ქართული „სამხედრო-ტეხნიური ლექსიკონი“ 100 წლისაა

Abstract

In the wake of the ongoing political and social-cultural events at the beginning of the 20th century, the issue to develop technical and military terminology appeared on the agenda. “Almost all fields of science, especially military sciences, had uncollected and unprocessed terminology” (Tsagareli 1920: I). Difficulties arose in the translation process of military regulations and manuals stipulating the development of Georgian military-technical terms. Therefore, the Georgian military-technical dictionary developed by Colonel L. Tsagareli was published in 1920. The first Georgian military-technical dictionary is one hundred years old today. To identify the proper Georgian terms and equivalences was necessary to make Georgian officers (and not only officers), as well as the scientific community “speak in Georgian”. However, the Georgian language was not ″ready″ for it. Colonel L.Tsagareli used old Georgian books and materials – a collection of military terms and words recorded by I.Javakhishvili as a “rescuer”. “L.Tsagareli was tirelessly collecting ... names used within Georgian people over the years, he was getting familiar with.... old sources” (Akhvlediani 1925: VI). Colonel L.Tsagareli also used the ″glossary″ of the technicians. The development of military terminology is tied to the development of technical terms. The ″Glossary,″ published by the Georgian technical community in 1920, filled the gap in the field of technology. This glossary is a Russian-Georgian technical dictionary (Ghambashidze 1972:18) that will be published first time this year and that is one hundred years old today. Absence of Georgian terms was not the only difficulty the Georgian scientists or subject matter specialists faced one hundred years ago. Finding ways of developing and creating Georgian terms was also another difficulty. Colonel Tsagareli was trying to develop new forms, as well as to field new origins. One fact is obvious, the effort of Georganizing terms is reflected in the military-technical dictionary of 1920, but in the military-technical dictionary published in 1925, preference was given to the Latin roots. Nowadays specialists of the military field or other subject matter experts (translators, language experts) working in this field still face difficulties during the process of introducing and fielding the military terms. That is because the major part of the military terms (for example in the Georgian encyclopedic dictionary) is based on the international roots (Dictionary 2017). “It is clear that Latin words dominate in the Georgian scientific language of the 21st century. Latin terms replaced Georgian roots similar to the vocabulary derived from the east languages”. The so-called international words are not for general use (Karosanidze 2020: 29). It is important to realize that the technical and military terms create and build a unified system that is called ″ the temple of the military science″ (Tsagareli 1920:IV). It is undeniable that terms should be for general use and acceptable for people but we should consider that terms can be changed and refined simultaneously with the events, that is a guarantee that the issue of terminology will always remain active and the ″milestone of the terminological work″- basic fund - will be the vocabulary of old Georgian language and Georgian dialectical vocabulary with the modern literary language (Ghambashidze 1972:20). The only way to maintain uniqueness of the nation and accordingly of the language is the way back to the Georgian roots and origins. This does not exclude and stand against the current needs, but it is relevant to modern approaches and demands.