Saberdzneti ( Georgian: საბერძნეთი [sabeɾdznetʰi]) was an ambiguous geographic term used in medieval and early modern Georgian historical sources to refer to Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, [1] while berdzeni ( Georgian: ბერძენი) was a name for people who lived in those states. [2] Later the name saberdzneti came to mean simply " Greece" and berdzeni "the Greek". [3] Saberdzneti literally means "land of the berdzens" (i.e. "land of the Greeks.) [4]
The ethnonym berdzeni is presumed to be related to the pre-Greek Pelasgians (Πελασγοί, Pelasgoi), it being derived from the phonetical variant pel of the root ber. The dz of ber-dz-eni may be a variant of the Pel-as-goi, as s/z may have changed to dz in Georgian. This is also indicated by the existence of the stem bersen alongside berdzen in Georgian surnames like "Bersenadze". [5]
There is also another theory that berdzeni was actually coined from the Georgian word " wise" brdzeni ( Georgian: ბრძენი), [6] thus saberdzneti would literally mean "land where the wise men live", possibly referring to the Ancient Greek philosophy. [7] The same root is also adopted in Abkhazian and Greece is referred as barzentyla (Барзентәыла).
Saberdzneti ( Georgian: საბერძნეთი [sabeɾdznetʰi]) was an ambiguous geographic term used in medieval and early modern Georgian historical sources to refer to Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, [1] while berdzeni ( Georgian: ბერძენი) was a name for people who lived in those states. [2] Later the name saberdzneti came to mean simply " Greece" and berdzeni "the Greek". [3] Saberdzneti literally means "land of the berdzens" (i.e. "land of the Greeks.) [4]
The ethnonym berdzeni is presumed to be related to the pre-Greek Pelasgians (Πελασγοί, Pelasgoi), it being derived from the phonetical variant pel of the root ber. The dz of ber-dz-eni may be a variant of the Pel-as-goi, as s/z may have changed to dz in Georgian. This is also indicated by the existence of the stem bersen alongside berdzen in Georgian surnames like "Bersenadze". [5]
There is also another theory that berdzeni was actually coined from the Georgian word " wise" brdzeni ( Georgian: ბრძენი), [6] thus saberdzneti would literally mean "land where the wise men live", possibly referring to the Ancient Greek philosophy. [7] The same root is also adopted in Abkhazian and Greece is referred as barzentyla (Барзентәыла).