FEATURES OF CULTURE AND LIFE EXPRESSED IN ETHNOGRAPHIC TERMS (ACCORDING TO THE LATEST ETHNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS)

Abstract

Lechkhumi ethnographic terms, words and expressions, telling the story of the way of life, distinguished by their diversity, are an important source for studying the political, ethnic and everyday development of the nation, and the linguistic situation of the corresponding time, determined by the socio-cultural context.

We have selected the following Lechkhumi terms and expressions for analysis: akoshialembuli - used in the meaning of small; “antskoli”, “akhvankhva” - eaten at once; “bochkhoti”, “buzunia” - large, big; “gavataveb”, “getsatkhuneba”, “gvinikhi” - an ugly broken part of something; “damzhavebuli” - in the meaning of winemaking; “zesandari”, “kagriti” - a swindler; “kiapi” - genus, origin; “loshkina” - a small sledge, a haulage rope for firewood; “melisarchi” (in Racha - “melakultaroba”, “melamelaoba”; similar to “buzis ulupa” in Imereti, and “kvavis sajobinaro” - in Samegrelo); “mietoleba” - to accompany, to go together; “mokanjuli; “mosavarkhe” - a man who digs the grave/grave of the deceased; “ragadoba”, “saangelozo” - a family’s offering in the name of a son of the family; “sazgvaro”, “satavse”, “sakhro” - a place for processing with an ox; “siris kudi”, “sirinozi”, “snakvi” - beheading; “sulipuri”, “pergasuli” - early spring; “zhgvantki”, “zhgholi” - a large, thick stick; “shavi kukhna”, “batons tskaro” (“the source of the master”), “batonebis gza locvaa” (“the path of the masters is prayer”) “liliputebivit vart” (“we are like Lilliputians”) - they say about a physically “deficient” person born as a result of mixing blood; a man who is eaten with cheese and mchadi.

We compared the existing ethnographic material on the mentioned words, expressions, and terms with the unconfirmed or already confirmed materials in the literature that we found in various regions of Georgia.

While researching different and similar ethnographic vocabulary, along with historical and cultural contexts, we also considered social ones.

Through a complex ethnohistorical study of the vocabulary and words and expressions selected for analysis, it turns out that:

1. In Georgia, the naming of terms was based on mentality, economic, environmental knowledge, relevant socio-cultural reality, the consistency or inconsistency of the content of life and traditional features with modernity.
   • The content of terms and words and expressions was determined by the way of thinking, attitudes, feelings, and the region's external, self-consciously similar and different external world.
2. They knew about the necessity of passing on the fundamental content that has come down to us through traditions to future generations.
3. They knew about the inhabitants of other historical and ethnographic regions of Georgia, equipping the same terms with different and similar content and the difference based on this.
4. The Georgian language has versatile capabilities.
5. The study of the content conveyed by ethnographic vocabulary, distinguished by its regional and dialectal diversity, further enhances the study of the life and culture of different parts of Georgia.
6. Lexical units and words are presented in alphabetical order.

Keywords: Ethnic-ethnographic; Linguistic-cultural; Regional-dialectal; Spoken language; Ethnographic  vocabulary; Way of life; Ethnic-cultural characteristics.