Odishi ( ka, ოდიში) was a historical district in western

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 ...

, the core fiefdom of the former

Principality of Mingrelia The Principality of Mingrelia ( ka, სამეგრელოს სამთავრო, tr), also known as Odishi and as Samegrelo, was a historical state in Georgia ruled by the Dadiani dynasty. History The principality emerged out of a ...

, with which the name "Odishi" was frequently coterminous. Since the early 19th century, this

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

has been supplanted by

Mingrelia Mingrelia ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr; xmf, სამარგალო, samargalo; ab, Агырны, Agirni) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelian ...

(Samegrelo).

Geography

Like most historical regions of Georgia, Odishi had fluctuating borders. It was bounded by the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

to the west and the

Tskhenistsqali Tskhenistsqali ( ka, ცხენისწყალი, ''Cxenisċqali'', also: ''Tskhenistskali'') is a river in northern Georgia. Its source is in the main range of the Caucasus Mountains, in the easternmost part of the Lentekhi Municipality, l ...

river to the east; to the northwest, Odishi bordered and at times expanded into

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

; to the north were the mountains of Takveri, that is, the letter-day

Lechkhumi Lechkhumi (Georgian: ლეჩხუმი, ''Lečxumi'') is a historic province in northwestern Georgia which comprises the area along the middle basin of the Rioni and Tskhenistskali and also the Lajanuri river valley. Now part of the Racha-Le ...

, and

Svaneti Svaneti or Svanetia (Suania in ancient sources; ka, სვანეთი ) is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia (country), Georgia. It is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians. Geography Situated o ...

; and the

Rioni river The Rioni ( ka, რიონი, ; , ) is the main river of western Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti (near ancient Phasis). The city o ...

formed the border between Odishi and

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000 (2016), with Ozurgeti as the regional capital. Geography ...

to the south. In its narrower sense, Odishi referred to a tract of land between the

Inguri The Enguri ( ka, ენგური, tr, xmf, ინგირი, ingiri, ab, Егры, ''Egry'' russian: Ингури, ''Inguri'') is a river in western Georgia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Tekhuri rivers, bathed by the Black Sea. The chief town and largest settlement was

Zugdidi Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდი; xmf, ზუგდიდი or ზუგიდი) is a city in the western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilom ...

Chqondidi Martvili Monastery ( ka, მარტვილის მონასტერი) is a Georgian monastic complex located in the village of Martvili in the Martvili District of the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti Province (Mkhare) of Georgia. It sits up ...

Martvili Martvili ( ka, მარტვილი) is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages. Under Soviet rule, from 1936 to 1990, it was named Gegechkori after ...

served as the principal

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

cathedral. A Georgian

demonym A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, ...

for the people of Odishi was ''odishari''.

Etymology

The etymology of Odishi is not clear. According to Georgy Klimov, in

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 ...

the term Odishi breaks down as Od-ish-i, where od- goes back to

Proto-Kartvelian The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of th ...

*ad- (

yellow azalea ''Rhododendron luteum'', the yellow azalea or honeysuckle azalea, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to southeastern Europe and southwest Asia. In Europe, it occurs from southern Poland and Austria south throu ...

) and -ish- is a topoformative element. There also is an explanation of this name in Laz, Odi-shi (Odişi) meaning "From Odi". The early-18th-century Georgian scholar

Prince Vakhushti Vakhushti ( ka, ვახუშტი, tr) (1696–1757) was a Georgian royal prince (''batonishvili''), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, '' Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' and the ''G ...

, who included a detailed geographical account of the region in his ''

Description of the Kingdom of Georgia ''Description of Kingdom of Georgia'' was written by Vakhushti Bagrationi. The full name of the work is "''Description of Kingdom of Georgia, its habits and canons''" ( ka, აღწერა სამეფოსა საქართველო� ...

'', suggested a

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

of Odishi as meaning "once 'odeshi''this land was ours." A modern hypothesis relates Odishi to a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

deity from the Mingrelian folklore, named Odi. The name of Odishi survives in those of a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

in western Georgia, a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

Zugdidi Municipality Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდის მუნიციპალიტეტი) is a Municipality of Georgia, in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti. Zugdidi Municipality is located in the central part of western Georgia (area - 692 sq. ...

, and a broadcasting company based in Zugdidi.

History

Odishi first appears in the ''

Georgian Chronicles ''The Georgian Chronicles'' is a conventional English name for the principal compendium of medieval Georgian historical texts, natively known as ''Kartlis Tskhovreba'' ( ka, ქართლის ცხოვრება), literally "Life of Ka ...

'' under the reign of

Queen Tamar Tamar the Great ( ka, თამარ მეფე, tr, lit. "King Tamar") ( 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as the Queen of Georgia from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty ...

(r. 1184–1213) as a fief ruled by the ''

eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine ''strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, i ...

'' ("duke") of the dynasty with gentilitial titles of ''

Bediani Bediani ( ka, ბედიანი) is a town in Kvemo Kartli region of Georgia, in the south-East part of Tsalka Municipality, on the right bank of the Khrami River, at approx. 850 m above sea level. Location and natural conditions Bediani B ...

'' and ''

Dadiani The House of Dadiani ( ka, დადიანი ), later known as the House of Dadiani- Chikovani, was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Mingrelia. The House of Dadiani Th ...

'', derived from the respective localities. The dynasty, henceforth surnamed Dadiani, acceded to the rank of sovereign princes after the dissolution of the

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...

in the 1490s. Natively, and in the early modern Georgian historical literature, Odishi was the name of both the district and the whole Dadiani-ruled principality. The latter came to be known to the Europeans as Mingrelia after the principal group of people inhabiting it, but they were also familiar with Odishi as the name of one of the two principal subdivisions of the Principality of Mingrelia, the other being

. The Georgian equivalent of Mingrelia,

Samegrelo Mingrelia ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr; xmf, სამარგალო, samargalo; ab, Агырны, Agirni) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelians ...

, although referenced in much earlier records, did not enter the common usage until after the imposition of the

Imperial Russian The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

hegemony in 1804. The Mingrelian signatory to the 1804 treaty with Russia, Prince

Grigol Dadiani Grigol Dadiani ( ka, გრიგოლ დადიანი; 1770 – 23 October 1804), of the House of Dadiani, was Prince of Mingrelia from 1788 to 1804, with intermissions from 1791 to 1794 and in 1802 when his position was filled by his riv ...

, referred to himself as the "lawful Lord of Odishi, Lechkhumi, Svaneti, Abkhazia, and all the lands anciently belonging to the ancestors of mine."

References

{{Duchies of the Kingdom of Georgia Historical regions of Georgia (country)