Daba ( ka, დაბა) is a type of
human settlement
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of ci ...
in
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, a "small town".
[მოხელის სამაგიდო ლექსიკონი]
/ გაეროს განვითარების პროგრამა; ემდგ.: სამსონ ურიდია და სხვ.; რედ.: ვაჟა გურგენიძე- თბ., 2004 - 483გვ.: ცხრ.; 24სმ. - (საჯარო მოსამსახურის ბ-კა). - . It is equivalent to an
urban-type settlement
Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...
in some other countries of the former
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
In present-day Georgia, daba is typically defined as a settlement with the population of no less than 3,000 and established social and technical infrastructure, which enables it to function as a local economic and cultural center; it, furthermore, should not possess large
agricultural land
Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other organism, forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous ...
s. The status of daba can also be granted to a settlement with the population of less than 3,000, provided it functions as an administrative center of the
district (municipality) or has a prospect of further economic and population growth in the nearest future.
Etymology
Daba is the term well known in
Old Georgian
Old Georgian (ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ, ''enay kartuli'') was a literary language of the Georgian monarchies attested from the 5th century. The language remains in use as the liturgical language of the Georgian Orthodox Church and for ...
, where it had the meaning "cornfield, hamlet". It is derived from a
Common Kartvelian root *''dab(a)'', which is also a source of the
Svan ''däb'', "cornfield", and, possibly, the
Mingrelian Mingrelian may refer to:
*the Mingrelians
*the Mingrelian language
Mingrelian or Megrelian (, ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. The language was also called kol ...
''dobera'' (''dobira''), "arable land". The derivative words are ''udabno'', "desert", and ''mdabali'', "low".
[ Klimov, Georgy (1998), ''Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages'', p. 36. Walter de Gruyter, .] The name ''daba'' is also a basis for several placenames in Georgia, such as Daba, Akhaldaba ("new daba"), Q'veldaba ("cheese daba"), and Dabadzveli ("old daba").
List of daba in Georgia
As of 2011, 50 settlements are categorized in Georgia as daba. These, listed according to a population size (2002 census), are:
See also
*
List of cities and towns in Georgia
References
{{Reflist
Urban geography
Types of populated places
Geography of Georgia (country)