''Aznauri'' ( ka, აზნაური, ; pl. ''aznaurni'', აზნაურნი, or ''aznaurebi'', აზნაურები) was a class of Georgian

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

. The word derives from

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...

''āznāvar'', which, in turn, corresponds semantically to Middle Persian ''āzād'' and

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''āzāta-'' ("nobility"). The term is related to Pahlavi '' āzāt-ān'', "free" or "noble", who are listed as the lowest class of the free nobility in the Hajjiabad inscription of King

Shapur I Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩, Šābuhr ) was the second Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardas ...

(240-270), and parallels to the '' azat'' of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

. It first appears in " The Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik", a 5th-century work of Georgian

hagiographic A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

literature. A later chronicle, that of

Leonti Mroveli Leonti Mroveli ( ka, ლეონტი მროველი) was the 11th-century Georgian chronicler, presumably an ecclesiastic. ''Mroveli'' is not his last name, but the adjective for the diocese of Ruisi, whose bishop he probably was.Rayfie ...

, derives "aznauri" from the semi-legendary ruler

Azon AZON (or Azon), from "azimuth only", was one of the world's first guided weapons, deployed by the Allies and contemporary with the German Fritz X. Officially designated VB-1 ("Vertical Bomb 1"), it was invented by Major Henry J. Rand and Thoma ...

(Georgian –''uri'' is a common adjectival suffix), whose 1,000 soldiers defected him and were subsequently named aznauri by Azon’s victorious rival Parnavaz. This etymology is patently false.Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', pp. 266, 276, 316. Peeters Bvba, . The stratification within the feudal aristocracy of Georgia, generically known as "aznauri", already became apparent in the 9th-10th century. A higher substratum began to be distinguished by adding the title of "didebuli", i.e., the aznauri who held "dideba", an especially high courtier office. Later in the Middle Ages, a clearer distinction was made between an aznauri (now dependent noble), and a

tavadi ''Tavadi'' ( ka, თავადი, "prince", lit. "head/chief" an from ka, თავი ''tavi'', "head", with the prefix of agent ''-di'') was a feudal title in Georgia first applied in the Late Middle Ages usually translated in English as P ...

and

mtavari ''Mtavari'' ( ka, მთავარი) was a feudal title in Georgia usually translated into English as Prince or Duke. The earliest instances of the use of ''mtavari'' are in the early Georgian hagiographic texts dated to the 5th century. From ...

(dynastic prince); from the 15th century, the aznauri was considered a ''qma'' (literally, "vassal") of his lord, either secular or ecclesiastic. This form of dependence was later subjected to a formal regulation under

Vakhtang VI Vakhtang VI ( ka, ვახტანგ VI), also known as Vakhtang the Scholar, Vakhtang the Lawgiver and Ḥosaynqolī Khan ( fa, حسین‌قلی خان, translit=Hoseyn-Qoli Xān) (September 15, 1675 – March 26, 1737), was a Georgian ...

’s Code of Laws which was codified between 1705 and 1708, and loosely governed a Georgian version of feudalism (''batonq’moba'') even after the Russian annexation of Georgia early in the 19th century. Subsequently, in the 1820s, the status of aznauri was equated to that of the (untitled)

dvoryanstvo The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire. Up until the February Revolution ...

of Russia. Suny, Ronald Grigor (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'', pp. 22, 337.

Indiana University Press Indiana University Press, also known as IU Press, is an academic publisher founded in 1950 at Indiana University that specializes in the humanities and social sciences. Its headquarters are located in Bloomington, Indiana. IU Press publishes 140 ...

, Lordkipanidze, Mariam (1987; translated and edited by George B. Hewitt), ''Georgia in the XI-XII centuries'', p. 19, Ganatleb
(Online version).
/ref>

References

{{italic title Nobility of Georgia (country) Noble titles of Georgia (country) Georgian words and phrases