George Ellis and His Kartvelian Lexical Data: Questions and Answers

Abstract

In the present paper we discuss the Kartvelian lexical data in Memoir of a Map of the Countries Comprehended Between the Black Sea and the Caspian; with an Account of the Caucasian Nations, and Vocabularies
of Their Languages, written by George Ellis, a British poet and diplomat, and published in London in 1788.
Following a detailed review of what has been known in the literature about the book and its author, we place
a particular emphasis on the lexicographic data of the languages of the Caucasus, appended to the book,
with special reference to those of the Kartvelian languages. This module includes translations of 129 English
headwords into Georgian, Megrelian, and Svan (Laz data do not appear in the collection).
Judging from the terminology, wordlist, translation errors, transliteration conventions, etc., we established
its direct and oblique sources. The book is a remarkable landmark in the history of Caucasus Studies as one
of the first accounts of the Caucasus and the Caucasian languages published in English.
In its turn, George Ellis’s compilation became a source for another work, an elaborated and revised translation of his book into French which is significant for its rendering of historical, ethnographic, and linguistic
data related to the Caucasus.