Enseignant.e
Langue
Georgian is the only Kartvelian language with an attested written tradition extending over more than fifteen centuries. Old Georgian (5th–11th centuries AD) represents the earliest stage in the development of the Georgian language and differs markedly from Modern Georgian.
The study of Old Georgian is both interesting and valuable from several perspectives.
On the one hand, it is an ergative language with a highly distinctive grammatical system, of great importance for linguistic typology.
On the other hand, it possesses an extremely rich corpus of original and translated texts, including very early translations of biblical, Byzantine, Syriac, Pahlavi, and New Persian works, as well as numerous original compositions: hagiographies, secular historical chronicles (in particular the Kartlis Tskhovreba), which recount the history of the entire Caucasian region and neighboring lands, medieval romances (The Wisdom of Balavar and others), and spiritual poetry of exceptional quality.
The earliest dated original work is The Martyrdom of Shushanik (c. 470 AD).
Furthermore, knowledge of Old Georgian enables readers to approach without difficulty texts from the Middle Georgian period (12th–18th centuries), including a masterpiece of world literature such as the epic poem The Knight in the Panther’s Skin.
Pré-requis
No preliminary knowledge is demanded.
Programme du cours
The course is structured into distinct grammatical and lexical modules, within which students study a given grammatical form and learn to identify it in unaltered excerpts taken from original and translated texts of the 6th–11th centuries. In the final sessions of the course, students will be able to read independently longer passages of original texts drawn from biblical translations, original chronicles, and hagiographic works.
Références et ressources électroniques
Heinz Fähnrich. Old Georgian. In Alice C. Harris (ed.), The Kartvelian Languages. New York: Delmar, New York: Caravan Books. 1991. Pp. 129-218.
Heinz Fähnrich. Grammatik der altgeorgischen Sprache. Hamburg, 1994.
Akaki Schanidze. Grammatik der altgeorgische Sprache. Tbilisi, 1982.
Kevin Tuite. Early Georgian. In: The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. Ed. Roger D. Woodard. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Pp. 145-165.
Franz Zorell. Grammatik zur altgeorgischen Bibelübersetzung. Roma, 1930.
Renée Zwolanek, Julius Assfalg. Altgeorgische Kurzgrammatik. Freiburg; Göttingen, 1976.
Comprehensive Georgian-English Dictionary (comprises Old Georgian material) http://www.nplg.gov.ge/gwdict/index.php?a=index&d=46