For the Analysis of the Grammatical Section of the Georgian-Italian and Italian-Georgian Dictionary of Emmanuele da Iglesias

Abstract

The manuscript of the Georgian-Italian and Italian-Georgian Dictionary, accompanied by a Grammatical Overview of the Georgian Language, compiled by the Catholic missionary Emmanuele da Iglesias, who was active in Georgia and the Black Sea region during the first half of the 19^th century, was discovered in 2011-2012 by a Georgian research expedition in the General Archives of the Capuchin Order. This lexicographical work constitutes one of the earliest Western attestations of a Georgian dictionary produced within the intellectual framework of early modern missionary linguistics. In the Georgian-Italian section, da Iglesias draws directly on Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani’s celebrated dictionary, while simultaneously adapting it to the conventions of European lexicography. In accordance with long-established missionary practice, the dictionary is complemented by a grammatical overview, in which the dependence on, and creative adaptation of, the indigenous Georgian grammatical tradition is clearly discernible. Supported by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia, an edition of the extant Georgian-Italian part has already been published, while the printed and digital editions of the Italian-Georgian section and the grammatical overview are currently in preparation. The lexicographical and grammatical data preserved in the manuscript offer a rich corpus for future research, and promise to illuminate not only the history of Georgian linguistic description, but also raise broader questions.