Unknown Pages of English-Georgian Lexicography (George Ellis and his Comparative Lexicon of Kartvelian Languages)

Abstract

In 1788 a book was published by the British author George Ellis in London under the title Memoir of a Map of the Countries Comprehended Between the Black Sea, and the Caspian, with an Account of the Caucasian Nations and Vocabularies of their Languages. The book describes the history, culture, and religion of the peoples of the Caucasus, and provides information about the languages ​​spoken in the Caucasus region. While discussing the countries of the Caucasus, a certain space is dedicated to Georgia with geographic, political and ethnographic information, which is followed by a small comparative lexicon of the Kartvelian languages. It is noteworthy that the author is interested not only in the Georgian language, but also in the other Kartvelian languages, and the book contains material of Megrelian and Svan ​​along with Georgian. It can be said that the lexicographic material included in this book is the first example of describing the material of Kartvelian languages for English readers. Our article provides short information about the book itself, and discusses George Ellis's Comparative Lexicon of Kartvelian Languages ​​and its sources. Special attention is paid to the transliteration rules of Kartvelian words into English, which are mainly based on the rules of Modern English spelling. G. Ellis’ Comparative Lexicon of the Kartvelian Languages is important for the study of early stages in the history of English-Georgian lexicography; it is also interesting in the context of linguistic affinity, as the Kartvelian languages are presented in it exactly from this point of view.