Towards the Issue of the Toponym “The Rabat of Akhaltsikhe” Based on the Notes by Professor Tariel Putkaradze

Abstract

As it is known, as a result of the restoration works carried out in 2011-2012, the Akhaltsikhe Castle, namely, the fortress and the monuments in the upper part of the castle, which turned the historical city into an even more important center for tourism, were restored. According to the mentioned fact, incorrect names appeared on social networks and pages of tourist advertising agencies, namely, Rabati Castle, The fortress of Rabati, Rabati, and Castle Rabati.

Our goal was to discuss the issue of the mentioned unreasonable, incorrect names, according to the notes of Prof. T. Putkaradze, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to determine the relationship between logical alternative place names.

1. According to the position of the author of the record, it is unjustified to use the word Rabati [Arab. Rabat] the use of names composed with the participation (Rabati of Akhaltsikhe, Rabati Castle,...), based on the meaning of this word (the suburb of the castle);

2. It is irrelevant to generalize the name of its district to the name of the fortress-city, especially when the name of the fortress-city, Akhaltsikhe, is an actively functioning place name today. This irrelevance comes out from two reasons: 1) lack of knowledge of the word Rabati; 2) the unmanaged, spontaneous process of giving names, which is caused by the carelessness of the relevant structures;

3. Among valid alternative place names, in terms of prevalence, the Castle of Akhaltsikhe is preferred; regarding the Castle of Lomsia, there is the issue of restoration of historical place name which is closely related to the policy of planning of a language, as well as other Kartvelological studies;

4. In historical place name, we mean the names of such places, which experienced a break with the historical memory of the nation totally or partly. Their preservation should mean not only searching in historical sources and registering in the scientific literature but in every logically determined case (when there is a reason for this), to activate - to restore, to move forward. The place name Lomsia (//Fortress Lomsia) is noteworthy for this reason. In addition, according to the derivation, it is more flexible, as it is simple-based.