Greek-Based Modelled Forms – Lexical-Transcriptional Borrowings in the Georgian Metaphrastic (Gelati) Redaction of the Life of Theodora of Alexandria

The present study aims to analyse lexical-transcriptional borrowings influenced by Greek in the Georgian translation of the Life of Theodora of Alexandria, specifically in the Gelati redaction. The article seeks to identify the linguistic mechanisms through which Greek Christian terminology enters the Georgian text and becomes integrated into the system of Old Georgian hagiographical language. The corpus comprises the Gelati redaction of the Life of Theodora of Alexandria, where Greek-origin lexical items identified as transcribed entries have been analysed. In such cases, the Greek words are transferred into Georgian through phonetic and morphological adaptation, without translation or semantic modelling. These forms differ from both morphosyntactic and semantic calques and are direct borrowings from Greek ecclesiastical vocabulary. The article analyzes ten lexemes presented in the Georgian text in transcriptional forms of Greek terms: ebistole (ἐπιστολή), eparkhozi (ὕπαρχος), amba (ἀββᾶς), nepsiti (νήψις), sṳnidisi (συνείδησις), geenia (γέεννα), mogvoba (μαγεία / μάγος), lavra (λαύρα), martṳli (μάρτυς), and angelozi (ἄγγελος). Each example is discussed in terms of the phonetic-morphological adaptation of the Greek form, its semantic function in the text, and its conceptual significance within Christian discourse.

This work was supported by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia (SRNSFG) [grant number FR-24-7685, "Corpus of Georgian Translated Hagiography, I"].