Tinatin in “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin”

Abstract

The etymology of Tinatin in the presented article is connected to the woman’s proper name (tina//tinah) prevalent in the East. It is of Persian origin, and its meaning is “a rose”. In the Islamic East, this proper name is also observed in the plural form (tin-āt). -āt is a suffix that produces the plural of feminine nouns in Arabic. In Georgian Tinatin (tinatin < tīn-āt-īn) the final -in possibly indicates the Arabic plural suffix. The double plural in “Tinatin” expresses the intensity of meaning. Double plural forms are often observed in Arabic dialects. Among them is Central Asian Arabic: faras-īn-āt – “horses”, naḥn-āt – “we”.

It is noteworthy that both forms of this proper name (tīna//tīnāt), i.e., singular and plural, are simultaneously used in Arabic, and both are recorded in the dictionary of proper Arabic names. 

Classical Persian “gul” (“rose” – گل) is represented in late Middle Persian as gwl. This gwl, in its turn, must have originated from the restored form of Old Persian *vṛda (v^arda). In Proto Iranian, the initial form of this word is also assumed to be *vṛda. It is also possible that gl (gil) may be derived from the Middle Persian tīna. These versions are based on the alternation of v and g, which is allowed phonetically. Acad. G. Tsereteli connects the etymology of the word “gurji” with the Persian varčān, where it is obvious that v > g: vrčan > gurčān > gurğān > gurğ.

The existence of the same form to denote Iveria and Gurgani indicates a common totemic name. Thus, the alternation v ~ g is also quite natural. In the authoritative Persian dictionary (Borhane 1342 AH: 547), tīna (تينا) is interpreted as “rose” (گل), which confirms the validity of the etymological research I have presented in connection with “Tina”.