Having been at the crossroads between the empires of the Mediterranean, Europe, Russia and Central Asia as well as situated at the Silk Road, the Georgians incorporated many foreign words into their language, especially from Russian, German and Arabic, but also from French and other languages (see below).
Foreign words in the Georgian Language
Due to its long history with Russia, colloquial Russian words are very prominent in daily conversations throughout Georgia. Also, Russian technical terms are quite common in all kinds of trades and sciences in Georgia.
Russian | Meaning | Alternatives |
---|---|---|
ვაფშე (вапше) | simply | უბრალოდ |
მოლოდიეც (молодец) | great guy! | ყოჩაღ!, ღოჩაღი ბიჭი! |
პროპკა (пропка) | plug | საცობი |
შლანგი (шланги*) | the hose | -- |
Possibly შლანგი and the Russian шланги come from the German "die Schlange", meaning snake.
German words have mostly been introduced through German settlers in the 18th century in and East of Tbilisi, German maids in Georgian families during this time and the many German prisoners of war in the 1940s and 1950s, who were quite present and somewhat appreciated in Georgian daily life as workers at construction sites and as craftsmen and repairmen. See the many example in the table below.
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