# ხერხი
## Georgian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [χeɾχi]
* Hyphenation: ხერ‧ხი

### Etymology 1

From Old Georgian ხერხი (xerxi), from Proto-Georgian-Zan *xarx-.

#### Noun

ხერხი • (xerxi) (plural ხერხები)
* jigsaw, saw

##### Declension

Notes: archaic plurals might not exist.

##### Derived terms

* ნახერხი (naxerxi)

##### Descendants

* → Abkhaz: ахьархь (axʲarxʲ)
* → Armenian: խերխի (xerxi), խեխի (xexi), խրխի (xrxi), խրխա (xrxa)
* → Bats: ხერხ (xerx)
* → Bezhta: хойгъо (xojğo), хоргъо (xorğo), хорхо (xorxo)
* → Chechen: херх (xerx)
* → Ingush: херх (xerx)
* → Khvarshi: херех (xerex)
* → Laz: ხერხი (xerxi)
* → Ossetian: хырх (xyrx), хирх (xirx)
* → Svan: ჴერჴ (qerq), ხერხ (xerx)
* → Tsez: хирих (xirix)

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle Georgian ჴერჴი (qerqi). Cognate with Svan ლი-ჴჷრჴ-ე (li-qərq-e).

#### Noun

ხერხი • (xerxi) (plural ხერხები)
* method, way
    Synonyms: გზა (gza), მეთოდი (metodi)

##### Declension

Notes: archaic plurals might not exist.

#### Further reading

* Vogt, Hans (1971) Grammaire de la langue géorgienne‎ (in French), Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, page 10

## Old Georgian
### Etymology

By umlauting from earlier *ხარხ- (*xarx-), inherited from Proto-Georgian-Zan *xarx- (“a saw; to saw”), which is possibly an onomatopoeic formation; cognate with Mingrelian ხორხი (xorxi, “saw”) and Laz ო-ხორხ-უ (o-xorx-u, “to saw”).

### Noun

ხერხი • (xerxi)
* saw (tool for sawing)
** 5th century and later, Bible, Isaiah 10.15:ნუ უკუჱ იდიდოს ცული თჳნიერ მკუეთელისა, ანუ აღმაღლდეს ხერხი თჳნიერ მზიდველისა მისისა. ეგრეთვე ვითარცა იგი ვინ აღიღის კუერთხი, ანუ წათი, და არა ეგრე.nu uḳuē ididos culi twinier mḳuetelisa, anu aɣmaɣldes xerxi twinier mzidvelisa misisa. egretve vitarca igi vin aɣiɣis ḳuertxi, anu c̣ati, da ara egre.Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? [Or] shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake [itself] against them that lift it up, [or] as if the staff should lift up [itself, as if it were] no wood.

#### Derived terms

* ხერხის-სახე (xerxis-saxe)

#### Descendants

* Georgian: ხერხი (xerxi)
** → Abkhaz: ахьархь (axʲarxʲ)
** → Armenian: խերխի (xerxi), խեխի (xexi), խրխի (xrxi), խրխա (xrxa)
** → Bats: ხერხ (xerx)
** → Bezhta: хойгъо (xojğo), хоргъо (xorğo), хорхо (xorxo)
** → Chechen: херх (xerx)
** → Ingush: херх (xerx)
** → Khvarshi: херех (xerex)
** → Laz: ხერხი (xerxi)
** → Ossetian: хырх (xyrx), хирх (xirx)
** → Svan: ჴერჴ (qerq), ხერხ (xerx)
** → Tsez: хирих (xirix)
* → Aghwan: 𐕀𐔴𐕀𐔴𐕙 (xexer)

### References

* ↑ Kipšidze, Iosif (1914) “ხორხი”, in Грамматика мингрельского (иверского) языка с хрестоматией и словарем [Grammar of the Mingrelian (Iverian) Language with a Reader and a Dictionary] (Материалы по яфетическому языкознанию; 7)‎ (in Russian), Saint Petersburg: Academy Press, page 407a
* ↑ Čikobava, Arnold (1938) Č̣anur-megrul-kartuli šedarebiti leksiḳoni [Laz–Megrel–Georgian Comparative Dictionary] (Works; IV) (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, published 2008, page 413
* ↑ Schmidt, Karl Horst (1962) Studien zur Rekonstruktion des Lautstandes der südkaukasischen Grundsprache (Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes; XXXIV, 3)‎ (in German), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, page 158
* ↑ Klimov, G. A. (1964) Этимологический словарь картвельских языков [Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages] (in Russian), Moscow: Academy Press, pages 257, 258
* ↑ Fähnrich, Heinz, Sardshweladse, Surab (1995) Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Kartwel-Sprachen (Handbuch der Orientalistik; I.29) (in German), Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, pages 545–546
* ↑ Klimov, G. A. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (Trends in linguistics. Documentation; 16), New York, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, page 326
* ↑ Fähnrich, Heinz (2007) Kartwelisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch [Kartvelian Etymological Dictionary] (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.18) (in German), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 678
* ↑ Sarǯvelaʒe, Zurab (1985) “Umlauṭis ḳvali kartulši [Traces of umlaut in Georgian]”, in Sakartvelos ssr mecnierebata aḳademiis moambe (in Georgian), volume 120, number 1, Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 197―200

### Further reading

* Abajev, V. I. (1989) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 267
* Abulaʒe, Ilia (1973) “ხერხი”, in Ʒveli kartuli enis leksiḳoni (masalebi) [Dictionary of Old Georgian (Materials)]‎ (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Metsniereba, page 562a
* Abulaʒe, Ilia (2014) “ხერხი”, in Ʒvelkartuli-ʒvelsomxuri doḳumenṭirebuli leksiḳoni [Old Georgian – Old Armenian Documentary Dictionary], Tbilisi: National Centre of Manuscripts, →ISBN, page 930b
* Bailey, H. W. (1975) “Excursus Iranocaucasicus”, in Monumentum H. S. Nyberg I (Acta Iranica; 4)‎, Leiden: Brill, page 33 of 31–35, proposes a difficult Iranian etymology, ultimately from Proto-Iranian *way- (“to cut off”) underlying Old Armenian վէտ (vēt, “incision”)
* Fähnrich, Heinz (1994) Grammatik der altgeorgischen Sprache (in German), Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, page 224
* Gudava, Ṭogo (1954) “Kartul-xunʒuri leksiḳuri šexvedrebis šesaxeb [On Georgian-Avar lexical interactions]”, in Sakartvelos ssr mecnierebata aḳademiis moambe (in Georgian), volume 5, number 10, Tbilisi, page 701―707
* Goniašvili, Tinatin (1940) “Leksiḳuri šexvedrebi čačnurisa kartvelur enebtan [The lexical interactions of Chechen with Kartvelian languages]”, in Enis, isṭoriisa da maṭerialuri ḳulṭuris insṭiṭuṭis aḳademiḳos niḳo maris saxelobis moambe (in Georgian), volumes V–VI, Tbilisi, page 615 of 575–632
* Klimov, G. A. (1994) Einführung in die kaukasische Sprachwissenschaft [Introduction to Caucasian Linguistics]‎ (in German), German adaptation by Jost Gippert, Hamburg: Buske Helmut, page 86
* Klimov, G. A., Xalilov, M. Š. (2003) Словарь кавказских языков. Сопоставление основной лексики [Dictionary of Caucasian Languages. A comparison of the Basic Vocabulary] (in Russian), Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, →ISBN, page 155