Appendix:Old Georgian nouns
Old Georgian nouns express people, things, phenomena, qualities and etc. Their main form is, just like in most languages, nominative singular unless the word is expressed in plural only.
Number[edit]
Old Georgian has two numbers: singular and plural, however some say, that it also had dual, though that is not attested in Old Georgian texts.
Old Georgian, just like the modern one, had two types of plural: "Common Plural," which was the plural form used most commonly, and "Uncommon Plural," which was a newer form of plural not attested as much.
Common plural's marker was -ნ- (-n-), which changed into -თა (-ta) in all cases, where it became indeclinable, except in vocative, where it took the normal vocative case marker. Its marker was added to the primary root of a noun, compare table below.
Uncommon plural's marker was -ებ- (-eb-), which declined normally as shown in the table below on cases. Its marker was added to the primary or the secondary root, compare table below.
| singular | common plural | uncommon plural |
|---|---|---|
| კაცი (ḳaci) | კაცნი (ḳacni) | კაცები (ḳacebi)! |
| ტაძარი (ṭaʒari) | ტაძარნი (ṭaʒarni) | ტაძრები (ṭaʒrebi) |
| ნიგოზი (nigozi) | ნიგოზნი (nigozni) | ნიგუზები (niguzebi) |
| დედაჲ (deday) | დედანი (dedani) | დედები (dedebi) |
| მეფჱ (mepē) | მეფენი (mepeni) | მეფეები (mepeebi), მეფები (mepebi) |
| წყაროჲ (c̣q̇aroy) | წყარონი (c̣q̇aroni) | წყაროები (c̣q̇aroebi) |
Cases[edit]
In Old Georgian, there were nine grammatical cases: predicative, nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, directional or allative, instrumental, adverbial, vocative. However, some sources do not include directional as one of them. Generally, if a case marker beginning with ი (i) is added to a word, that doesn't undergo vowel truncation, it will reduce into ჲ (y). The total image looks like this:
| singular | common plural | uncommon plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| predicative | -∅ | — | -∅ |
| nominative | -ი/-ჲ | -ი | |
| ergative | -მან | -თა | -მან |
| dative | -ს(ა) | -ს(ა) | |
| genitive | -ის(ა)/-ჲს(ა) | -ის(ა) | |
| directional | -ისა/-ჲსა | -ისა | |
| instrumental | -ით(ა)/-ჲთ(ა) | -ით(ა) | |
| adverbial | -ად/-დ | -ად | |
| vocative | -ო | ||
However, this table does not include proper noun endings, which are different for some cases.
Let's see the uses for these cases.
Predicative[edit]
The predicative case is thought to be a remnant of the absolutive case, until nominative started becoming more and more common. The case is used:
1. to define predicative expression after the verbs არს (ars, “to be”) and იქმნების (ikmnebis, “to become”) and their forms:
and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me... და ვიყო მე თქუენდა მამა და თქუენ იყვნეთ ჩემდა ძეებ და ასულებ... da viq̇o me tkuenda mama da tkuen iq̇vnet čemda ʒeeb da asuleb... ...she became a pillar of salt. ...იქმნა იგი ძეგლ მარილისა. ...ikmna igi ʒegl marilisa.
2. instead of nominative to sometimes denote the subject or the object of a sentence, mostly with a numeral:
...and comes one Samarian woman to draw water... ...მოვალს დედაკაც ერთ სამარიაჲთ ვსებად წყლისა... ...movals dedaḳac ert samariayt vsebad c̣q̇lisa... ...My house will be called a house of prayer... ...სახლსა ჩემსა სახლ სალოცველ ეწოდოს... ...saxlsa čemsa saxl salocvel ec̣odos... ...and so I too ask you a question... ...გკითხო მეცა თქუენ სიტყუა ერთ... ...gḳitxo meca tkuen siṭq̇ua ert...
3. to denote time adverb using the construction numeral + time word:
for fifteen days ათხუთმეტ დღე atxutmeṭ dɣe for the whole day დღე ყოველ dɣe q̇ovel for five months ხუთ თთუე xut ttue
Nominative[edit]
The nominative case is a standard case for any language. It is one of the verbal cases, used when agreeing a subject or an object to the verb. It's used:
1. to denote the subject of an intransitive verb in all series:
Boy goes ყრმაჲ წარვალს q̇rmay c̣arvals Boy went ყრმაჲ წარვიდა q̇rmay c̣arvida Boy has gone ყრმაჲ წარსრულ არს q̇rmay c̣arsrul ars
2. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the first series:
The wolf eats the sheep მგელი შეშჭამს ცხოვარსა mgeli šešč̣ams cxovarsa
3. to denote the direct object in the second and the third series:
The wolf ate the sheep მგელმან შეჭამა ცხოვარი mgelman šeč̣ama cxovari The wolf has eaten the sheep მგელსა შეუჭამიეს ცხოვარი mgelsa šeuč̣amies cxovari
Ergative[edit]
The ergative case is one of the major cases for Ergative-Absolutive languages. In Georgian, it only has one function. It's used:
1. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the second series:
...and said to him his mother... ...და ჰრქუა მას დედამან მისმან... ...da hrkua mas dedaman misman...
Dative[edit]
The dative case is another major case used in many languages to denote the indirect object. Georgian is no exception to this, however it takes things one steps further. The case is used:
1. to denote the subject of a transitive verb in the third series:
The artist has drawn a deer მხატვარსა დაუხატავს ირემი mxaṭvarsa dauxaṭavs iremi
2. to denote the direct object of a verb in the first series:
The artist draws a deer მხატვარი დაჰხატავს ირემსა mxaṭvari dahxaṭavs iremsa
3. to denote the indirect object of a verb in all series, except in the third, where indirect object disappears:
He thinks/believes ჰგონიეს მას hgonies mas He asked his brother (about) the story/tale ჰკითხა მან ძმასა ამბავი hḳitxa man ʒmasa ambavi
4. to denote the place/location of an action or state:
He came to Mtskheta and settled in Tbilisi მოვიდა მცხეთას და დაემკჳდრა ტფილისს. movida mcxetas da daemḳwidra ṭpiliss.