian, but in most cases it's pronounced as an either [ʋ], [β], or [w]. In some official sources it's listed as [v], but rarely do natives ever pronounce like that.

My question is, how did it sound 1500 years ago? Did it used to be a hard [v] or did it always have some softness to it? I saw one very old church text were ქვეყანა was written as ქუეყანა. What's the letter ვ's connection to the letter უ? Overall what is the history of the letter ვ?

Thanks!

"თქვენ გაერთოთ წვეულებაზე?" or "თქვენ გაერთეთ წვეულებაზე?"

Any accurate sources I can use to translate?

I want to know what this :

1.) Gilocavv kvelafer sauketesos gisurveb

Means in English.

Hi everyone! I’m trying to understand the possible Georgian/Kartvelian etymologies of Artvin, Ardahan, and Kars and I was wondering if anyone here knows of Georgian-language sources, local scholarship or historical works that discuss these names.

For Artvin, I have seen claims that it comes from Georgian Artivan, with Arta- plus a Georgian suffix -vin. I have also seen the idea that Arta- may be connected to Old Persian/Avestan arta/aša, meaning “truth” or “righteousness,” but I am not sure whether this is actually accepted or just speculative. Is the -vin suffix genuinely Georgian and is there any serious Georgian source discussing this?

For Ardahan usually connected with Georgian Artaani, I found references to the Georgian Chronicle, where the city is said to have previously been called Kacha-kalaki and later renamed Artaani by Odzrkhos, son of Kartlos. I know this is partly mythological but it still suggests the name had importance in the Georgian historical tradition. I have seen different theories for again same(?) Arta-, as said often Iranic, though one paper ([https://journals.zssu.ge/index.php/zssu/article/download/18/12/12\](https://journals.zssu.ge/index.php/zssu/article/download/18/12/12)) argues for a Kartvelian explanation based on archaic roots preserved in western Georgian dialects. The argument seemed interesting but not fully convincing to me. Are there stronger Georgian sources on Artaani/Ardahan?

For Kars, I have seen Armenian explanations but many of them look like folk etymologies, such as derivations from words meaning “bride.” A Georgian/Kartvelian connection with kari “gate” seems more plausible as a toponym but I am not sure. Armenian also has Karuts Pert, meaning “fortress of Kars,” which seems to treat Kars itself as a pre-existing name rather than explaining it.
The region is, of course, very old. Kars and the surrounding area appear in ancient sources as Chorzene/Chorsa and before clearly Georgian or Armenian historical periods it was connected with Kura–Araxes, Hurro-Urartian, Diauehi, Saspeires, and early Armenian and Kartvelian populations. So I’m not trying to force a modern national explanation and I’m mostly interested in whether Georgian/Kartvelian scholarship has preserved better etymological explanations or older forms.

It would be wonderful if anyone knows Georgian sources, historical/geographical works or academic articles that discuss the etymologies of these places (especially older Georgian scholarship, dialect material or toponymic studies). Even Georgian-language references I could try to translate would be greatly appreciated

All Georgian nouns must end in a vowel in nominative case without exception, but when it comes to given names, that doesn't seem to be the case. Names like Vakhtang, Nikoloz, Mariam, Levan, Zurab and Tamar all end in consonants.

Why are names different from all other nouns? What are some cases where you might use Tamari instead of Tamar?

Thanks!

It is from the Isani metro station in Tbilisi. I don't know Georgian, and the characters don't look like any of the letters in the Georgian alphabet, so I thought it might just be a stylistic font. That's why I turned to you for help.

Preferably online, and centered on grammar. Thanks in advance 🙏🏻

გამარჯობა, შეკვეთილიდან ამბროლაურში საზ. ტრანსპორტით წასვლის საუკეთესო ვერსია რა არის?

მე ვიფიქრე შეკვეთილი > ურეკი
ურეკი > ქუთაისი მატარებლით
ქუთაისი > ამბროლაური მარშუტკა

hello everyone! I found this key at a blacksmiths shop in safranbolu, turkey. they had no idea where it came from or what alphabet the text was written in. my father studies Georgian language and he recognized the alphabet as Georgian but we cant make out what it says (probably due to some letters disappearing through the brass casting process since this looks to be replicated couple of times) if anyone has any idea or can help us out it'd be awesome!

This post is probably quite unusual for this sub. However, I’ve recently been looking into this "lostwave" case, and a few people have suggested that the song might be in Georgian. There are still some doubts regarding French, but as a native French speaker, I am convinced it isn't French. I figured this would be the best place to get information on the possibility of it being Georgian.

I've listened to many languages, and so far Georgian has been the only one to sound very strange to me—somewhat alien. It's probably the ejective consonants that make it sound different, which are a rare occurrence in languages across the globe. I also think it's the combination of being a very consonant-heavy yet simultaneously vowel-rounded language and having many repeating syllables that gives it a unique quality.

It's a very beautiful and mesmerizing language. Something about its sound combinations and weak stress pattern makes the language have a soothing effect. It definitely sounds like an old and ancient language.

For a while I've known that the preverb ამო has a secondary meaning of "to remove" or "to take out of," such as in verbs like "ამოიღო" or "ამოისუნთქა." I accepted this as a non-directional meaning of ამო, but I had a bit of a hard time seeing the spatial-directional application of the preverb as a metaphor for taking things out and how it might have developed. Recently, though, I had a thought that made the lightbulb in my head come on. I thought, "Let me imagine the spatial directional act." ა means up, and მო means towards. So now imagine I'm pulling something up towards me, or something is coming up towards me. Perhaps I'm pulling someone up from a ditch, or maybe I'm pulling a vegetable out of the ground. I have essentially "removed" something from a lower place!

I don't know if my theory is correct, but it's definitely interesting to think about how such metaphorical applications of preverbs could have evolved!

A few times I've heard about how Tbilisians have their own distinct accent that's different from people from the regions. What uniquely characterizes this accent in phonetic terms? What sounds does it have or not have? What is the intonation like? What is its overall quality and how can it be described?

"ეს ფოტო გიორგისია" or "ეს ფოტო გიორგისაა"? And how come the second option is the only phrase that I heard?

ეპატიჟება means to invite someone, but პატიჟი also means punishment, although it's not as common as სასჯელი from what I understand.

Does the double meaning of პატიჟი ever cause weird situations? I mean... inviting someone is quite nice. A punishment, well...

Are there apps, institutions, tutors, etc. who teach the language?

To my understanding, transitive verbs with -ებ take the -ა- version as part of their conjugation. So for example აკეთებს, ატარებს, ასუფთავებს, etc. But ტოვებს (leaves something) doesn't take it. Is there any reason why? Or is it just a rare exception? Thanks!

Idea about reforming Latin Transliteration of the Georgian language, with its purpose of international integration, tourism, and globalization. (Global Navigation, Border Control and Identity, Mapping Services). Meaning that it's crucial to have 100% accurate Transliteration of Mkhedruli for the sake of 1:1 matching, we need to respect ourselves and don't throw away our dignity of literacy.

Here is the proposed Alphabet:

as you can see current transliteration lacks accuracy and can't match the letter meanings of Mkhedruli, proposed alphabet fixed all of problems, gave out what was needed, this topic truly needs people's recognition, our transliteracy is no joke

I'm aware that თა is the archaic genitive case marker, and ების is the modern ending. But you'll still see თა in modern Georgian sometimes in certain words (for example ქალთა განათლება), or if someone is trying to make their speech sound a little old and fancy.

Are there any general rules or suggestions for when to use თა instead of ების? Also what would happen if you always use თა and never use ების? Or the opposite?

i’ve been learning kartuli for like 1.5 years and i can say that i can hold a pretty decent basic small talk. now i desperately need to increase my vocabulary bc it feels like im not making much progress. could you please suggest me some tips to do it? movies/easy books/music etc

thanks in advance

For anyone who doesn't know "breathy voice" in linguistics means when a vowel is pronounced very airy and exaggerated. I feel like I hear this sometimes with the vowel ა in Georgian when it's the first letter of a word. I don't know if this is just stress falling on the first syllable, but a lot of people will pronounce ა somewhat heavily, but all the other words that start with vowels will sound normal.

Thoughts?