գորգ

Learned borrowing from Old Armenian գորգ (gorg, “rag, floorcloth”). The ascription of the meaning ‘carpet’ to this word is probably a result of a mistake.

• (Eastern Armenian, standard) IPA^(key): [ɡɔɾɡ]

գորգ • (gorg)

1. carpet

   Synonyms: խալի (xali), կարպետ (karpet)

Usually considered a word of unknown origin.[1]

J̌ahukyan derived from Hittite [Term?] (/kurka-/), glossing it as ‘cover’,[2] but Simon rejects this etymology, because it has been established now that the correct meaning of the Hittite word is ‘foal’[3]. The connection with the Hittite was first suggested by Łapʿancʿyan.[4]

Probably related to Chechen горгам (gorgam), га̄ргум (gārgum, “floorcloth”), горгум (gorgum, “floorcloth; rag for cleaning the gun after lubrication”); Khvarshi горгом (gorgom), горгум (gorgum, “floorcloth”) (borrowed from Chechen); Tabasaran гъюаь́ргъв (ġjuá̱rġ°, “rag”), гъяргъ (ġjarġ), гъяргъвяр (ġjarġ°jar, “rags”); Lezgi кьваркь (q̇varq̇, “rag”). Possibly also to Ingush герми (germi, “rag; floorcloth; cork; wad; brush for whitewashing”), Chechen герми (germi, “floorcloth”), герма (germa), гермие (germie, “wad”), герм (germ, “floorcloth; wad”). For the Nakh forms listed here a derivation from the Nakh word for ‘round; circle’ has been suggested: compare Chechen горга (gorga, “round”), го (go, “circle”).[5] The latter are considered native terms respectively from Proto-Nakh *gōg-rV- (“round”) and *gōga (“circle”), ultimately from Proto-Northeast Caucasian.[6]

գորգ • (gorg)

1. rag or floorcloth

   Synonym: կապերտ (kapert)

   • 8th century, Stepʿannos Siwnecʿi, Meknutʿiwn Kʿerakanin , (1915 edition, page 209):

     Իսկ փաղանունք ասին, որ են զոյգ անուանք․ անիւ և ճղուղ, առեղ և աւարտք, հեւան եւ դանդանք, կունդք եւ ականոց, հեց եւ բոյթ, կապերտ եւ գորգ, ձի եւ դզի, երամակապան եւ կուտպան, բիր եւ մահակ, որոց բնութիւն մի եւ անուանք այլ։

     Isk pʿałanunkʿ asin, or en zoyg anuankʿ; aniw ew čłuł, aṙeł ew awartkʿ, hewan ew dandankʿ, kundkʿ ew akanocʿ, hecʿ ew boytʿ, kapert ew gorg, ji ew dzi, eramakapan ew kutpan, bir ew mahak, orocʿ bnutʿiwn mi ew anuankʿ ayl.

The only attested passage is the quoted grammatical text Meknutʿiwn Kʿerakanin, where գորգ (gorg) appears in a list of synonym pairs as a synonym of կապերտ (kapert, “rag”), which would develop later into կարպետ (karpet, “carpet, rug”). From this passage the dictionaries mainly ascribed the meaning ‘carpet’ to գորգ (gorg), resulting in the modern literary language adopting գորգ (gorg) as the usual designation for ‘carpet’. The word is not recorded in the dialects which could have allowed to clear its meaning. However, the new Northeast Caucasian parallels prove that the more precise and correct meaning is ‘rag’ or ‘floorcloth’.

• → Armenian: գորգ (gorg)

• Awetikʿean, G.; Siwrmēlean, X.; Awgerean, M. (1836–1837), “գորգ”, in Nor baṙgirkʿ haykazean lezui [New Dictionary of the Armenian Language] (in Old Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy
• Łazaryan, Ṙ. S.; Avetisyan, H. M. (2009), “գորգ”, in Miǰin hayereni baṙaran [Dictionary of Middle Armenian] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, Yerevan: University Press, page 148a
• Petrosean, H. Matatʿeay V. (1879), “գորգ”, in Nor Baṙagirkʿ Hay-Angliarēn [New Dictionary Armenian–English], Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy