Demetrius Rudolph Peacock and the Languages of Georgia

Abstract

The paper is a discussion of D.R. Peacock‘s lexicographic resource ―Original Vocabularies of Five West Caucasian Languages‖ and provides information about the author and his work. The English headwords are accompanied by their translations in the languages spoken in Georgia: Georgian, Megrelian (―Mingrelian‖), Laz (―Lazian‖), Svan (―Swanetian‖), and Abkhazian. With a number of positive aspects, Peacock‘s ―Vocabularies‖ should be considered a significant vestige in the history of English-Caucasian lexicography which can yield much valuable information as a result of the thorough investigation of individual entries and their translation equivalents in the five Caucasian languages spoken in Georgia.