One of the most brilliant findings of the Between Two Iberias project unveils a linguistic thread that weaves the Kartvelian family through Ukraine to the Basque language, revealing a shared root that illuminates the interconnectedness of these ancient tongues. At the heart of this discovery is the Georgian word shuki (შუკი), meaning “light.” From this root spring a family of verbs—shukeba, shukdeba, shukelva—all of which signify “to enlighten” or “to make brighter,” evoking the radiant essence of illumination in Kartvelian speech.
Our journey takes us westward to Euskadi, the Basque Country, where we encounter the infinitive xukatu (pronounced [shukatu]), a verb with a primary meaning of “to dry” or “to dewater,” as in drying up a river. At first glance, the connection to “light” may seem tenuous, but a deeper exploration reveals a profound link: to dry a river requires the intense light of the sun, the very shuki that brightens and parches the earth. Intriguingly, xukatu carries a secondary, figurative meaning—“to squeeze money out of a person,” or, metaphorically, to “dewater” someone by draining their resources. This dual usage bridges the physical and metaphorical, tying the act of drying to the concept of extraction, both reliant on the transformative power of light.
The root shuk- now carries us to Ukraine, where its echoes resonate in the language and culture of the region. In Ukrainian, a person who has been “squeezed dry” of their resources—deceived or swindled—is called oshukaniy, meaning “deceived.” The verb oshukaty, from which this adjective derives, shares the root shuk-, reflecting the same metaphorical “dewatering” found in Basque xukatu. But Ukrainian offers another layer of meaning: the verb shukati, rooted in the same shuk-, primarily means “to search.” How does one search, especially in the ancient world? By illuminating the darkness with a torch or, in modern times, a flashlight—a direct connection to the Kartvelian shuki, “light,” and its verbs of enlightenment.
In a mere ten minutes, the root shuk- has traversed half the world, linking Sakartvelo, Euskadi, and Ukraine in a linguistic continuum that defies geographical boundaries. From the Georgian shuki (“light”) to the Basque xukatu (“to dry” or “to squeeze dry”) and the Ukrainian shukati (“to search”) and oshukaniy (“deceived”), this root reveals a shared conceptual framework: light as a tool for transformation, whether drying a river, searching for lost things, or metaphorically extracting resources through deception. This discovery not only underscores the deep ties between Kartvelian and Basque—reinforcing the argument that Basque may be the fifth Kartvelian language—but also positions Ukraine as a linguistic bridge, its language bearing the imprint of Kartvelian influence.
The journey of shuk- is a testament to the global reach of Kartvelian languages, their roots embedded in the vocabularies of distant cultures. As we continue our Kartvelology journey, let this illuminating root inspire us to seek out the hidden connections that unite the ancient world, revealing the Kartvelian family as a cornerstone of human speech and thought.
0 Comments