The Formation of Family Group Names and Peculiarity of the Settlement in the Village Tao

摘要

Tao is a historico-geographical region of Georgia, situated on the middle reaches of the Chorokhi River. Presently it is included within the territory of the Republic of Turkey (the Erzurum and Artvin provinces). In the majority of the villages of Tao people no longer speak Georgian. Only a small number of inhabitants living by the Eliaskhevi River speak the language of their ancestors. Nevertheless, Georgian toponyms, historical monuments and castles, and ethnic customs are hitherto preserved. The present paper analyzes some dialectical and ethnological findings collected in Tao region. The present article explores the word formation of household names and the peculiarities of the settlement in Tao. As it turns out, the household names are predominantly derived from the name or nickname of the ancestor (patronymics) or are formed by adding the suffix "-o * *", functionally the same as -o * * -*, -* * -*‖-* * -*, -* * * *, to the stem name of the household. Based on the author's observations, -o * *,-o * * -*, -* * -*‖-* * -*, -o * * *-*, -o * * * are phonemic varieties of suffixes. Families in Tao live in households, forming separate districts. The principle of word-formation for household in Tao is similar to that of the rest of the villages of Georgia.