The Zan languages, or Zanuri ( ka, ზანური ენები) or Colchidian, are a branch of the

Kartvelian languages The Kartvelian languages (; ka, ქართველური ენები, tr; also known as South Caucasian, Kartvelic, and Iberian languagesBoeder (2002), p. 3) are a language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primari ...

constituted by the Mingrelian and Laz languages. The grouping is disputed as some Georgian linguists consider the two to form a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

of one Zan language. This is often challenged on the most commonly applied criteria of

mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...

when determining borders between languages, as Mingrelian and Laz are only partially mutually intelligible, though speakers of one language can recognize a sizable amount of vocabulary of the other, primarily due to semantic loans, lexical loans and other areal features resulting from geographical proximity and historical close contact common for dialect continuums. The term ''Zan'' comes from the

Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were dir ...

name of one of the chief

Colchian tribes The following is a list of ancient Colchian In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its ...

, which is almost identical to the name given to the

Mingrelians The Mingrelians ( xmf, მარგალეფი, margalefi; ka, მეგრელები, tr) are an indigenous Kartvelian-speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians that mostly live in the Mingrelia ( xmf, სამარგალო, samar ...

by the

Svans , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = File:Kartvelian languages.svg , caption = Distribution of the Svan language in relation to other Kartvelian (South Caucasian) languages. , population = –80,00 ...

(a northwestern Kartvelian group). Georgian linguist Akaki Shanidze proposed the name "Colchidian" for Zan.

History

According to a

glottochronological Glottochronology (from Attic Greek γλῶττα ''tongue, language'' and χρόνος ''time'') is the part of lexicostatistics which involves comparative linguistics and deals with the chronological relationship between languages.Sheila Embleton ...

analysis by G. Klimov, the Zan languages had split from the Common Kartvelian group by about the 8th century BC. Zan was spoken by a continuous community stretching along the Black Sea coast, from modern day

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the B ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

into 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 t ...

, also existing in modern-day

Giresun Giresun (), formerly Cerasus (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς, Greek: Κερασούντα), is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. Etymology Giresun was ...

and

Ordu province Ordu Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located on the Black Sea coast. Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, Sivas to the south, and Giresun to the east. Its license-plate code is 52. The cap ...

s of Turkey. In the mid-7th century AD, Zan speakers were split by migration of Georgian-speaking peoples from

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a la ...

(

eastern Georgia Eastern Georgia ( ka, აღმოსავლეთ საქართველო, ''aghmosavlet' sak'art'velo'') is a geographic area encompassing the territory of the Caucasian nation of Georgia to the east and south of the Likhi and Meskhe ...

), driven by the

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

, who took over the regions of

Imereti Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 mun ...

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. Geograph ...

, and Adjara. Separated by geography, and later by politics and religion, northern and southern Zan eventually diverged into Mingrelian and Laz. Since the differentiation was basically complete by early modern times, it is not customary to speak of a unified Zan language today. Presently, Mingrelian is spoken by the

primarily in northwestern Georgia (

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 Mingrelia ...

and

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 v ...

), whereas Laz is spoken by the

Laz people The Laz people, or Lazi ( lzz, ლაზი ''Lazi''; ka, ლაზი, ''lazi''; or ჭანი, ''ch'ani''; tr, Laz), are an indigenous ethnic group who mainly live in Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They traditionally spea ...

in Turkey (and in a small portion of Adjara, southwestern Georgia).

References

* (see also ) * Agglutinative languages Kartvelian languages Languages of Georgia (country) Languages of Turkey Georgian-Zan languages {{language-stub