Reconstruction:Proto-Georgian-Zan/werʒ₁-

Klimov derives from Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“male, ram”) (whence, e.g. Latin verrēs (“boar”), Ancient Greek ἄρσην (ársēn, “male”), Ossetian уырс (wyrs, “stallion”)), although Starostin comments about the obscure development of -ʒ₁- < -s-.

On the other hand J̌ahukyan and Martirosyan prefer an Armenian origin: compare Old Armenian որձ (orj, “male”), յորձ (yorj, “ram”). The borrowing would not be unexpected in view of other Armenisms in this semantic field: Georgian არნი (arni, “wild sheep”) and ბუწი (buc̣i, “lamb”).

*werʒ₁-

1. male, ram

• Old Georgian: ვერძი (verʒi)
  • Georgian: ვერძი (verʒi)
• Mingrelian: ერჯი (erǯi)

• Fähnrich, Heinz (2007) Kartwelisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch [Kartvelian Etymological Dictionary] (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.18) (in German), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 160
• Klimov, G. A. (1964) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ kartvelʹskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages] (in Russian), Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences, page 84
• Klimov, G. A. (1994) Drevnejšije indojevropeizmy kartvelʹskix jazykov [The Oldest Indo-Europeanisms in Kartvelian Languages] (in Russian), Moscow: Nasledie, →ISBN, pages 108–110
• Klimov, G. A. (1998) Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (Trends in linguistics. Documentation; 16), New York, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, page 52
• Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden, Boston: Brill, page 540
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (1987) Hayocʿ lezvi patmutʿyun; naxagrayin žamanakašrǰan [History of the Armenian language: The Pre-Literary Period] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Academy Press, page 555, 590, 591₂
• Starostin, S. A. (2005), “*werʒ́-”, in Kartvelian etymological database compiled on the basis of G. Klimov's and Fähnrich-Sarjveladze's etymological dictionaries of Kartvelian languages, retrieved 2016-05-14