Samshoblo and Mamuli ('Homeland')

Abstract

Research into any synonymic pair or group has self-sufficient value, and their choice does not stand in need of special argumentation. But in the present case the choice of the synonyms to be analysed was prompted by a preliminary (it may be said, perfunctory) observation of the differentiated attitude of Ilia Chavcha­vadze, Georgian literary classic of the 19th c., to the synonymic pair mamuli and samshoblo. In his original writings (poetry, belles-lettres, publi­cism) the author in­tensively – and I believe, consciously – uses mamuli to designate his own country, while in poetic translations (of Byron, Heine, Thomas Moore, Lermontov) – made directly from the language of the original or through some other (intermediary) language – the translator gives preferenc e to samshoblo (Chavchavadze 1937: I, 209-44). Besides, the purely termi­nological use of samshoblo, one of the synonyms, in some contexts modern Georgian is noteworthy. Examples of such contexts are: samshoblos (not mamulis) ghalat’i (legal use), ‘betrayal of one’s homeland’; chineti chais samshobloa (not mamuli) ‘China is homeland of tea’.Such non-substitutability or differentiated use-non-use of synonyms naturally stirs the researcher’s interest, challenging him/her to make his/her special study.

In modern Georgian two synonyms are used to denote the concept of ‘homeland’: samshoblo and mamuli. Research into the following components is proposed in order to study their interrelationship:

1. The definition and typology of etymologies of the synonyms;

2. From monosemy to polysemy and synonymization;

3. Derivation (including forming compound words);

4. From polysemy to monosemy and terminologization;

5. Syntagmatics and Stylistics of synonyms