Les Géorgiens dans les textes byzantins jusqu’à l’an mille. Approche lexicale

Van Elverdinghe, Emmanuel (2014): Les Géorgiens dans les textes byzantins jusqu’à l’an mille. Approche lexicale. In: Byzantion. Revue internationale des études byzantines, Vol. 84: pp. 433-483

Abstract

Mediaeval Georgia came into being only by 1008 as a unified polity. Byzantine authors therefore – at least to the Xth century – tell nothing about “Georgians” as a whole; rather, they recognize several distinct tribal or ethnic entities. The survey of the various guises under which Georgians come up in Byzantine texts up to the Xth century constitutes the core of this paper. Each population is thus provided with a thorough description of the lexical items used in Greek to designate it. In close connection with this lexicological focus, the investigation also encompasses diachronic and etymological perspectives, as well as some clues regarding the identification of the given ethnos.

The study eventually allows shedding some light on the attitude Byzantine authors exhibited facing the manifold Georgian regions and peoples: how were lexical devices developed, and what does their use reveal about Byzantine perceptions of the ethnic, spatial and historical reality? The “Georgian case” in turn illustrates some well-known tendencies general to Byzantine literature or peculiar to some author or period.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Form of publication: Publisher's Version
• Keywords: Grec byzantin; toponymie; ethnonymie; Byzance; Géorgie; Abkhazie, Byzantine Greek; toponyms; ethnonyms, Byzantium; Georgia; Abkhazia, ბერძნული ენა; ტოპონიმიკა; ხალხთა სახელწოდებანი; ბიზანტია; საქართველო; აფხაზეთი
• Faculties: Protestant Theology > Institute of Church History
• Subjects: 400 Language > 480 Classical and modern Greek languages; 400 Language > 490 Other languages; 800 Literature > 880 Classical and modern Greek literatures; 900 History and geography > 910 Geography and travel; 900 History and geography > 930 History of ancient world (to ca. 499); 900 History and geography > 940 History of Europe; 900 History and geography > 950 History of Asia
• ISSN: 2294-6209
• Place of Publication: (Belgium) Leuven
• Language: French