Georgian Architectural Terminology: on the Example of Some Church Architecture Terms

This paper presents Georgian architectural terminology through the example of some church architecture terms. These terms are closely connected and interwoven with the Christian religion. This fact is determined by the early conversion of the country into Christianity which gave great impetus to the construction of numerous churches and monasteries and the development of Georgian architecture. Church architecture terminology is mostly created on the basis of the Georgian language resources. Even the Georgian terms for architect and architecture are of Georgian origin, unlike terms for many other scientific disciplines, for which Georgian uses international terms of Latin and Greek origin. These Georgian terms are ხუროთმოძღვრება / khurotmodzghvreba (‘architecture’) and ხუროთმოძღვარი / xhurotmodzghvari (‘architect’). Although these terms are considered archaic in Modern Georgian and are replaced by არქიტექტორი / arkit’ekt’ori (‘architect’) and არქიტექტურა / arkit’ekt’ura (‘architecture’), they continue to be used in the context of church architecture. For instance, architectural monuments of Georgia, i.e. Georgian churches and monasteries, are still referred to as საქართველოს ხუროთმოძღვრული ძეგლები / sakartvelos khurotmodzghvruli dzeglebi.