# Odishi

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Historical district in western Georgia

Not to be confused with the [Odissi](/source/Odissi) dance or [Odissi music](/source/Odissi_music).

Historical region in Georgia

Odishi ოდიში Historical region A map of Odishi, originally by Archangelo Lamberti, 1654. Flag Coat of arms Coordinates: 42°34′30″N 41°40′40″E / 42.57500°N 41.67778°E / 42.57500; 41.67778 Country Georgia Largest city Zugdidi Since the early 19th century, toponym Odishi has been supplanted by Samegrelo (Mingrelia)

**Odishi** ([Georgian](/source/Georgian_language): ოდიში [\[ˈo̞d̪iʃi\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Georgian)) was a historical district in western [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(country)), the core fiefdom of the former [Principality of Mingrelia](/source/Principality_of_Mingrelia), with which the name "Odishi" was frequently coterminous. Since the early 19th century, this [toponym](/source/Toponym) has been supplanted by [Mingrelia](/source/Mingrelia) (Samegrelo).[1]

## Geography

See also: [Odishi-Guria plain](/source/Odishi-Guria_plain)

Like most historical regions of Georgia, Odishi had fluctuating borders.[2] It was bounded by the [Black Sea](/source/Black_Sea) to the west and the [Tskhenistsqali](/source/Tskhenistsqali) river to the east; to the northwest, Odishi bordered and at times expanded into [Abkhazia](/source/Principality_of_Abkhazia); to the north were the mountains of [Takveri](/source/Takveri), that is, the letter-day [Lechkhumi](/source/Lechkhumi), and [Svaneti](/source/Svaneti); and the [Rioni river](/source/Rioni_river) formed the border between Odishi and [Guria](/source/Principality_of_Guria) to the south. In its narrower sense, Odishi referred to a tract of land between the [Inguri](/source/Inguri_River) and [Tekhuri](/source/Tekhuri_River) rivers, bathed by the Black Sea. The chief town and largest settlement was [Zugdidi](/source/Zugdidi). [Chqondidi](/source/Martvili_Monastery) at [Martvili](/source/Martvili) served as the principal [Christian](/source/Georgian_Orthodox_Church) cathedral. A Georgian [demonym](/source/Demonym) for the people of Odishi was *odishari*.[3]

## Etymology

The etymology of Odishi is not clear. According to [Georgy Klimov](/source/Georgy_Klimov), in [Mingrelian](/source/Mingrelian_language) the term Odishi breaks down as Od-ish-i, where od- goes back to [Proto-Kartvelian](/source/Proto-Kartvelian) *ad- ([yellow azalea](/source/Yellow_azalea)) and -ish- is a topoformative element.[4] There also is an explanation of this name in [Laz](/source/Laz_language), Odi-shi (Odişi) meaning "From Odi". The early-18th-century Georgian scholar [Prince Vakhushti](/source/Prince_Vakhushti), who included a detailed geographical account of the region in his *[Description of the Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Description_of_the_Kingdom_of_Georgia)*, suggested a [folk etymology](/source/Folk_etymology) of Odishi as meaning "once [*odeshi*] this land was ours."[3] A modern hypothesis relates Odishi to a [pagan](/source/Paganism) deity from the Mingrelian folklore, named Odi.[1] The name of Odishi survives in those of a [plateau](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Odishi_Plain&action=edit&redlink=1) in western Georgia, a [village](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Odishi_(Zugdidi_Municipality)&action=edit&redlink=1) in the [Zugdidi Municipality](/source/Zugdidi_Municipality), and a broadcasting company based in Zugdidi.

## History

Odishi first appears in the *[Georgian Chronicles](/source/Georgian_Chronicles)* under the reign of [Queen Tamar](/source/Tamar_of_Georgia) (r. 1184–1213) as a fief ruled by the *[eristavi](/source/Eristavi)* ("duke") of the dynasty with gentilitial titles of *[Bediani](/source/Bediani_(title))* and *[Dadiani](/source/Dadiani)*, derived from the respective localities. The dynasty, henceforth surnamed Dadiani, acceded to the rank of sovereign princes after the dissolution of the [Kingdom of Georgia](/source/Kingdom_of_Georgia) in the 1490s.[5] Natively, and in the early modern Georgian historical literature, Odishi was the name of both the district and the whole Dadiani-ruled principality. The latter came to be known to the Europeans as Mingrelia after the [principal group of people](/source/Mingrelians) inhabiting it, but they were also familiar with Odishi as the name of one of the two principal subdivisions of the Principality of Mingrelia, the other being [Lechkhumi](/source/Lechkhumi).[6][7][8] The Georgian equivalent of Mingrelia, [Samegrelo](/source/Samegrelo), although referenced in much earlier records, did not enter the common usage until after the imposition of the [Imperial Russian](/source/Russian_Empire) hegemony in 1804.[1] The Mingrelian signatory to the 1804 treaty with Russia, Prince [Grigol Dadiani](/source/Grigol_Dadiani), referred to himself as the "lawful Lord of Odishi, Lechkhumi, Svaneti, Abkhazia, and all the lands anciently belonging to the ancestors of mine."[9]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-gse7_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-gse7_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-gse7_1-2) Beradze, Tamaz (1984). "ოდიში [Odishi]". *ქართული საბჭოთა ენციკლოპედია, ტ. 7 [Georgian Soviet Encyclopaedia, Vol. 7]* (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 502.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Javakhishvili, Ivane](/source/Ivane_Javakhishvili) (1983). *ქართველი ერის ისტორია, ტ. 2 [History of the Georgian Nation, Vol. 2]* (in Georgian). Tbilisi: Metsniereba. p. 49.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Wakh_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Wakh_3-1) [Wakhoucht, Tsarévitch](/source/Prince_Vakhushti) (1842). [Brosset, Marie-Félicité](/source/Marie-F%C3%A9licit%C3%A9_Brosset) (ed.). [*ღეოღრაჶიული აღწერა საქართველოჲსა. Description géographique de la Géorgie*](https://books.google.com/books?id=4JkOAAAAQAAJ&q=Odich) [*Geographic description of Georgia*] (in Georgian and French). S.-Pétersbourg: A la typographie de l'Academie Impériale des Sciences. pp. 392–395.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Klimov, Georgy (1998). [*Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages*](https://archive.org/details/KlimovEtymological/page/n17/mode/2up?view=theater). New York, Berlin. p. 1.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Toumanoff, Cyril](/source/Cyril_Toumanoff) (1949–51). "The Fifteenth-Century Bagratids and the Institution of Collegial Sovereignty in Georgia". *Traditio*. **7**: 187.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Lamberti, Archangelo (1654). [*Relatione della Colchide hoggi detta Mengrellia \[Description of Colchis, today called Mingrelia\]*](https://books.google.com/books?id=UmViAAAAcAAJ) (in Italian). Napoli. pp. 15–17.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Diderot, Denis](/source/Denis_Diderot), ed. (1778). "Mingréliens". *[Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers](/source/Encyclop%C3%A9die%2C_ou_dictionnaire_raisonn%C3%A9_des_sciences%2C_des_arts_et_des_m%C3%A9tiers), Tome vingt-unieme [Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts, Vol. 21]* (in French). Geneve. pp. 932–933.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Klaproth, Julius von](/source/Julius_Klaproth) (1814). [*Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia: performed in the years 1806 and 1808, by command of the Russian government*](https://books.google.com/books?id=3PggAQAAMAAJ&q=Odischi). London: H. Colburn. p. 401.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** "№ 21.382.a. — Высочайше утвержденные пункты Владетельнаго Князя Мингрелии Григория Дадиана [No. 21.382.a. — Supremely confirmed articles for the Presiding Prince of Mingrelia Grigory Dadian]". [*Полное собрание законов Российской империи, Том XXVIII: 1804–1805 \[Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, Vol. 28: 1804–1805\]*](http://www.nlr.ru/e-res/law_r/search.php) (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Typography of the Second Department of His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery. 1830. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140305073900/http://www.nlr.ru/e-res/law_r/search.php/) from the original on 2014-03-05. Retrieved 2015-07-18.

v t e Duchies of the Kingdom of Georgia Artgveti Tukharisi Kalmakhi Kakheti Klarjeti Kldekari Odishi Racha Samtskhe Svaneti Tao Kartli Queli Tskhumi Javakheti Hereti

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