Semiotics for the “Aragvi” and “Aragviani” (Linguistic and Semiologic Studies)

Abstract

The author's English summary from the article:

Key words: poetics of Baratashvili, etymology of Aragvi.

According to one of the well-known toponymic dictionaries (in: A.Tverdiy, Top- onymic Dictionary of the Northern Caucasus, I; Krasnodar, 2006; / in Russian), the name of the river Aragvi is determined as “”fast”, “undelayed” (“быстрая, незапаздывающая”). The paper suggests that in this case the etymology of the word is based on one stanza of NikolozBaratashvili’s poem “The Fate of Kartli” in which this river is mentioned as “aragviani”(“undelayed”). It is suggested here that the word “aragviani” used by Baratashvili has nothing to do with the genesis of hydronym.In the poem this word is an ordinary epithet that allit- eratively linked to the river name.

The poet had no desire to explain the name of the river and relying on his word the research into the genesis of hydronym is unjustified. It seems that this interpretation of the aforementioned dictionary stems from the information of the researcher, who incorrectly explained the meaning of hydronym with the reference to Baratashvili. It is stated that NikolozBaratashvili created an artistic image of the Aragvi River (in his poem the Aragvi is shown as symbolic personification of fast moving, vigorous), which was later reflected in the works of many Georgian poets. In the context of Baratash- vili’s poem there are also considered the poems of LadoAsatiani, TitsianTabidze, Galak- The paper also deals with other issues, for example, special attention is paid to the question as to how the Aragvi is reflected in VazhaPshavela’spoem “To the Aragvi” (`aragvs~).

The poet addresses the river with great love, says that he is seduced by its turbulence, foamy waves, and then when beholding the Aragvi, he feels an urge to take (lingvistur-semiologiuri Ziebani) his eyes off it and direct his gaze towards the mountains and at this time he calls the Aragvi as “damned”(`wyeuli~). In this paper we also consider the “Letters of a Trav- eler” by Ilia Chavchavadze in which the turbulent river (in this case the Tergi /Terekriv- er) and the mountain (Mqinvari/Mount Kazbek) are opposed to each other and based on this, we consider VazhaPshavela’s poem in the context of Chavchavadze’s novel. Ilia Chavchavadze writes that the Tergi reminds him Byron, and the Mqinvari – Goethe.In Chavchavadze’simigation the Tergi is a symbol of motion, the fight of Georgian people for freedom and the Mqinvari is an embodiment of the peace and quietness that is attained as a result of avoiding such fight and standing apart from the people.

Ilia Chavchavadze does not like such quietness and says that he prefers the “Tergi”, i.e., the fight for people. Close scrutinyof Vazha-Pshavela’s poem gives the impression that the quietness of the mountain and the turbulence of the river are also contrasted with each other. At first glance, it looks like Vazha runs away from the turbulence, fight and strives for peace and quietness, but in the second part of the poem it becomes clear that this is not the case, on the contrary, he agrees with Chavchavadze - the poet draws such a mountain, the ridges of which re- semble young men who are in love with the Aragvi and move closer to the river. In another poem called “I Have Been to the Mountain”VazhaPshavela appears as a highly spiritu- ally person - this time, as he himself puts it, he talks with God, and we see that the poet concerns about his people and country and is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of the motherland.

The poem “To the Aragvi” expresses the feeling which confirms that it is not easy for a poet to sacrifice life, and, apparently, that is why he mentionsAragvi with the word “damned”, but this word is pronounced not with hate but with love, and during the analysis of the poem it becomes clear that like IlyaChavchavadze, VazhaPshavela is ready for self-sacrifice for the sake of the motherland. When considering the above-mentioned issues, we also deal with the famous Georgian geographer and historian VakhushtiBagrationi. It is stated that he is not only a great scholar, but also an author gifted with great literary talent. It is clearly seen when Vakhushti describes the Aragvi, his sentences are very expressive; he often uses allitera- tion and chooses such words for the Aragvithat rhyme with the name of the river.

It can be said that the Aragvi is a kind of poetic inspiration for VakhushtiBagrationi. The paper also studies the issues related to the text of Vakhushti’s work “Geogra- phy of Georgia”, corrections are made in the text translated into modern Georgian. In addition to literary and textual, linguistic issues have been also considered in the paper. The paper deals with the issues related to the etymology of the Aragvihydronym, the views of various scholars are discussed and an assumption is put forward that the name of the river is derived from the root *reg- (“moist”, “wet”) known in proto-Indo-European language and this word must be formed by adding Georgian ma-av(“ma-av”) prefix and suffix.

From this viewpoint, the original name of the AragviRiver was “ma-rag-v-i” (“Ma-rag-v-i”), which means “irrigator”, “fertilizer”. The paper suggests that otherhydronymes(Aragon, Argun / Caucasus...)could be also related to the mentioned root *reg-...

Published in the journal Sjani, vol. 20/1 (2019), pp. 210–233. Open the paper