GEORGIAN, or IBERIAN, or GRUBMAN LAN GUAGE. The principal language of the Caucasian group of dialects. This family of languages is divided into North and South Caucasian, the former group comprising Abkhasish, Avarish, Easikumtik or Lak, Arkish, Htirkanish, Kiirin ish, Udish, Tchetchentsish, and Thushish, and the latter division consisting of Georgian itself, Min grelish, Lazish, and Suanish. The Caucasian lan guages, which are, broadly speaking, agglutinative in type, although they show inflection in many instances, are comparatively poor in vowels, but they abound in difficult combinations of conso nants, especially of gutturals and sibilants. The noun and the verb are highly complicated, and the North Caucasian distinguishes in gender be tween the six categories of animate and inani mate, rational and irrational, masculine and feminine. The number system in most of the dia lects is vigesimal. The Georgian is the only Cau
casian dialect that has developed a literature; it begins with a translation of the Bible in the eighth century. This literature is written in a modified Armenian script, and it is quite consid erable in extent. It embraces poetry, romance, history, and theology, and it reached the period of its highest development during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The best general outline of the Bibliography. The best general outline of the Caucasian languages, including Georgian, is that of Friedrich Muller in Grundriss der Sprachwis senschaft, vol. iii., sec. 2 (Vienna, 1887). Consult also: Erckert, Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stantmes (Vienna, 1895) ; Brosset, Elements de la grammaire georgienne (Paris, 1836) ; Dietionnaire georgien-russc-francais (Saint Pe tersburg, 1840) ; Leist, Georgische Dichter ver deutscht (Leipzig, 1887).