Digital Kartvelology Volume I

Digital Kartvelology
Volume I

The Bilingual Scientific Online Journal of the Academy for Digital Humanities

ISSN 2720-8427 (Online)

New issue:
Volume 1, 2022 (full version)

The peer-reviewed bilingual scientific online journal „Digital Kartvelology“ of the Academy for Digital Humanities is intended for specialists working in Digital Humanities. The online journal „Digital Kartvelology“ aims to promote the development of Digital Kartvelology in Georgia and to create an academic platform for specialists working in Digital Humanities to publish scientific papers.

Authors and articles:

I. Digital Studies of Manuscripts

Bernard Outtier (Bibliothèque du Caucase, Saint-Martin-de-la-Mer)
Georgian Palimpsests in Tbilisi

Keywords: Georgian Manuscripts, Georgian National Center of Manuscripts, Digital manuscript studies

Abstract: Kekelidze Tbilisi National Center of Manuscripts is the owner of the main treasure of Georgian manuscripts, which has reached us. Among them, palimpsest manuscripts preserved in the center are especially important, the number of which is more than 10,000 sheets. The paper presents the catalog of Georgian palimpsests published by the Tbilisi National Center of Manuscripts in 2017, which fully describes the palimpsest manuscripts preserved in the National Center of Manuscripts. In addition to a general overview of the contents of the catalog, the article provides new information regarding the identification of hitherto unidentified texts. The identification of palimpsest manuscripts and the determination of the text became possible, on the one hand, using the TITUS database and, on the other hand, based on the analysis of the Greek resources of Thesaurus Linguae Graecae.

Christa Müller-Kessler (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena)
Piecing together Christian Palestinian Aramaic Texts under Georgian Manuscripts

Keywords: Georgian manuscripts, Aramaic texts, Digital processing of manuscripts

Abstract: Various early Christian Palestinian Aramaic manuscripts dating to the 5th till 7th centuries CE were taken apart and reused by the tenth-century Georgian scribe Ioane Zosime for new Georgian texts. They were overwritten by him either at the Great Laura of Mar Saba near Jerusalem or in the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. These manuscripts were split up and removed from St Catherine in the middle and late nineteenth century by scholars or other unknown persons and went into public and private collections in Europe (St Petersburg, Göttingen, Oslo) and in the United States (Princeton). Parts of them, however, had been hidden and stored in a closed-up chamber within the St George Tower of the Sinai Monastery and belong to the New Finds of 1975. These individual folios and fragments which have been torn apart and mutilated could be now joined and attributed according to their former manuscripts on account of their content and codicological features. It concerns quite a number of rare texts as the earliest attested witness of the Jerusalem Lectionary, the Catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem, Ephrem Graecus’ Sermo in adventum Domini, the homily on the Repentence by John Chrysostom, and Saint Silvanus from the Apophthegmata.

Erich Renhart (University of Graz, Graz)
The Sinaitic Palimpsest of Graz University Library (Ms. 2058/2)

Keywords: Georgian manuscripts, Digital processing of manuscripts, Sinaitic palimpsest of Graz

Abstract: Graz University Library holds a manuscript which is palimpsest throughout (except folios 1 to 4, out of 282). The first text (in Armenian characters) has been overwritten with the text of the Book of Psalms and biblical cantica in Georgian. The palimpsestation is supposed to have been carried out in the St Catherine’s monastery on Mt Sinai around the turn of the 8th/9th century. The four folios which are not palimpsest have been added to the book most probably by Ioane Zosime in the second half of the 10th century. In 2015 the author published a study on the effaced Armenian text in German. The present article summarises that study in English. Thus, it outlines the codicology of the »first« book, it shows the applied procedure of palimpsestation, and it deals with the most interesting content of the older text layer. The palimpsest is a not that frequent sample of a »book of oracles«. These oracles – mostly very short phrases – are connected with the verses of the Gospel of John in consecutive order. The importance of the palimpsest can be seen in the ancient biblical text and in the oracle tradition alike. These oracles, which have been used for bibliomantic divination, have parallels in a number of other antique languages and text traditions (e.g. Greek, Syriac). Additionally, the article mentions further research questions and designs the way towards a full edition of the biblical text – the corpus of oracles of Graz University Library, ms. 2058/2 has been published in the study mentioned above.

Darejan Tvaltvadze (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi)
New Life of Old Manuscripts – Digitized Georgian Manuscripts and Their Importance for Codicological and Textological Studies

Keywords: Old Georgian, Digital processing of manuscripts, Paleography, Codicology, Textology

Abstract: The digital age, the development of modern technologies and the emergence of large databases have led to a drastic change in the scientific infrastructure in many fields of the Humanities, including manuscriptology. The fixation of old manuscripts in photographs and microfilms has been replaced by digitisation, which has made it possible to obtain high-quality digital photographs that have become a reliable source for the palaeographical, codicological and textological study of manuscripts. Scientific projects such as TITUS, ARMAZI, (SAXAREBA PROJECT, GeoPal and so on, that were initiated by Professor Jost Gippert at the Institute of Empirical Linguistics of Goethe University, Frankfurt, in collaboration with Georgian scholars in the late twentieth century, aiming to electronically document Georgian written sources and digitise ancient Georgian manuscripts, have proved to be crucial. It was within the framework of one such project that it became possible to fully digitise the collection of Georgian manuscripts preserved in the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos. The present article shows the importance of digital images for codicological and textual studies on the example of two of the Athonite manuscripts (Ivir.georg. 62 and Ivir.georg. 83) which contain the Old Georgian translation of the Gospels. Discussed are the new insights revealed as a result of the study of the digital images of these manuscripts, which open up new prospects for the further study of the history of the Georgian translation of the Gospels.

II. Digital Lexikography

Tinatin Margalitadze (Ilia State University, Tbilisi)
Marjory Wardrop: an Unknown Page of her Kartvelological Endeavour

Keywords: Marjory Wardrop, Wardrop’s English-Georgian dictionary, Lexicography, Shota Rustaveli’s “The Knight in the Panther´s skin”

Abstract: Among the constellation of foreign Kartvelologists, Marjory Wardrop (1869-1909) holds a special place. A greater part of her short life was dedicated to Georgia, particularly to the translation of the medieval Georgian poem The Man in the Panther’s Skin by Shota Rustaveli and she is mostly known in Georgia for this tremendous endeavour. Little was known, until recently, of her lexicographic activities, the topic which will be discussed in details in this paper. M. Wardrop’s lexicographic activities were first mentioned in Georgia by M. Odzeli in her monograph on the history of Georgian-English literary contacts (Odzeli, 1998). She discovered a manuscript of an unfinished English-Georgian Dictionary by M. Wardrop, while working at the Wardrop Fund of the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. In 2014 the Etymological Dictionary with Marjory’s notes was photocopied and brought to Georgia by M. Odzeli and T. Margalitadze. The Dictionary was digitalized and published in 2019 to commemorate 150th anniversary of Marjory Wardrop’s birth (Margalitadze, Odzeli 2019). Even though Marjory Wardrop’s English-Georgian dictionary has remained unfinished, still in many ways it proved extremely interesting to study. The dictionary-level analysis of Georgian words with their English equivalents, and their collation with respective strophes of the poem have clearly demonstrated, how acutely and precisely does the translator perceives Georgian words, how delicate her approach to the language is, how meticulously she selects the English matches for Georgian words, and how delighted she is with the lexical riches and diversity of the Georgian language. It must be noted that this amazing ability of Marjory to perceive the Georgian word was revealed at the initial stage of her translation of the poem, when she was yet inexperienced as a translator. Surely, in the course of years she acquired translation skills which, together with her great talent and innate ability to percieve words, helped Marjory Wardrop produce an absolutely unique translation of the Georgian epic poem. Her translation remains unrivalled by any subsequent English translations produced in the following periods of history. This amazing accuracy of her rendition enabled Marjory’s translation to become the basis for numerous later translations of The Man in the Panther’s Skin into many different languages of the world.

Ketevan Datukishvili, Nana Loladze (Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, Tbilisi), Merab Zakalashvili (Linguistic Technologies Group, Tbilisi)
Lexicography – a tool for managing lexicographic works

Keywords: Georgian language, Digital lexicography, Software tool “Lexicographer”

Abstract: Lexicography in modern science is developing in two directions: the compilation of dictionaries based on linguistic corpora and the creation of lexical databases. The Linguistic Technologies Group has created a program “Lexicographer” which ensures the implementation of lexicographic activities by means of digital technologies. The program enables the creation of dictionaries and their publication in printed and electronic formats. Based on this program, we have created an explanatory dictionary of the Georgian language, “The Georgian Dictionary“, which is published in two formats: 1. printed: “The Georgian Dictionary“, Tbilisi: Bakur Sulakauri Publishing House 2014 and 2. electronic: https://www.ganmarteba.ge/ 2019. The program “Lexicographer” consists of two parts: a database editor and a format editor. In addition, it has a special function for the administration of activities. The database relies on a conceptual model embracing the following components of a dictionary unit: definition, illustrative example, part of speech, field of usage, field of science etc. The database is extremely useful for scientific research, for instance, reagarding statistical analyses. The format editor of the program “Lexicographer” ensures the creation of the format of the dictionary. It enables the following operations: ordering of sections or components; selection of different styles (font size, colour…) for the information provided in different fields, the usage of symbols and so on. The program “Lexicographer” also facilitates the administration of activities. It is uploaded to the internet. Hence, lexicographers have the opportunity to work with the dictionary from any place. Using a special function, they can implement efficient management of the work process. The program “Lexicographer” is intended to be used for the creation of a universal tool that will embrace structural peculiarities of dictionaries of various types and functions. This universal tool will enable the compilation of explanatory, translation, orthographic and other types of dictionaries to be published in both printed and electronic forms.

III. Linguistics

Jost Gippert (University of Hamburg, Hamburg)
Old Georgian “Suffixaufnahme” revisited

Keywords: Suffixaufnahme, Marie Brosset, Anton I, Diachronic studies

Abstract: Diachronic Georgian Corpora, developed over the past four decades (such as the TITUS Georgian Language Corpus and the Georgian National Corpus, GNC), enable an in-depth investigation of one of the phenomena documented in Old Georgian— nominal inflection of Old Georgian. Specifically, they allow for the study of adnominal genitive forms in Old Georgian texts, a phenomenon known in scientific literature as “Suffixaufnahme.” This paper, which constitutes the first installment in a series of studies dedicated to this topic, explores the history of the “Suffixaufnahme” phenomenon as introduced to Kartvelian studies by the French scholar Marie-Félicité Brosset. A detailed analysis of two of Brosset’s works, published in the 1830s, reveals that Brosset heavily relied on the treatise On the Art of Grammar authored by Anton I, Catholicos of Georgia. Thus, Anton I should be regarded as the original discoverer of the “Suffixaufnahme” phenomenon. Moreover, most examples cited by Brosset were not only derived from Anton I’s treatise but also from manuscripts accessible to Brosset at the French Royal (now National) Library. The investigation examination of the issue has uncovered several inaccuracies in Brosset’s discussion of the phenomenon. With the present paper, we start a series of investigations that are meant to cast new light on the phenomenon of “Suffixaufnahme” and its specifics. We will begin with a survey of the treatment of “Suffixaufnahme” in the linguistic literature on Georgian from its beginning to the present day, with special emphasis on the linguistic material used for illustration.

Maia Lomia, Ketevan Margiani (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi)
Linguistic annotation of Kartvelian languages: I. Nouns (problems and ways to solutions)

Keywords: Kartvelian languages, Linguistic annotation, Standardization of morpheme analysis

Abstract: The international standards of morphemic analysis of texts have outlined completely new prospects of research for the languages with rich morphological structure because typological linguistics systematizes and classifies language facts and phenomena based on the structural content and the number of structural markers. The unity of these markers is relevant for the definition of the essence of language as such, the very phenomenon of language. Morphologically, of great interest with regard to any language are the noun and the verb, because they are structural units of ample syntagmatic data. This proves the importance of the outcomes of morphemic analysis, as well as the vast grammatical capacity of these parts of speech. Kartvelian languages embrace the empirical material of four languages (Georgian, Megrelian, Laz and Svan) with diverse and multifunctional morphemic data. Their systemic research is urgent, important and vital for the definition of the typology of Kartvelian languages as well as for the general typological research. Modern challenges have created the need for the new, reliable and knowledge-based research product that will meet contemporary international standards. Linguistic morphological analysis is carried out based on the synchronic data. Due to the morphonological changes peculiar of nominal stems, we should take into account the diachronic etymological factors in order to identify the original forms and meanings of words. In the paper is analyzed the problems of linguistic annotation of the nominal parts of speech in Kartvelian languages based on the grammatical categories of case and number: The issues of segmentation and qualification of the nominal parts of speech with postpositions are discussed with reference to all the four Kartvelian languages.

IV. Translation studies / Corpus Linguistics

Manana Tandaschwili, Mariam Kamarauli (Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt)
A conceptual framework of equivalence evaluation criteria in the multilingual parallel corpus Rustaveli goes digital

Keywords: Digital Rustvelology, Equivalence, Multilingual parallel corpus of Shota Rustaveli’s “The Knight in the Panther´s skin”, Poetic formulas

Abstract: The development of the humanities in the 21st century is inconceivable without the advancement of large-scale databases and digital research methodologies. Kartvelology, as a national field of study, entered the third millennium with distinction: leveraging existing digital resources and technologies developed for the Georgian language, a foundation was established for a qualitatively new phase of Kartvelology, aptly named Digital Kartvelology. With the creation of the manuscript corpus of Shota Rustaveli’s The Knight in the Panther’s Skin and the digital corpus of its translations, Rustaveli goes digital, Rustaveli’s work has transitioned into the digital realm, marking the emergence of Digital Rustvelology. The development of a parallel corpus of translations of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin began in 2018 at the Institute of Empirical Linguistics at the University of Frankfurt and was planned as a three-stage initiative. During the first stage, the foundational principles for constructing the corpus were defined, its design was developed to accommodate the required resources, and a conceptual framework for the user interface was established. Furthermore, a theoretical and technological infrastructure was laid out, including the principles of parallelising and aligning the source text with its translations. The project’s second phase commenced in 2021, focusing on comparing the full text of the epic with its translations into 20 languages. This phase enables interdisciplinary research grounded in empirical data and supported by modern technologies. The third phase, running from 2023 to 2026, aims to digitize full translations of the poem in 56 languages and incorporate them into the corpus. The parallel corpus of translations of The Knight in the Panther’s Skin facilitates two major areas of research. First, it allows for a corpus-linguistic analysis of the relationships, similarities, and differences between the original text and its translations, as well as among the translations themselves. Second, it provides a means to investigate the equivalence of translations through modern digital methods. This article examines the adequacy of the translation of Rustaveli’s philosophical worldview in The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by focusing on the concept of good and evil. Additionally, it highlights the potential of automated analyses of repetitiveness to evaluate the literary quality of poetic translations, using the translation of a single poetic formula as an example.

Khatuna Beridze (Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University, Batumi)
An Inter-Reflexive Corpus-Based Approach to Georgian and American Film Translations

Keywords: Translation studies, Corpus linguistics, Georgian and American films, Inter-reflexive analysis of translation

Abstract: Modern Translation Studies are almost inconceivable without corpus-linguistic, multidisciplinary, and multilingual approaches, which are undoubtedly crucial for the scientific and applied development of the field. However, translations of less commonly spoken languages or translations from such languages are rarely examined using corpus-linguistic methods. This study aims to identify the interrelations between the causes of language variation and translation methods or strategies by comparing data from parallel corpora. The research objective is to determine the sociolinguistic reasons for variation between untranslated Soviet period Georgian and translated post-Soviet Georgian. In line with the study’s goal and objectives, the paper analyzes issues of language variation and the translation of non-standard language in subtitles translated from Georgian to English during the Soviet period and in the Georgian translations of American films in the post-Soviet period. The findings reveal that English subtitles translated during the Soviet period often relied on an intermediary language (Russian), pointing to the influence of censorship. Strategies in Soviet period Georgian-to-English translations predominantly demonstrated foreignization, aiming to render the subtitles in idiomatic and natural English suitable for an English-speaking audience. In contrast, post-Soviet Georgian translations of American films exhibit domestication strategies in translating idioms and standardization methods in translating slang. The generalization of analytical results indicates a partial homology between post-Soviet translated Georgian and Soviet period untranslated Georgian. The study concludes that translators tend to prioritize standard forms over colloquial, informal, and non-standard forms in the translation process.