The National Commission on the Lithuanian language today approved a decision on the introduction of the authentic Georgian designation in the Lithuanian language - Sakartvelas. This is reported by the Public Television of Georgia.
The self-name of Georgia is Sakartvelo, that is, the "country of Georgians". The National Commission for the Lithuanian language has for some time considered variants of how to call Georgia more authentic - the words "Kartvelia" and "Sakartvelo" were suggested. As a result, a word was chosen that was close to the Georgian self-design and taking into account the peculiarities of the Lithuanian grammar.
Now in Lithuania the name Sakartvelas will be used along with the already existing name - Gruzija.
The word Sakartvelas will actively enter into the official terminology. For example, the Georgian embassy, currently Gruzijos Ambasada, will be called Sakartvelo Ambasada, the expression "Welcome to Georgia" - Sveiki atvykę į Sakartvelą, Georgians - Gruzinas - Kartvelas, Georgian - gruzinų kalba-kartvelų kalba and so on.
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkiavichus called this decision "historic" and congratulated this event in his Twitter with a record in Georgian.
The Foreign Minister also noted his entry with the hashtag # Georgia100 - this means that such a decision was made in honor of the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia.
"Congratulations on this historic decision! Long live the friendship of Georgia and Lithuania! ", Writes Linkevičius.
"We are sure that Lithuanian citizens will take up this innovation and the authentic Georgian name that has already become informally ingrained in the circle of friends will become very familiar for every Lithuanian and will be used in everyday life. Considering the importance of this fact, we can call today's day with full responsibility the day of friendship between Georgia and Lithuania, "said the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Lithuania Hatun Salukvadze.
According to Salukvadze, taking into account the changes, the inscriptions will be changed at the Georgian embassy in Vilnius, as well as at the honorary consulate and in the Tbilisi public garden in Vilnius, which was opened in November 2015 as a sign of friendship between the two countries in the central region of Zverynas.
