Sunday, May 17, 2015

INGURI & INGUL

The Megrelian Inguri river, the origin of which has been unknown so far, is very likely to be an adjective formed out of the 'inga' (ინღა) noun. In Svan language (Karpez Dondua's dictionary) it's 'raspberry' (the Megrelian version is 'ingua').

Hence, Inguri (together with the Ukrainian river Ingul) becomes Raspberry river. There has always been plety of raspberries along both Inguri and Ingul.

If someone doubts that Raspberry River is not a good name for a river, he should go to Russia where he will find two rivers with the name 'Малиновая' (Raspberry). One is Lena's inflow, another one - Pilenga's on Sakhalin. Besides, there is the Raspberry River in Wisconsin.

Those who claim that Inguri is spelled through plosive 'g' - გ - while 'raspberry' is spelled through the fricative one - ღ, should know that in Kartvelian languages these two letters are often interchangeable. In particular, Margalitadze's dictionary lists two versions for 'goose' - გერგეტი (gergeti) and ღერღეტი (ghergheti).

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