The Necessity of Clarifying the Georgian Scientific Names of the Genus of Trees Celtis

Abstract

Specific genera and species of plants should have their own clear scientific names. For more accuracy, it is necessary to change the following Georgian scientific names of the tree genus Celtis: აკაკი (Makashvili 1961; Geo. fl. 1975), ბრინჯის ხე (Chubinashvili 1961). Reasons: 1. აკაკი is the name of the fruit of the tree; 2. In a number of dictionaries, აკაკი is attested as the name of two completely different plants, cf.: Celtis caucasica Willd. /Celtis australis L. (=აკაკი, Каркас) and Artocarpus incise L. (=პურის ხე, хлебное дерево, хлебное растение) (Eristavi 1884; Chubinashvili 1985); 3. აკაკი is also a person's name, which causes a kind of ambiguity; 4. In R. Eristavi’s (1884) and D. Chubinashvili's (1985) dictionaries, the dendronym ბრინჯის ხე refers to another tree (პურის ხე Artocarpus incise); 5. The first component of ბრინჯის ხე is a homonym of another plant ბრინჯი “rice” (Oryza sativa). When solving the problem, it was noteworthy to attest a number of synonyms and homonyms in old Georgian, to explain their interrelationship. In particular: a) In Saba's "The Bundle of Words" the name ბრინჯი “rice” refers to three different things, namely: metal, grain plant, tree (cf.: ბრინჯი 1. ბრინჯაო; 2. (Bal.) მარცვალი თეთრი; 3. (tree) აკაკის ხე) (Saba 1991); b) In the same dictionary, ბრინჯი and ბრინჯაო are synonyms and refer to a metal that is an alloy of copper and zinc (today's თითბერი "brass"); c) ბრინჯი “rice” ("cereal") and ბრინჯი ("metal") are borrowings of different origins and times in old Georgian; d) The name denoting the metal ბრინჯაო might be a form established later in Georgian to overcome the homonymy with the name of the cereal plant ბრინჯი (Oryza sativa). Since in old Georgian ბრინჯი meant both grain crops and metal, we assume that the dendronyms ხე ბრინჯისა (Mokts., 2015), ბრინჯი (Saba), ბრინჯის ხე (Chubinashvili 1961) are the same as "bronze tree", the motivation of which might be related to the similarity of certain characteristics of the tree with the characteristics of the metal bronze ("brass") (hardness and color). Taking linguistic analysis, botanical and lexicographical data into account, in order to establish a clear scientific name for the mentioned genus of trees, the following changes should be made: აკაკი > 1. აკაკის ხე Celtis; 2. ბრინჯი, ბრინჯის ხე > ბრინჯაოს ხე Celtis.