Reconstruction:Proto-Georgian-Zan/rḳina-

The origin is uncertain.

Has been compared to Proto-Lezghian *req̇ʷ (“iron”), Old Armenian երկաթ (erkatʿ, “iron”), երկինք (erkinkʿ, “sky”); see those for more.

Klimov remarks that the attribution of the word to the Proto-Georgian-Zan period is not secure, because iron was introduced into Georgia from Urartu only in the 8–7th centuries BC.

Compare also Old Georgian რკინება (rḳineba, “to fight”).

*rḳina-

1. iron

• Zan:
  • Laz: ერკინა (erḳina)
  • Mingrelian: რკინა (rḳina), კინა (ḳina)
• Old Georgian: რკინაჲ (rḳinay)
  • Georgian: რკინა (rḳina), კინა (ḳina)

• Bork, Ferdinand (1907) Beiträge zur Kaukasischen Sprachwissenschaft. T. 1. Kaukasische Miszellen (in German), Königsberg: R. Leupold, pages 18–19
• Erckert, Roderich von (1895) Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes. I. Theil. Wörterverzeichniss (in German), Vienna: Alfred Hölder, § 103, page 57
• Erckert, Roderich von (1895) Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes. II. Theil. Sprachproben und grammatische Skizzen (in German), the Kartvelian section contributed by Mose Janashvili, Vienna: Alfred Hölder, page 299
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (2010), “Proto-Georgian-Zan/rḳina-”, in Vahan Sargsyan, editor, Hayeren stugabanakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Asoghik, page 226b
• Klimov, G. A. (1964) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kartvelʹskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages] (in Russian), Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences, pages 156–157
• Nikolayev, S. L.; Starostin, S. A. (1994), “*rʕēnq̇wɨ”, in A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary, Moscow: Asterisk Publishers, pages 943–944
• Starostin, S. A. (2005), “*rḳina-”, in Kartvelian etymological database compiled on the basis of G. Klimov's and Fähnrich-Sarjveladze's etymological dictionaries of Kartvelian languages, retrieved 2016-06-19