Among the vine varieties of eastern Georgia, Chinuri stands out as one of the most widespread white grapes. Yet the meaning of its name has long been obscure to the modern Georgian ear, and therefore has been interpreted in various, often contradictory ways. Today, for example, many winemakers popularly associate it with the word chinebuli ("excellent, splendid"), even though that name in fact belongs to a different variety bred only in 1961 by Prof. M. Ramishvili. Other interpretations range from the comical to the speculative, and some have even been presented as serious hypotheses. In my view, however, a historically sound explanation of Chinuri has not yet been offered.

The Color of Chini?

The most notable modern hypothesis is Ivane Javakhishvili's suggestion that Chinuri derives from the root chin-, which in old Georgian was said to denote the color of the olive leaf. Javakhishvili himself is cautious about this:

"Chini in Old Georgian, according to Saba's explanation, denotes the color of the olive leaf. The lexicographer confirms the correctness of this explanation by two books of Scripture, but he has forgotten to indicate the chapter and verse." [Iv. Javakhishvili, Works in Twelve Volumes, vol. V, p. 507]
He then adds:
"Indeed, the berries of the grape called Chinuri have a greenish-amber hue." [ibid., p. 508]
It must be noted, however, that the "greenish-amber" specification does not come from Sulkhan-Saba. Saba merely says that chini is "the color of the olive leaf" without further defining what that color is. If we assess Javakhishvili's version strictly, it rests on no firm evidence: it repeats Saba's note and then attaches a "greenish-amber" shade to it, even though (a) such a color is not a stable natural category and (b) the olive leaf is in fact bright green on one side and silvery-white on the other.
Sulkhan-Saba lists three meanings for the base chini: (1) "the color of the olive leaf" (as above); (2) "the chini of the eye" (i.e., the glint/center of vision); and (3) "a foreign word meaning akauri," elsewhere glossed as "swan" (a white bird - A.B.).

Could chini then have designated a leaf that is white on one side, by analogy with the olive? If so, it does not fit Chinuri's own leaf, which-though slightly pubescent-is not white on its underside. If any Kartlian leaf resembles the olive's two-tone surface, it would be Goruli Mtsvane during its pubescent phase (green on one side, white on the other). On this basis, relating the chin- root to the Chinuri leaf should be excluded.
Nor does the "olive-leaf color" connect well to the fruit. Many grape varieties ripen into shades comparable to those attributed to Chinuri, while Chinuri's berry is neither greenish-amber, nor simply green, nor silvery.
In Georgian, the use of chin- as a color term is not otherwise attested in the major sources. Neither the Symphonia-Lexicon of the Gospels, nor idiom dictionaries, nor the etymological and explanatory dictionaries confirm such a usage. [An exception is the Explanatory Dictionary of the Georgian Language (1990), which leans again on Saba and even offers an additional gloss, "in general, color: ‘the man no longer had chini'." The source is not cited, and the idiom itself does not require chini to mean "color"; the expression is dubious in any case, as no source is indicated.] I have additionally checked Kartlis Tskhovreba and The Knight in the Panther's Skin and could not confirm chin- with a color meaning in either.
Against this backdrop, the fact that Saba does know the word points to two possibilities: (1) the term entered Georgian relatively late, or (2) the term existed earlier but "color" was a figurative extension, with another primary meaning. It is also noteworthy that Saba nowhere links this root to the vine or to grapes; that linkage arises only in Javakhishvili's subsequent reasoning.
Even so, Saba's olive-leaf note remains useful, since it hints at a possible association of the chin- root with the olive tree. If the word was ever applied to both olive and vine, what semantics unify the two? What is the underlying sense of the root?
If chini is a color word and a native Georgian one (Saba does not mark it as foreign in this sense), then neighboring forms and meanings should be traceable within Georgian (or at least indirectly suggested by other roots). If such forms fail to appear, then the hypothesis of a loan becomes relevant.
What follows will address these questions step by step, along the lines of the analysis laid out below.

The chn/cn Root Complex in Georgian Semantics

From the standpoint of word-formation, Chinuri [ჩინური] is derived from the root chin- [ჩინ-] with the adjectival suffix -uri [-ური]. That is, the word consists of the base chin- [ჩინ], whose historical semantics we must investigate.

Known meanings of the chen-/chin- [ჩენ-/ჩინ-] root include, first, the designation of the 26th letter of the Georgian alphabet (numerical value: 1000), and second, the sense of "light, brightness, sight/vision" (as in tvalis chini [თვალის ჩინი], "the glint/center of the eye"). This latter meaning corresponds to the second of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani's three homonyms ("the chini of the eye"), though we must probe further to determine whether it could also be connected with the "color of the olive leaf."

In Georgian, the chn-/chan-/chin-/chen- [ჩნ-/ჩან-/ჩინ-/ჩენ-] consonantal complex is attested in multiple vocalic variants: (mi)-ch'an-s [მი-ჩანს] ("it seems, appears"), (mi)-chn-s [მი-ჩნ-ს]; a-chen-s [ა-ჩენს], (ga)a-chin-a [(გა)ა-ჩინა, "revealed, manifested"]. From these primary forms, a wide range of other derivatives have developed, including: sachino [საჩინო, "visible"], chinebuli [ჩინებული, "excellent"], gamoch'enili [გამოჩენილი, "famous"], ganach'eni [განაჩენი, "judgment, decision"], uchinari [უჩინარი, "invisible, vanished"], gachena [გაჩენა, "appearance, birth"], chueneba [ჩუენება, "to show, to make seen"], chineba [ჩინება, "to be called, to be named"], and many others. Particularly striking are the following semantic pairs:

"Light," "Visible," "Existing" ↔ "Invisible," "Hidden"

In the chin-/chen- [ჩინ-/ჩენ-] root one easily finds the semantics of vision and the perception of things in light - more precisely, the notion of things emerging from darkness into brightness. That which is in the light "appears" [ჩანს ch'ans], is "manifest" [გამოჩინებულია gamoch'inebulia], is "brought into the light." But chini [ჩინი] itself is also the capacity for radiance and vitality: if one "loses chini," he becomes u-chin-ari [უ-ჩინ-არი, "vision-less, invisible"] or u-chin-o [უ-ჩინ-ო], disappearing, vanishing from the divine gaze. Thus sa-chin-o [სა-ჩინო, "that which is visible"] objects stand opposed to u-chin-o [უ-ჩინო, "invisible"] ones - just as what exists is opposed to what does not exist, what is alive to what is lifeless. In this sense, chin- also signifies the living, that which has been ga-chen-il [გა-ჩენ-ილ, "brought forth, born"].

From The Knight in the Panther's Skin:
• „ჩემად ჩნდა იგი სინათლე ეთერით მზედ ნა-ჩინ-ისა" (chemad ch'nda ighi sinatle etherit mzed na-chin-isa) -
• "To me there appeared that light, ethereal, shining like the sun of the heavenly firmament." (Wardrop, line 419)
• „პირი მზისაებრ საჩინო სად უჩინო ჰყავ, სად არე?" (p'iri mzis-aebr sa-chino sad u-chino hqav, sad are) -
• "His face was like the sun; sometimes visible, sometimes invisible, sometimes hidden." (Wardrop, line 1213)
• „მაგრა თავი უჩინო ქმენ, დამალული იყავ შინა" (magra tavi u-chino qmen, damaluli iqav shina) -
• "He made his head invisible, concealed it within." (Wardrop, line 264)

"Birth," "Coming-into-Existence," "Bringing Forth"

That the chen-/chin- [ჩენ-/ჩინ-] root is directly linked to the semantics of life is evident in the forms ga-chena [გა-ჩენა] and gaa-china [გაა-ჩინა], meaning "to bring forth into the light of the sun" - that is, to give birth. When a mother gives birth to [გააჩენს] a child, she literally "brings him into the sunlight." When someone agmoa-chens [აღმოა-ჩენს] or agmoa-tsen-ebs [აღმოა-ცენ-ებს] (from agmoa-china [აღმოა-ჩინა] // agmoa-tsena [აღმოა-ცენა]), he too brings something lost out of darkness into the light of the sun.
The same process is performed by m-tsenare [მცენარე, read: m-chenare მ-ჩენარე], when a plant shoots up from the dark of the earth, from non-existence, into the sunlight - that is, into life.
Accordingly, it is clear that in the Georgian linguistic worldview, existence and life are inseparably tied to light: unlike the invisible dead (uchino [უჩინო]), the living are those who are seen, those who have come forth into the light.

"Appearance," "Manifestation," "Leaving a Trace"

The forms ach'nda [აჩდა, "appeared"] and ch'ndis [ჩნდის, "appears"] clearly show the meaning of manifestation or coming into view:
• „მივიდეს, აჩნდა ქალაქი, მცველთა ვერ დასთვალვიდიან" (mivides, ach'nda kalaki, mcvilta ver dastvalvidian) -
"He went; the city appeared, its watchmen were numberless." (Wardrop, line 1391)
• „მოვიდეს, აჩნდა უაბჯროდ, არცა თუ ჰქონდეს დანანი." (movides, ach'nda uabjrod, artsa tu qondes danani) -
"He came, he appeared unarmed, and had not even a dagger." (Wardrop, line 1608)
• „ღამე მზეებრ განანათლის, ჩნდის, სადაცა შეჰხედვიდე" (ghame mzeb'r gananatlis, ch'ndis, sadats'a shehxedvide) -
"The night shines like the sun; it appears wherever you look." (Wardrop, line 1659)

"Healing" / "Remaining"

This sense is evident in mor-chena [მორ-ჩენა], moar-china [მოარ-ჩინა], da(r)-chena [და(რ)-ჩენა], and daa(r)-china [დაა(რ)-ჩინა]. Healing is here understood as "remaining in this world," i.e. continuing to exist.

"Knowledge" / "Recognition"

This meaning is confirmed in the forms mia-ch'n-ia [მია-ჩნ-ია] / mi-ch'n-s [მი-ჩნ-ს, "it seems to me, I perceive"]. It also appears in the parallel cn- [ცნ] root: tsn-oba [ცნობა, "knowledge"], ma-tsn-e [მაცნე, "messenger, announcer"], vi-ts'an [ვიცან, "I know"].

"True," "Real" ↔ "False," "Illusory"

From the meaning of uchinari [უჩინარი, "unseen, invisible"], it follows that m-chinari [მჩინარი], glossed in modern dictionaries as "that which is visible, apparent," in an older semantic layer must have denoted "true, real, existent."
This interpretation is reinforced by the semantics of m-tsenare [მცენარე, to be read as m-chenare მ-ჩენარე], "plant," literally "that which has manifested, which has appeared into being." In other words, a plant is "that which has obtained chini [ჩინი], i.e. existence and reality."
From The Knight in the Panther's Skin:
• „თუ ვერ ჰპოვებ, დავიჯერებ, იყო თურე უ-ჩინ-არი" (tu ver hp'oveb, davijereb, iq'o ture u-chin-ari) -
• "If you do not find him, I shall believe he was surely non-existent." (Wardrop, line 132)
Thus, in Georgian linguistic worldview, chin- [ჩინ-] also carries the weight of ontological truth: what is sachino [საჩინო, "visible"] is what is real; what is uchino [უჩინო, "invisible"] is what is false, absent, or illusory.

"Light," "Brightness"

There can be no doubt that for the Georgian language the chin- [ჩინ-] root is organically tied to light. Considering its verbal functions and the broad semantic spectrum it produces, we can conclude that its primary meaning is "light, brightness, radiance."
It is not impossible that at an earlier stage chini [ჩინი] also denoted the eye itself, as the organ capable of perceiving light, and perhaps even a "socket," "cavity," or "well" (cf. ts'q'aros-tvali [წყაროს-თვალი, "eye of a spring"]), from which water - that is, life - emerges, and from which the Tree of Life grows.
This interpretation fits a wide mythological pattern: in many traditions (Hittite, Baltic, Slavic, Semitic), the eye is a source, and to lose it is to lose life/light; to recover it is to be reborn. The eye flows with tears/water (Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥, Old Church Slavonic voda, Greek hydōr), and when a figure ceases to weep, it means death - the loss of vitality, disappearance from existence.
In this sense, chini [ჩინი] is not only "that which is seen" but "that which gives light, existence, and life." It underlies forms such as ts'a [ცა, "sky"], ts'imts'imi [ციმციმი, "sparkle"], ts'its'ini [ციცინი, "glimmer"], all connected with light, brightness, and whiteness.

"Knowledge," "Wisdom," "Seership"

The aspect of knowledge and wisdom, even of magical insight, also belongs to the same semantic paradigm of the Tree of Life. In Georgian, forms such as mia-ch'n-ia [მია-ჩნ-ია, "it seems to me, I realize"] or mi-ch'n-s [მი-ჩნ-ს, "it appears to me"] reveal this sense of recognition. The parallel tsn- [ცნ-] complex produces tsn-oba [ცნობა, "knowledge"], ma-tsn-e [მაცნე, "messenger, announcer"], and vi-ts'an [ვიცან, "I know"]. This semantic cluster resonates with Indo-European parallels. On the one hand, the root weid- ("to see, to know") yields Sanskrit veda ("knowledge"), Greek oîda (οἶδα, "I know"), and Slavic viděti ("to see"). On the other hand, the root ǵneh₃- ("to know, recognize") gives Latin gnoscere ("to know, recognize"), Greek gignṓskō (γιγνώσκω), and Slavic znati ("to know"). The comparison shows that the Georgian chn-/tsn- [ჩნ-/ცნ-] root complex is semantically parallel to both Indo-European roots: like them, it unites the domains of vision and cognition, suggesting that in Georgian as in Indo-European, to "see" and to "know" belonged to a single conceptual field.
"Speech," "Language," "Utterance"
Also belonging to this paradigm is the meaning of speech, utterance, or language - closely linked in myth to rivers of knowledge and streams of light. In Svan we find shon-(ish) [შონ-(იშ), "mention, talk about"], which corresponds to Megrelian shon- [შონ-] and is plausibly related to the same chin-/chen- root. The Svan autonym mu-shuän [მუშუ̂ა̈ნ] // shuän-ar [შუ̂ან-არ], glossed as "the Svan people," may be understood literally as "the speakers, the living, those who are manifest," in opposition to the uchino [უჩინო, "invisible"] or "speechless." A related form, ur-shuna [ურშუ̂ნა], means "unmentionable," "unspeakable" - again pointing to the boundary between what is manifest and what is hidden.
This semantic field also helps illuminate Georgian reduplicative forms such as ch'ich'ini [ჩიჩინი] or chinchini [ჩინჩინი], which likely derive from a reduplicated chin- root and denote murmuring, small talk, or repeated sound.

***

From these examples it is evident that the chn-/tsn- [ჩნ-/ცნ-] root in Georgian is consistently associated with light, visibility, and life. Moreover, it displays such a broad spectrum of meanings and such a variety of derivations that regarding it as an organic, indigenous Georgian root seems entirely logical. Yet, despite this semantic closeness, the root cannot be directly confirmed in Georgian as denoting any specific color.
Thus, as an interim conclusion, we may say that the chn-/chin-/chen- [ჩნ-/ჩინ-/ჩენ-] root is organically Georgian, deeply embedded in the structure of the language. Even if the chin- element in Chinuri were ultimately to prove a later loanword (barbarism), it could not be linked straightforwardly to other linguistic facts within Georgian itself.
At this stage, therefore, it is useful to examine how parallel consonantal complexes are shaped both mythologically and linguistically in other languages with which Georgia has had close historical, cultural, and political contacts. Of primary relevance are the Altaic, Indo-European, and Afro-Asiatic families (including Semitic), since Georgia's historical development took place within this environment and possible points of contact are most likely to be found there.

Meanings of the čn / cn / gn / tn complex in other languages

In the Altaic group, the čn / cn / ĉn complex appears with a significant paradigm and is attested in the allomorphic patterns c/t/g/j - n/l/r.
CN (TN)
Of particular interest is the base cn, which denotes white, pure, bright and serves as the source semantics for many other words:
• White - "cine-reg" ("white liquid, milk"); očang (ča-ng) "whiteness, dairy product"; čelmyyh (čelmeg) "bright, clean"; očen / qun "white crane, swan"; čenhüü / čas "snow"; qa-čin [← qa-tïn] "marvelous, splendid."
• Growth, having - čendeyi (čende-yi-) "growth, swelling, rising, overflow."
• Luminosity - čegen (če-gen) "luminary, star"; tsėgėė "kumis" (camel's milk / white).
• Eye, source - čegel "spring, eye of water, basin."
• True, living - činar "property, essence" [← Old Turkic *tïn, *tïnar, "breath, life"]. This word preserves the meaning "white" across Buryat, Khalkha, Kalmyk, Oirat dialects. ǰing / čing "true, genuine, real" (< Old Turkic čïn "truth").
• Knowledgeable - čečen "wise, adroit"; in Kyrgyz "eloquent." čeǰen "heart (plank of the heart), mind (memory)," etc.

Semitic

In the Semitic languages we find a productive base ש-נ (sh-n) that yields nearly all the meanings listed above:
• White - Canarian (Ferro) achemen "milk" (< a-šVmVn); Egyptian (Middle) smy "fat milk, cream."
• Growth, having - Ugr. šmt, šmn // < Sem. *šam(an)- ‘fat, oil' (cf. SED I 248) < Afras. *sim-an- ~ *sin-am- ‘oil, fat, (fat) milk': Berber: Ghat isim "grease (of any animal)," ésim "rendered fat"; Kabyle ṯa-ssm-ṯ "animal fat"; Canarian (Ferro) achemen "milk" (< a-šVmVn); Egyptian (Middle) smy "fat milk, cream"; W. Chadic: Jimi sin, Diri sinama "oil"; E. Chadic: Somrai swānī, Kera sNn, Migama séwén, Sokoro súnu "oil"; N. Cushitic: Beja símma "fat" (n.); C. Cushitic: Bilin, Khamir, Qemant sna, Aungi sni "butter"; E. Cushitic: HEC: Gollango šiinan-ko "fat," Gawwada (Dalpena) šiinán-ko, pl. šiinam-aane "butter"; S. Cushitic: Qwadza sum- "to milk."
• Light - Proto-Semitic ŝaw- > Hrs. ẑawt // MSA: Hrs. ẑaw, Mehri zaw.
• Eye, socket, source - (parallels within the same base).
• True, living - Hebrew נְשָׁמָה (ne-sham-ah) "breath, soul, living person, mind."
• Knowledgeable - Hebrew מַשְׂכִּיל (ma-skil) "wise, learned" (Proto-Semitic *šVrVH-; Akkadian šerû).
• Light - Proto-Semitic ŝam(ŝam)-.
• Speech - Hebrew לְשׁוֹן (la-shon) "language, tongue."

Indo-European

In Indo-European languages an analogous distribution is seen with the gn/cn/kn root; the broader comparative parallels and semantic links with "seeing/knowing" have already been indicated above, so we shall not dwell on them further here.

Conclusion

We thus arrive at a rather unusual picture. On the one hand, it is entirely clear that the chin- [ჩინ-] root is an organic development within Georgian, generating a wide semantic range that could easily have produced a meaning like "white." Yet in practice, Georgian usage shows chin-/chen- [ჩინ-/ჩენ-] employed for "light," "brightness," and "vision," but not attested directly as a color term.
At the same time, Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani records a homonym chini that he explicitly marks as "from another language," meaning "swan" (i.e. a white bird). Our investigation of Mongolic parallels - e.g. očen / qun "white crane, swan," čas "snow," qa-čin "marvelous, splendid" - confirms that in Mongolian the čn base regularly denoted whiteness, brightness, and specifically white animals and objects.
Unfortunately, Sulkhan-Saba does not state that the chini [ჩინი] denoting the "color of the olive leaf" is a foreign word; he marks only the "swan" sense as such. Yet even here it is evident that the reference is to whiteness - most likely to the pale underside of the olive leaf, or perhaps to the silvery hue of its young foliage.
Could the borrowing chini ("white") have served as the basis for the naming of a grape variety? Clearly it could, and we have parallels for this very process within Georgian itself. Earlier we explained the names Shavkapito/Kapito [შავკაპიტო/კაპიტო] as deriving from Persian kapoet ("blue-green"); and in Georgian proper we also have vine-names like Tet'ra [თეთრა] and Tet'ri [თეთრი, "white"]. Color terms have often at different times been applied to birds or fish as well - compare again kapoeti ("chub," a fish) or khramuli - and so forth. In this light, the hypothesis that chini entered Georgian as a borrowing and became fixed in the name of a grape variety looks entirely plausible.
Against this background, Ivane Javakhishvili's linking of Chinuri with Sulkhan-Saba's "chini = color of the olive leaf" appears justified, with the caveat that the color in question is not "greenish-amber" (as Javakhishvili glossed it), but rather straightforwardly "white."
As for Sulkhan-Saba's third meaning of chini ("the chini of the eye"), this must be considered natively Georgian. In itself, this "native Georgian" sense deserves a separate study, for the chini of vision and numerous other indigenous Georgian roots show striking parallels with Indo-European, Altaic, and Semitic bases. This, in turn, may well be explained by the close Hittite-Luwian contacts of the ancestors of the Georgians. But to pursue that inquiry would take us beyond the scope of the present article.

***

Ilia Chqonia, in his Word List (sitk'vis kona) published in 1910, records the form Chinura [ჩინურა]. He states that he had seen it in a 1900 issue of the newspaper Iveria, within Tevdore Razikashvili's materials for "The Treasury of the Georgian Language." In an effort to verify this, I searched the 1900 issues of Iveria one by one, but without success; around ten issues are missing, making complete confirmation impossible. We may reasonably assume, however, that Chqonia did indeed encounter the form in Razikashvili's list. This would be natural and would suggest that in Pshavi the form Chinura [ჩინურა] was used, and that the endings -ura and -uri were employed in parallel. In Chqonia's Word List, the form is glossed simply as "white grape." Whether it denoted a specific variety of white grape or white grapes in general is not specified. Yet even today in Kartli, Chinuri is often applied broadly to any white grape; the term frequently serves in a collective sense as a generic designation for white-grape varieties. I consider this fact important for clarifying the meaning of Chinuri.

Thus, we may finally conclude: although the chn- consonant cluster is clearly organic to Georgian, and although the chen-/chin- roots essentially belong to the same semantic range as in Indo-European, Semitic, or Altaic languages, historical evidence suggests that the word chini in the sense of "white (color)" entered eastern Georgia under Mongol influence, most likely in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries. After the expulsion of the Mongols, the word appears to have fallen out of everyday use, surviving only in derived forms as a rudimentary root. The case of Chinuri seems to reflect precisely this process.
In the end, then, the name of the grape Chinuri simply meant "the white one," "white grape." This is both natural in itself and also points to the long-standing dominance of this variety in Kartli viticulture.

Andro Barnovi ©
21.02.2023