# ბერძენი
## Georgian
### Alternative forms

* ბერზენი (berzeni)

### Etymology

Attested as Old Georgian ბერძე-ნ-ნი (berʒe-n-ni, “Greeks”), ბერძლ (berʒl, “in Greek”), ბერძული (berʒuli, “Greek”, adjective), whence also dialectal Gurian ბერძულაი (berʒulai, “(Greek) nut”). Cognate with Mingrelian ბერზენი (berzeni, “Greek person”). Transliterated as Բերձեան-ք (Berjean-kʻ, “Byzantines; the Byzantine Empire”) in the Armenian translation of the The Georgian Chronicles.
Of uncertain origin. The hypotheses include the following:
* Ultimately from Ancient Greek Βυζάντιον (Buzántion, “Byzantium”), with uncertain sound changes.
* From ბრძენი (brʒeni, “wise, sage”). Possibly from the notion that philosophy was born in Greece.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [b̥eɾd͡zeni]
* Hyphenation: ბერ‧ძე‧ნი

### Noun

ბერძენი • (berʒeni) (plural ბერძნები)
* Greek person

#### Derived terms

* საბერძნეთი (saberʒneti, “Greece”)

#### Descendants

* → Abkhaz: а-бырзе́н (a-bərzén) (or from the Mingrelian cognate)
* → Armenian: բերզեն (berzen), բերձեն (berjen), բերձին (berjin)
* → Bats: ბერძა (berʒa)
* → Ossetian: бердзе́н (berʒén)
* → Svan: ბერზენ (berzen), ბერზემ (berzem), ბერძენ (berʒen), ბერძემ (berʒem) (or from the Mingrelian cognate)
* → Udi: бердзен-ун (berʒen-un)

### References

* ↑ Paolini, Stefano (1629) “ბერზენი”, in Dittionario giorgiano e italiano, Rome: Stampa della Sagra Congr. de Propag. Fide, page 10a
* ↑ Abulaʒe, Ilia (2014) “ბერძენი”, in Ʒvelkartuli-ʒvelsomxuri doḳumenṭirebuli leksiḳoni [Old Georgian – Old Armenian Documentary Dictionary], Tbilisi: National Centre of Manuscripts, →ISBN, page 74b
* 1 2 Gippert J., Schulze W., Aleksidze Z., Mahé J.-P., editors (2009), The Caucasian Albanian Palimpsests of Mount Sinai (Monumenta Palaeographica Medii Aevi: Series Ibero-Caucasica; 2), Turnhout: Brepols, →ISBN, page II-84
* ↑ Rapp, Stephen H. (1997) Imagining History at the Crossroads: Persia, Byzantium, and the Architects of the Written Georgian Past (in two volumes), PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, page 207, footnote 261
* ↑ Rapp, Stephen H. (2003) Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts and Eurasian Contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium; 601. Subsidia; 113), Leuven: Peeters, page 421, footnote 22
* ↑ Kamusella, Tomasz (2009) The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, page 258
* ↑ Бгажба, Х. С. (1964) Бзыбский диалект абхазского языка [The Bzyb Dialect of Abkhaz]‎, Tbilisi: Academy Press, page 112
* ↑ Gamaxarija Dž. et al., editors (2009), Abxazija: S drevnejšix vremen do našix dnej [Abkhazia: From Ancient Times Till the Present Days] (Očerki iz istorii Gruzii)‎ (in Russian), Tbilisi: Intelekti, page 273
* ↑ Sargsyan, Artem et al., editors (2001), “բերզեն”, in Hayocʻ lezvi barbaṙayin baṙaran [Dialectal Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Armenian), volume I, Yerevan: Hayastan, page 188a
* ↑ Schiefner, Anton (1856) Versuch über die Thusch-Sprache oder die khistische Mundart in Thuschetien (in German), Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, page 145a
* ↑ Abajev, V. I. (1958) Историко-этимологический словарь осетинского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Ossetian Language] (in Russian), volume I, Moscow and Leningrad: Academy Press, page 260a

### Further reading

* Марр, Н. (1906) “Крещение армян, грузин, абхазов и аланов святым Григорием (Арабская версия) [The baptism of Armenians, Georgians, Abkhaz and Alans by Saint Gregory (the Arabic version)]”, in Записки Восточного отделения Русского археологического общества‎ (in Russian), volumes 16 (1904–1905), pages 167–170
* Khintibidze, Elguja (1998) The designations of the Georgians and their etymology‎, Tbilisi: University Press, →ISBN, page 104, footnote 1, questionably identifies the ბერ- (ber-) part with Πελ- (Pel-) and derives -ძ- (-ʒ-) from -σγ- (-sg-) in Πελασγός (Pelasgós)

## Mingrelian
### Noun

ბერძენი • (berʒeni)
* Alternative form of ბერზენი (berzeni)