Georgian words, one at a time
Sakartvelo: the country Georgians mean when they say home.
საქართველო (Sakartvelo) is Georgia — as Georgians call it themselves. Take the word apart and it literally says “the place of the Kartvelians”.
What sakartvelo means.
Georgian builds place names with the frame sa-…-o, “the place of …”. Put ქართველი (kartveli — a Georgian person) inside, and you get საქართველო: sa-kartvel-o, “the place of the Kartvelians”.
The root is kart-, after Kartlos, the legendary ancestor of the Georgians. The same root gives kartuli (the language) and kartveli (a person) — so the country’s name is really a sentence about its people.
How to pronounce sakartvelo.
- Four syllables: sa-kart-VE-lo, with a light stress on “ve”.
- ვ is “v” as in “voice”; ე is the “e” of “get”.
- The “r” is a light single tap, closer to Spanish pero than to English “r”.
Sakartvelo or Georgia?
Abroad, the country officially goes by “Georgia” — yes, the same name as the US state, which is why the confusion never dies. The English name comes from a different, older root and is not used inside the country.
Ask anyone there: the country is Sakartvelo, the language is kartuli, the people are kartvelebi. In chats you will also see it typed saqartvelo — that is the chat-alphabet spelling, where q stands for the letter ქ.
The words that come next.
- ქართული (kartuli) — “Georgian”, the language
- გამარჯობა (gamarjoba) — “hello”
- მადლობა (madloba) — “thank you”
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Sakartvelo: common questions
What does sakartvelo mean?
Sakartvelo (საქართველო) is Georgia — the country’s own name for itself. It is built from the frame sa-…-o, “place of”, around kartveli, “a Georgian”: literally “the place of the Kartvelians”.
How do you pronounce sakartvelo?
Sa-kart-VE-lo: four syllables with a light stress on “ve”. The ვ is “v” as in “voice”, and the r is a light tap.
Is Sakartvelo the same as Georgia?
Yes. Georgia is the international name (shared, confusingly, with the US state); Sakartvelo is what Georgians call their country. The government uses “Georgia” abroad, but inside the country only Sakartvelo is used.
What do you call a person from Sakartvelo?
A kartveli (ქართველი) — “a Georgian”. The people are kartvelebi, the language is kartuli, and all three words share the root kart-, after the legendary ancestor Kartlos.
What is the difference between sakartvelo and saqartvelo?
None — both spell საქართველო. Sakartvelo is the standard romanization; saqartvelo is the chat-alphabet spelling Georgians type on Latin keyboards, where q stands for ქ.
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