A Study and Analysis of some Cross-linguistic Relations between Persian and Georgian

Iran and Georgia have long had mutual social, political, literary, and cultural ties. Hence, Georgian words can be seen in the works of Iranian poets and writers. One such poet is Khaqani Shervani (sixth century A. H.). His wife was Georgian and he commuted to Abkhazia and Tbilisi. He got familiar with Georgian language in this way. He used مويي مويي (pronounced mooyi mooyi, meaning come, come) in his quatrains. Hakim Nezami Ganjavi used the phrase مويي مويي in his mathnavi of Leili and Majnoon. However, some Persian words have also entered Georgian. A group of Georgian Iranians were forced to immigrate to Iran. They were influenced by the language and culture of the area and gradually lost their mother tongue. An instance can be the Georgians living in Gorjimahalleh, Behshahr, who came to this place in the era of the Safavid king, Shah Abbass. Some family names in these areas reflect Georgian language. There are some common words in these two languages.