Abstract:
A significant part of the lexical units borrowed by Georgian from
New Persian comprises verbal loans.
There are only two examples of borrowed simple verbs with
certain semantic changes: sänj-id-än 1. „think over “, 2. „compare
“, 3. „weigh “, 4. „measure“>Georgian „ga-sinj-va: sinj-av-s“ – 1. „try,
taste“, 2.„examine“ and nävärd-id-än 1. „pass, overcome“, 2. „travel,
wander“>Georgian „navard-ob-a: navard-ob-s“ – „frolic, run about“.
The borrowing of the present tense forms of these verbs proves the
opinion that „if verbs are borrowed, they seem to be borrowed as if
they were nouns: the borrowing language employs its means of denominal
verbalization to turn the borrowed forms into verbs before
using them as such“(Moravcsik, 1978: 111-112).
Compound verbs, which form the majority of Persian verbs, are
borrowed by Georgian chiefly in the form of hyper-calques. This
means the transfer of the nominal part of the verb without translation
and the translation of the verbal component only (F. Antadze,
2012:51).
The hyper-calqued verbal loans borrowed by Georgian from
Persian are mostly compound verbs consisting of two components.
The verbal element in this case is represented by simple verbs, for
instance, Persian sofre gostärd-än>Georgian „supr-is ga-šl-a: supra
ga-šal-a“ – „spread a table cloth, lay the table“.
The etymons of some hyper-calques are verbs with multiple
components, e.g. xåter-e käsi-rå šekäst-än>Georgian „xatr-is ga-
ṭex-a: xatr-i ga-u-ṭex-a“ – „neglect someone’s opinion, wish“.
In some cases, there are parallel variants of the hyper-calques
represented in the form of denominal verbs, see Persian nešån
dåd-än>Georgian hyper-calque „nišn-is mi-cem-a“: nišan-i mi-s-c-a/
denominal verb „a-nišn -a“ – „give a sign“.
Some of the Persian verbs with two components are adapted
in Georgian only in the form of denominal verbs. The etymons of
such loans are chiefly based on the verbs kärd-an and šod-an. For
instance, Persian fekr kärd-an>Georgian pikr-i: pikr-ob-s – „think“, jäm’ šod-an (passive) – „gather“>Georgian še-jam-eb-a: jam-d-eb-a
– „summarize“. On the earlier stage of borrowing, the hyper-calques
of these verbs were also found. For instance, in the medieval literary
monuments we fi nd zäbun šod-an>„ʒabun i-qmn-a“ instead of the
present-day form „da-ʒabun-d-a“ (passive) – „become feeble“.
There is one example in which a phraseological unit represented
by the verb with multiple components is adapted in Georgian in the
form of a denominal verb: Persian mesl-e bot istådän – “stand there
like a stuff ed dummy“>Georgian ga-bot-va: ga -i- bot -a – 1. „spraddle
legs“, 2. „be stubborn“.
The polysemantic nature of the etymon is mostly restricted in
the verbs borrowed from Persian. In certain cases, the meaning is
also changed.
