ლითონი თუ მეტალი?

ანოტაცია

In the course of mankind’s historical development, the close cultural, economic and political relations of a people with their neighbors near or far bring about the existence of common words or terms in their languages.

As a result of the long historical connection between the Kartvelian tribes and ancient Greek culture, the terms litoni (ლითონი) and met’ali (მეტალი), which are of Greek origin, exist as synonyms in the Georgian oral and written works. This doubling has introduced some terminological ambiguity into the Georgian technical terminology.

Modern European (and not only European) countries use the term metal and terms derived from it. However, Georgian terminologists and specialists have been unable to decide the question of litoni (ლითონი) or met’ali (მეტალი) once and for all. There has been no “legal recognition,” and there remains a difference of opinion among specialists. These terms are presented as synonyms in common Georgian and specialized dictionaries.

Before Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, before the Dictionary of Georgian was compiled, the terms did not make it into existing Georgian dictionaries.

Consequently, the Dictionary of Georgian became one of the major starting points for historical sources of Georgian vocabulary. In its various manuscripts, the direct or oblique indications depicted in the definitions’ various variants are invaluable for the elucidation of the word.

In the comparative analysis of the terms under examination (starting with the Dictionary of Georgian and including modern literary Georgian dictionaries), litoni (ლითონი) and met’ali (მეტალი) are discussed as well as other terms used in their definitions.

An analysis of the meanings (definitions) of the terms produced on the basis of litoni (ლითონი) and met’ali (მეტალი) found in the modern Georgian sources and The Georgian Dictionary and their usage frequency provides the basis for assigning “precedence of introduction” into the language to the term litoni (ლითონი). It is more closely related to the roots of the common Georgian language, and it has a significant cultural-historical bearing, directly indicating the duration of Greek-Georgian relations over a long period of time.

In fact, the synonymous pair discussed reflects an objective reality in the modern Georgian language and points to a single denotatum. They have a single linguistic meaning with no semantic nuance between them. Thus, they are equivalent lexical synonyms, and (despite the lack of synonyms in technical terminology) it is impossible to mark one out as dominant.