Flipping through another glossy magazine, I came across an article called "Alaverdi, Georgia!". HM interesting. It was not the article that interested me, because, most likely, these were just another “travel notes” about the unforgettably hospitable Georgian hospitality and unique nature. Beautiful photographs and vivid epithets still cannot describe the feelings and emotions that you experience when your eyes see endless mountains, narrow streets and houses “hanging” in the sky, which seem to be held together by some unknown force … You can describe the table, a chair, a picture, but it's impossible to depict the air… But that's not about that now. The word "Alaverdy" drew attention to itself. I have heard it more than once, but “I don’t know, I don’t know” what it means. Well, if there is a question, the answer is somewhere nearby… So, "Alaverdi", the meaning… I decided to get to the bottom of the truth."Alaverdi": the meaning of the word
If you do not know the meaning of a particular word, the first thing to do is to seek help from an explanatory dictionary. This is an axiom. I turn, I knock on closed doors. She was the first to open the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russianlanguage”, author Dal V. I., then “The Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” edited by S. A. Kuznetsov, still later - “The Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” Ozhegova S. I. and many others. In answer to the question - "Alaverdi, meaning" - they were unanimous: the word was not found. How so? The word exists, but no one has heard of it. I decided not to give up and turn to the spelling dictionary of the Russian language for help. He received me cordially, and said that there is the word "alaverdi". In his opinion, this is a noun of the middle gender, indeclinable and invariable, with an accent on the last syllable. He also suggested a small study on the topic: “Alaverdi, translation”. It turns out that it came to the Russian language from Georgian, but it is based on Arabic-Turkic roots: allah verdi, which literally sounds like “God gave”. In the old days, it meant the wish "God be with you" or "God bless you."
At present, the first meaning of the word, its basis is directly related to the centuries-old traditions of the Georgian feast. As you know, holding a dinner party in Georgia is entirely entrusted to the toastmaster. He is king and god here. He proclaims a toast, and only he decides who, when and for what utters the next word. As a rule, it becomes a person who is close to the assembled company, who is touched by the proclaimed speech, or a person for whom warm words are spoken, which means that he has something to say. However, we will not go into the subtleties of this art. Let's just say one thing - the toastmaster pronounces the magic word "alaverdi",and the "baton" is picked up by the next speaker. In addition to the direct meaning, many words in the process of language development have figurative meanings that, to one degree or another, have something in common with the main one. So, recently the lexical unit "alaverdi" has expanded its boundaries, and is used in other meanings: to support someone's initiative, a counter word, a response gesture, a response action. Of course, until this issue has been thoroughly and deeply studied by linguists, and until the article “Alaverdi, meaning” has appeared in serious explanatory dictionaries, you should not take risks and use the word in its secondary meanings, or at least quotes should be put. Otherwise, you are in danger of being ridiculed. Although, if there is no rule, then “judges who”…And finally…
It can be said that within the framework of an unprofessional study, we have analyzed the question of “alaverdi, meaning”. However, I would like to step aside a little and listen to how beautiful this word sounds. Fascinating. I don’t know, but, in my opinion, in this one small word one can hear, and inhale, and exhale this unique air of Georgia….
