Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Noreen Malone at Slate explains why Georgia and Georgia are both named Georgia. Basically it's:
- George means "ploughman" in ancient Greek
- Saint George dies in AD 303
- Part of Central Asia (Georgia) becomes associated with the saint for unknown reasons
- Crusaders bring the cult of Saint George to Western Europe in the 12th century
- Saint George becomes England's patron in the 1340s
- King George II grants part of North America (Georgia) a charter in 1732
But what does this all have to do with the Georgics of Virgil, published in 29 BC? Well, the poetry cycle's overt theme is rural life and farming: subjects known in Greek as, yes, georgics.
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
But the Asian Georgia calls itself Gruzia.
Posted by: Coturnix | August 15, 2008 4:22 PM
I always though the Gruzia is the Russian name for Georgia.
Posted by: Lassi Hippeläinen | August 16, 2008 5:51 AM
George II was so named not because of England's patron saint but after his father, the first Hanoverian king of England, and his great-grandfather, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and founder of the house of Hanover. So there's one link still unexplained in that account: why did the Hanoverians adopt the name?
Posted by: pbinkley | August 16, 2008 8:28 AM
So there's one link still unexplained in that account: why did the Hanoverians adopt the name?
They thought it was a cool name? There were already too many German princes called Frederick and William? The father of the original one owed money to a guy named George and wanted to ingratiate himself? After all, why did you get your name?
Posted by: chris y | August 18, 2008 4:58 AM
The Greek can be further analyzed. "George" (Georgos in Greek) is literally "earth worker".
Posted by: Bill Poser | August 21, 2008 11:47 PM
Gruzia is a russian name of GEORGIA.in ancient times greeks gave name'GEORGIA'to this countrey but indeed georgians called their land COLCHIS,it is a countrey ARGONAUTS came to steel golden fleece
Posted by: tako | February 16, 2010 4:04 AM