True Basque-Georgian Language Connection

TRUE GEORGIAN-BASQUE LANGUAGE CONNECTION by Artem Ivantsov

The research proving that Basque language is a kin to Kartvelian languages, started more than 100 years ago and has led to the discovery of the Pankartvelian language space covering not only the two countries, but the rest of the ancient world as well. The topic is dedicated a book titled BETWEEN TWO IBERIAS. But the poor quality of research, which actually never implied thorough comparison of Basque and Kartvelian vocabularies, eventually resulted in refusal (ungrounded though) to accept the concept connection, first of all, in Spain and Basque Country themselves. To be sincere, the well-known list of Georgian-Basque vocabulary correspondences in fact contains no indubitable findings. Which, nevertheless, is no reason not to accept the concept of the correspondence as such. The following is such a comparison research from the scratch. It easily and abundantly shows that we have all the reasons to consider the Basque language the fourth Kartvelian language (after Georgian, Megrelian, Laz and Svan). Actually, it’s the only survived of those Kartvelian languages spoken outside of Georgia throughout the ancient world, from Portugal to Northern India, and from Estonia to Congo. The first solid element of the canvas to be mentioned is the conjunction ‘and’ which coincides in the following languages: და [da] (Georgian), TA (Ukrainian), DA (Russian), and ETA (Basque)

The ergative construction, present in both Kartvelian and Basque languages but obviously absent in IE languages, which serves one of the main proofs of kindred between the two, won’t be spoken much of here, since the article is dedicated to vocabularies. But never forget about the ergativity. The second key thing to mention would be the Basque ‘dog’ – txakur – which not only contains the Kartvelian trademark adjective -ur suffix, but much more importantly is a link in such a valuable dog-chain as: ჯოღორი [jogori] (Megrelian) – chigaru (Ancient Egyptian) – ghjacaru (Corsican) – txakur [chakur] (Basque) with possible inclusion of чакур [chakur] (Ukrainian)

PICO D’ORI The most amazing Basque toponym is the sacred Basque mountain of Pico d’Ori located right on the border between Spain and France (between Ochagavia and Larrau). It has two summits:

For those who doubt, here’s another angle:

Indeed, they are two, and both have names. The smaller is called Orhy Chipia, with ‘chipia’ meaning ‘small’ in Basque. How high are the chances that the fact that a mount has two summits will be reflected in mount’s name? The point is that Basques themselves are not sure about the origin of mount’s name, while in Kartvelian language ‘ori’ means exactly ‘two’. URGULL/URGELL The Basque mountain number two is the legendary San Sebastian’s Urgull. It should be regarded in combination with the Pyrenean town of Ceu d’Urgell. Both Urgull and Urgell in fact are Megrelian adjectives ‘urguli’ and ‘urgeli’ which both mean ‘unsown’. Needless to point out that there is no Basque etymology for these names. ARTXANDA In Bilbao there is the third remarkable mountain named Artxanda [archanda]. The Basques have no idea as to its believable interpretation, while in Georgian the name literally means ‘Not Seen’ (Ar Chanda). Given frequent mists on Basque coast that usually hide summits of local mountains, the name is totally appropriate. BILBAO’S METRO Among Bilbao’s metro stations at least two have undoubtedly Kartvelian origin: URDULIZ comes from Georgian ‘urduli’ (ურდული) – ‘lock’, while SOPELA is identical to Georgian ‘sopeli’ (სოფელი) – ‘village’. AGUR Jan Potocky in his The Manuscript Found in Saragossa tells us from the depths of XVII century that the famous Basque farewell greeting – Agur! – ‘Agur!’ in Spain means ‘Hello’ or ‘How do you do?’. He mentions it in the context of the Southern region of Sierra Morena. Anyone who has a slightest idea as to what Basque language is like, would assume right away the Basque origin of ‘Agur’, and will be right. It’s indeed a Basque salutation, which, among other things, also has the meaning of ‘se acabó’, which is ‘it’s over’. From the other hand, ‘agure’ in Basque means ‘oldman’.

Now, we may want to find out what ‘agur’ might mean in Kartvelian family. For example, in Megrelian, where, thanks to Kajaia’s dictionary, we find the world აღურა [agura] also known as ღურა [gura] in the meaning of ‘death’. Which is extremely close to both ‘it’s over’ and ‘oldman’. XUKATU In Georgian ‘shuki’ (შუქი) means ‘light’. From hence various verbs like ‘shukeba’, ‘shukdeba’, ‘shukelva’. They all mean ‘illuminating’, ‘making brighter’. Now let’s move to the Basque Country where we will find the infinitive ‘xukatu’ [shukatu], meaning, for the first part, ’drying’, ‘dehydrating’ (for example, a river): http://www.euskaltzaindia.eus/index.php?option=com_oeh&view=frontpage&Itemid=413&lang=eu

What would one need for a river to get dehydrated? Right, much light. Sun-light. On the same link above you’ll find another meaning of ‘xukatu’: ‘to squeeze money out of someone’. How is such a person called in Ukrainian? Right, ‘oshukaniy’ (swindled). With the same ‘shuk’-root, which has no explication in Ukrainian language. And finally, the main meaning of the Ukrainian verb ‘shukati’ is ‘to search’. How do people search in most cases? Yes, by illuminating with the help of a torch or a flash-light. USTARI ‘Ustari’ is ‘theory’ in Basque, while ‘უსთარი’ [ustari] is ‘letter’ in Georgian. Note existence of a town named Ustaritz in Basque France. ANDER ‘Ander’ is ‘woman’ in Basque, while ‘ანთერ’ [anter] is ‘a human’ in Megrelian. LOHI Here is how Basques interpret their famous surname of ‘Loiola’: Loiola = lohi (‘mud’) + -ola (‘place’) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_surnames

The wonderful Orotariko Euskal Hiztegi dictionary confirms that ‘lohi’ is ‘mud’ indeed. And what is ‘lohi’ (ლოხი) in Georgian? It’s ‘dirt’ (Rayfield Dictionary). BURU The Georgian word ‘burta’ (ბურთა, ‘ball-shaped’) which is cognate to ‘burti’ – ‘ball’, has direct relation to the Basque word ‘buru’ meaning ‘head’, which is often present in Basque surnames like ‘Uriburu’, ‘Aramburu’, ‘Landaburu’, etc. LODI In Basque ‘lodi’ is ‘heavy’, ‘voluminous’, ‘big’ (Orotariko Euskal Hiztegi). In Georgian ‘lodi’ (ლოდი) is ‘big rock’. Besides, the phrase ‘გულზე მძიმე ლოდი აწევს’ is translated as ‘has a great weight on one’s mind’, which equals ‘lodi’ not only across the two languages, but also to the English ‘load’. UME In Basque ‘ume’ means ‘child’. In Georgian ‘umi’ is something raw, fresh, unripe, or awkward (if person). Fits child ideally. SUDUR In Basque ‘sudur’ means ‘nose’. The word shows the Kartvelian trademark adjective -ur suffix, thus separating ‘sud-‘ as root. In Georgian (Rayfield dictionary) the word ‘suda’ (სუდა) means

‘phlegm’, a mucus that originates from nose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegm

So literally ‘sudur(i)’ means ‘snotty (place)’. HORTZ Linguists know that metonymy may imply shift of sense from an object onto a subject and vice versa. For example, ‘press’ (media) got its name from ‘printing press’; ‘gun’ (assassin) got its name from gun as a firearm; ‘tongue’ being a part of body started meaning a language, etc. In Basque language ‘hortz’ is ‘tooth’, while in Georgian language ‘hortzi’ is ‘meat’. Who borrowed the meaning from whom is not clear, but neither important. ORGLEGI In Basque ‘orlegi’ means ‘green’. In Georgian ‘lega’ means ‘glaucous colour’, while ‘ori’ means ‘two’. Thus, ‘orlegi’ may be interpreted as ‘twice glaucous’ or ‘intense glaucous’. From the other hand, ‘oro’ in Megrelian means ‘shadow’ (Kajaia dictionary). Thus, ‘orlegi’ may be also interpreted as ‘shadowed glaucous’ or ‘dark glaucous’. Or simply green. GORRI Pumpkins may be of this colour:

That is to tie the Basque ‘gorri’ (red) to the Georgian ‘gora’ (ღორა) - “hard-skin pumpkin” (Rayfield). HORIA In Basque ‘yellow’ is ‘horia’. In Georgian ‘hora’ (ხორა) means ‘pile of wood’, while its derivation ‘horami’ (ხორამი) means, among other things, ‘stack of hay’ (hay is yellow). Finally, Georgian wheat, which is yellow too, is ‘horbali’ where the root is ‘hor-‘. HANDI In Basque ‘handi’ means ‘big’. The word hasn’t preserved in Georgian dictionaries in its pure form, but you can find its clear adjective derivation ‘handuri’ meaning ‘field peas’. Hence we may assume that ‘handi’ used to mean ‘field’. This word has always associated with big size. For example, the Georgian ‘veli’ (field) has high chances to be the origin for the Russian ‘великий’ (big). HATZ In Basque ‘hatz’ is ‘finger’, while an adjective ‘hatzuri’ (ხაცური) in Georgian (Rayfield) means ‘type of wrestling where only hands are used’ (Racha dialect).

SABELA First, the English ‘belly’ which has no reliable etymology:

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=belly

Then, the Georgian ბელი [beli] meaning ‘bear-cub’ (Rayfield). Having assumed it used to be any cub, we obtain ‘belly’ as ‘(place for) cub (beli)’. And finally, the Basque ‘sabela’ meaning ‘belly’. It’s an impeccable Kartvelian trademark ‘sa‘-construction meaning ‘place of ’. In other words, ‘sabela’ is ‘where beli is’ (‘where cub is’), which is ‘belly. OTSEBA In Rayfield’s Dictionary there is an archaic Georgian word ‘otseba’ (ოცება), which is interpreted there as ‘dismay’. The reason should be in the fact that in Basque ‘otso’ is ‘wolf’. The Georgians seem not to have preserved this root in pure form. OILASKO The Basques call ‘chicken’ with this word. Meanwhile ‘oilo’ is ’hen’. Megrelians would easily recognize the ‘-sko’ suffix which means ‘child’ or ‘son’ in their language (skua, skili, skii). Thus, ‘oilasko’ becomes ‘hen’s child’. There is no separate word ‘sko’ in Basque language. Those who insist that ‘-ko’ is genitive case ending, must explain the presence of ‘s’. Besides, ‘sko’ itself is a genitive formant too, and the Basque ‘-ko’ could easily be a derivation from it. HARAGI In Basque ‘haragi’ means ‘meat’ and may be cognate to the Georgian ‘hari’ – ‘bull’. The ‘-ag’ suffix is quite popular in Georgian vocabulary. There is even a whole ‘haragi’ (ხარაგი) word, in different meaning though (‘heap of bricks’)

ly).

TZERRI In Basque ‘txerri’ [cherri] is ‘pork’, while in Georgian ჩერი [cheri] is ‘shin-bone’ (pig’s most-

INTXAUR The Basque nut ‘intxaur’ [inchaur] is likely to be a Kartvelian adjective ‘inchauri’ with ‘inch-‘ as a root. The chain is long, but may not be disregarded. First, we find ინჩახუ [inchahu] – ‘bird’s crop’. Beside there is ინჩი-ბინჩი [inchi-binchi] – ‘the slightest’. It corresponds to bird’s crop size, and suddenly coincides with the English ‘inch’. Then in the same Rayfield’s dictionary we find the word ინჩხლი [inchhli] –‘borage’. Doesn´t look like a nut. With a high degree of probability we can assume that another word in Kajaia´s dictionary - ინჩხილი [inchhili], literally ‘fruit of inch-’ is borage too. Because Kajaia calls it simply ‘მცენარეა ერთგვარი’ – ‘kind of plant’. Now having returned to ინჩხლი we find out that it has another spelling - ანჩხლა [anchhla], also borage. This hints that the root may be ‘anch-‘. In its search we stumble upon ანჩარი [anchari], ‘Upas tree’, poetized by Pushkin (its fruit indeed look like nuts), as well as upon ანჩახი [anchahi] – ‘saddle tree’. Enough to come to certain conclusions. But the problem lies in big variety of spelling forms for this word. All of them may be tried to be interpreted from Kartvelian point of view too: unsaur, intxaur, intzaur, inzaur, entzagur, entzuur, etsagur, etzagur, etzabur, etxa(g)ur, extabur, exabur, etzaur, intxoor, intxor, intxur, intsaur, intzagur, intzagor, intzoor, intxaur, itzagur, itzaur, itzigur.

TXINGURRI One of Basque meanings for ‘ant’ is ‘txingurri’ [chingurri]. Which is a Kartvelian adjective ‘chinguri’ derived from ‘ching-‘-root. In search for it we find ჭინგო [chingo] in the meaning of ‘grass’. Thus, ‘chinguri’ literally means ‘grassy’. IZOTZ In Basque ‘izotz’ [itsots] is ‘ice’. In Georgian იცოცება [itsotseba] means ‘clamber’ (Rayfield). Exactly clamber through some Caucasian glacier. ANTZARA In Basque ‘antzara’ is ‘goose’. In Georgian ‘antsala’ (ანწალა) is ‘lanky’. ETXE The key Basque word of course is ‘house’ – ‘etxe’ [eche]. There is no way for it not to have its Kartvelian counterpart. Actually, ‘etxe’ is a kin to the Georgian ‘ojahi’ – ‘family’, which led to the Russian ‘очаг’ [ochag] meaning ‘hearth’. The roots ‘etxe’ and ‘oja’ are similar because ‘tx’ (which is [ch]) is the unvoiced pair to the voiced ‘j’. It’s the same consonant, just with different degree of sonority. Meanwhile ‘-ah’ is a popular Georgian suffix. ARDO In Basque ‘wine’ is ‘ardo’. In Georgian dictionary of Saba Orbeliani ‘ardabi’ (არდაბი) means ‘barley-water’, which may be either without alcohol or with it. Besides, in the Old Georgian ‘ardu’ used to be a measure of liquids. GARAGARDO In Basque ‘beer’ is ‘garagardo’ or ‘garagordo’. In Georgian (Kakhetian dialect) the word ‘garda-gurda’ (ღარდა-ღურდა) means ‘scum’ (on boiling water). Which is ‘foam’. Beer and foam are close relatives. SAHARA Now it’s clear with Sahara’s etymology/ If you remember, it was interpreted as a Kartvelian trademark toponymyc construction starting with ‘sa-‘: ‘SA+HARA’ = “land of hara’. It was not clear what ‘hara’ was. Now it is. In Basque ‘harea’ and ‘hare’ are ‘sand’. Thus, Sahara – ‘land of sand’. TXIMISTARGI More funny than serious, but no one can be sure… The Basque word ‘tximistargi’ [chimistargi] means ‘lightning’. The etymology is ‘tximista + argi’, ‘electric light’. That would be an enough explication, but for a too ideal translation of ‘chimis targi’ from Georgian. It literally means ‘string pattern’ for ´chimi´ (ჭიმი) is ´hempen halter´ or ´bridle´ (in tension), while ´targi´ is ´pattern´. And what is ´lightning´ if not a string pattern? TIPULA In Basque ´tipula´ means ‘onion’. Let’s assume (which we have a full right for) that it’s a Kartvelian adjective ‘tipuli’ which was formed out of some ‘tip-‘-noun. Rayfield’s dictionary shows nothing. But when it fails, Otari Kajaia’s Megrelian dictionary always helps. There you will see that the ‘tip-‘-root (თიფ-) is popular and corresponds to such Georgian roots as ‘tib-‘ or ‘tiv-‘ in such words as ‘tibva’ (mowing) and ‘tiva’ (hay). While თიფუ (tipu) means just ‘balahi’, which is ‘grass’. Also Kajaia points out თიფი (tipi) as ‘ryegrass’. All these mean that ‘tipuli’ is an adjective meaning ‘grassy’ or ‘herbacious’. Exactly what onion is.

HIRI The Basque ‘hiri’ means ‘town’ and corresponds to the Georgian ხირი [hiri] – ‘scattered around (e.g., tree stumps)’. But if instead of stumps houses are scattered around, they make a town. USO The main meaning of the Basque ‘uso’ is ‘pidgeon’. But in the wonderful Basque language dictionary Orotariko Euskal Hiztegi we find that this word ‘ref. a personas caracterizadas por su bondad o inocencia’, i.e., ‘refers to person characterized with their kindness and innocence’. Meanwhile in Rayfield’s dictionary ‘uso’ means ‘respected/prominent peasant woman’. GIBELA In Basque ‘gibela’ is ‘liver’. In Georgian ‘gibi’ (ღიბი) means ‘yellow fever’, which got its name exactly for affecting liver. SOLOMOA How on earth could the Spanish ‘lomo’ (scarum) turn into the Basque ‘solomoa’ other than through the Georgian ‘sa-‘-construction (‘ca-‘ turned into ‘co-‘ for the reason of synharmonism)? It’s clear that both words have the same root – ‘lomo’. And that in the second word it’s preceded by a prefix, which can be explained only from Kartvelian point of view. PINPIRINA The Spanish ‘bocanegra’ fish (black mouth) translates into Basque as ‘pinpirina’. The first part – ‘pin-‘ represents the Basque word ‘pina’ which is ‘rim’, while the second part – ‘piri’ – is the Georgian word ‘piri’ meaning ‘mouth’. Thus, the Basque-Georgian combination results in ‘roundmouth’ meaning. TXANGURRUA The Basque word ‘txangurrua’ [changurrua] means ‘crab’. The fancy ending shouldn’t mislead. As should the double ‘rr’. In fact, ‘-ua’ is a trademark Megrelian ending combination. The true word here is ‘txanguri’ [changuri] formed from a ‘chang-‘ noun. In Georgian dictionary the word ‘changi’ (ჩანგი) means ‘lyre’. It’s hard to say to what degree crabs resembles lyre, but Hyas Lyratus is exactly a ‘Lyre Crab’: http://www.coldwatermarineaquatics.com/products/pacific-lyre-crab-hyas-lyratus

URKI In Mokhevian dialect of Georgian language there is a word ‘urkela’ (ურკელა) which clearly comes from a ‘urki’ noun and means in Rayfield’s dictionary ‘faggot of firewood’. Meanwhile in Basque language ‘urki’ is ‘birch’. TXIRO In Basque ‘poor’ is ‘txiro’ [chiro]. In Georgian ჭირი [chiri] is ‘(personal) woe’. ELUR Since ‘elva’ in Georgian means not only ‘lightning’ but also just ‘shining’, we may interpret the Basque snow ‘elur’ as the Georgian adjective ‘eluri’ meaning ‘shiny’. PIRU The Basque word ‘piru’ means the same as the Georgian word ‘piri’ – ‘edge’, ‘limit’. As it has been already mentioned in the book ‘Between Two Iberias’, they both are likely to be the source for Pirineos (Pyrenees) toponym.

ZITU In case if the Georgians don’t know the etymology for their word ‘tsiteli’ meaning ‘red’, a Basque word ‘zitu’ meaning ‘fruit’ may be of help. Also don’t forget that ‘tsitela’ in Georgian is some kind of pear. TXITA In Georgian ‘chiti’ means ‘bird’. In Basque ‘txita’/’txitu’ [chita/chitu] means ’chicken’. TXIKARA In Georgian ‘chika’ means ‘drinking glass’. In Basque ‘txikara’ [chikara] means ‘coffee cup’. ZAKIL In Basque ‘zakil’ means ‘penis’. In Georgian there is a masdar ცაკვა [tsakva] (Pshav dialect), which is translated as ‘jostling’ according to Rayfield. Today ‘jostle’ means ‘push’, ‘shove’, while in Middle English ‘justilen’ used to mean ‘have sexual relations’: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jostle

Thus, ‘zakili’ should be considered an instrument for ‘tsakva’ action. ALU In Basque ‘alu’ means ‘vagina’. The Georgian dictionary of Rayfield gives ‘ali’ as ‘demon looking as a beautiful woman’;, ‘ala’ – ‘in squatting position’; and, surprisingly, ‘aleba’ – ‘allowance’ and ‘aleva’ – ‘conquering something’ or ‘getting exhausted on something’. MUTIL The main meaning of this word in Basque is ‘boy’. Although sometimes it’s used to mean ‘woman’. Meanwhile in Georgian ‘muteli’ means ‘vagina’. ZABAL This Basque word means ‘wide’ and is a part of many popular surnames like Mendizabal, Desagastizabal, Ormazabal, Azconzabal, etc. Basque orthography is ambiguous. It not only has the trademark Spanish BV confusion, but even emphasizes it: Bolivar - Bolibar etc. The replacement of Z with S/Ç is another well-known phenomenon. –That is why the table of popular Basque surnames admits ZABAL also as ÇABAL and ZAVAL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_surnames

This enables us to equal ZABAL to the Georgian სავალი [savali], which comes from the Georgian fundamental verb ‘svla’ (to go) and means ‘(land) to be travelled’ (Rayfield). Now we get back to another wonderful dictionary Оrotariko Euskal Hiztegia, where the word ‘zabal’ is interepreted very deeply, and find there two its meanings which, actually, bring together Basque and Georgian languages: ‘descampado’ (open land) and ‘camino real’ (royal way), which is tightly intertwisted with ‘to be travelled’ from Rayfield’s dictionary. Both open land and way are something ‘to be travelled’ on. TEGI This root meaning ‘place’ is also a frequent part of Basque surnames, like in Aroztegi.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_surnames

Rayfield’s dictionary gives us თეგი [tegi] as ‘clump of grass or rotten stump in the ground’. Which is quite a geographical notion, ‘place’.

COMMON BASQUE AND MEGRELIAN SURNAMES URIDIA Juan de Uridia, a notary from Pamplona, XVIII century: http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/vasconia/vas12/12009332.pdf

BOKERIA That’s the name of the famous Barcelona’s market at La Rambla. GABUNIA Only in Rioja province there are 6 Gabunias. GADELIA There is a Peruvian guy named Jose Ruiz Gadelia. ANTIA It’s considered to be Galician. ALANIA Documented in Spain. ZARANDIA Documented in Spain. SARIA The Basques claim it’s theirs. BEDIA A Basque surname. UBIRIA A Navarran surname. LANDIA A Basque surname. ABARIA An ancient Basque surname. LORIA A Catalan surname. EGURI There is a guy in Venezuela with such a surname. EGIA There was a sailor in Colon’s crew with such a surname. In fact, Egia is a name of San Sebastian’s neighboroughood. At the same time, in Megrelia the surname Egia comes from Tsalenjikha village. To end it up, a story some would find amusing, some would find scientific. It’s about possible Basque-Kartvelian etymology of the name Vercingetorix. Vercingetorix was the king of Gaules in Roman times. The linguists agree that ‘rix’ means ‘king’. If so, then ‘vercingeto’ is the name of the land he was the king of. We already saw the-eto/eti alternation in case of Oreto/Oreti, so, we have a right to assume that in fact it was the Kartvelian toponym of Vercingeti - ‘the land of vercingi’. To solve the root’s problem is not easy, since ‘ng’ is not a typical combination for Kartvelian language. So, the effort number one would be to agree that there was a vowel between ‘n’ and ‘g’ for the Kartvelians tend to omit the vowels (the way the French do): vercinagi. Also, we have a right to assume ‘nag’ in fact is a voiced variant of ‘nak’, since the alternation between voiced and unvoiced versions of consonants happen in European languages all the time: vercinak. Finally, the confusion between V and B is a well-known phenomenon in Greek and Spanish languages that has led to huge amount of misunderstandings throughout the linguistics history:bercinak. Thus, we have ended up having a Basque plural form bercinak (-ak is the suffix of plural in Basque) derived from ‘bercin’. That’s a perfectly Basque word - bertzin - meaning ‘spotted cattle’. To make sure this bold hypothesis makes sense we need to find out if Vercingeti (region of Clermont-Ferrand) ever had any relation to spotted cattle.

The article you’ve just read has offered you 50 impeccable new lexical correspondences between Basque language and languages of Kartvelian family, as well as 15 surnames common both in Spain and Georgia, mentioned for the first time. The connection between the two lands should be analyzed again, this time way deeper and thorougher. Especially given that BasqueKartvelian connection is only a small part of a much bigger mosaic called Kartvelian-speaking Ancient World. It’s only the first new step. Join, and you won’t regret. Artem Ivantsov Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine September 2015