Region Transcaucasus Writing system Georgian script | Era 5th to 11th centuries ISO 639-3 oge | |
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Native to Colchis, Kingdom of Iberia, Principality of Iberia, Kingdom of Georgia Language family Kartvelian
Old Georgian | ||
Old Georgian (Georgian: ძველი ქართული ენა) was the literary language of Georgia beginning in the 5th century. The language remains as the only liturgical language of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Spoken Old Georgian gave way to what is classified as Middle Georgian in the 11th century, which in turn developed into the modern Georgian language in the 17th century.
Fähnrich (1994) distinguishes three stages of Old Georgian: Chanmeti (4th to 7th centuries), Haemeti (7th and 8th centuries) and Sani (9th to 11th centuries), noting grammatical difference between the extant texts of these stages. The texts of the Chanmeti and Haemeti stages (also known as "Early Old Georgian") are almost exclusively religious in nature, but from the 9th century (Sani, also known as "Classical Old Georgian"), there was a literary tradition with a wider scope, including philosophical and historiographical documents.