ცხინვალი

Georgian

Etymology

First attested in the 14th century.

From Middle Georgian, from Old Georgian ქრცხილვანი (krcxilvani), from ქრცხილი (krcxili, “hornbeam”) + -ოვანი (-ovani, adjectival suffix), ultimately from Proto-Kartvelian *krcxeml- (“hornbeam”).

The earliest form was probably *ქრცხილოვანი (*krcxilovani), *ქრცხილოანი (*krcxiloani). In the 15th century it developed into კრცხილვანი (ḳrcxilvani) (the ქ (k) → კ (ḳ) development is regular in Middle Georgian). Due to metathesis of the consonants and due to natural drift in the language, the first two consonants of the root (*კ (*ḳ) and *რ (*r)) were lost, while *ლ (*l) was replaced with the more convenient *ნ (*n) (and vice versa. The same development is seen in Old Georgian ჟილვანი (žilvani) → ჟინვალი (žinvali)).

In all forms of the term the root is *ქრცხილ- (*krcxil-) (or later *კრცხილ- (*ḳrcxil-)), suffixed with -ოვანი (-ovani, “having certain characteristics or qualities”), where ო (o) is lost due to phonetic contraction. Old Georgian ქრცხილა (krcxila) (modern რცხილა (rcxila, “hornbeam”)) was the name of a certain type of an endemic tree (of genus Carpinus) commonly found in this region. Thus, the literal meaning of the toponym can be viewed as "the land of hornbeams".

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [t͡sʰχinʷali]
Hyphenation: ცხინ‧ვა‧ლი

Proper noun

ცხინვალი • (cxinvali)

Tskhinvali (the capital city of South Ossetia, a de-facto independent country internationally recognized as part of the country of Georgia)

Descendants

→ Armenian: Ցխինվալ (Cʻxinval)
→ English: Tskhinvali
→ Ossetian: Цхинвал (Cxinval)
→ Russian: Цхинвал (Cxinval)

References

Bedošvili, Guram (2002) Kartul ṭoṗonimta ganmarṭebit-eṭimologiuri leksiḳoni [Dictionary of Georgian Geographical Names]‎^[1] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Bakur Sulakauri Publishing, →ISBN, pages 479–482
Fähnrich, Heinz (2010) “Von Baumnamen gebildete georgische Siedlungsnamen”, in Namenkundliche Informationen‎^[2] (in German), volume 97, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, page 138–139 of 133–143