Reconstruction:Proto-Georgian-Zan/rḳina-

The origin is uncertain.

Has been compared to Proto-Lezghian *req̇ʷ (“iron”), Old Armenian երկաթ (erkatʻ, “iron”), երկինք (erkinkʻ, “sky”); see those for more.

Klimov 1964 falsely remarks that the attribution of the word to the Proto-Georgian-Zan period is not secure, because iron was introduced into Georgia from Urartu only in the 8–7th centuries BC. The reconstruction is discarded in later works.

Compare also Old Georgian რკინება (rḳineba, “to fight”).

*rḳina-

1. iron

• >? Old Georgian: რკინაჲ (rḳinay)
  • Georgian: რკინა (rḳina), კინა (ḳina), კინაჲ (ḳinay)
• Zan:
  • ⇒? Laz: ერკინა (erǩina, “iron”), კიკინა (ǩiǩina), კინა (ǩina), კინა-ხონა (ǩina-xona, “iron plowshare”)
  • ⇒? Mingrelian: რკინა (rḳina, “iron”), კინა (ḳina), კინა-ხონა (ḳina-xona, “iron plowshare”)

• Bork, Ferdinand (1907) Beiträge zur Kaukasischen Sprachwissenschaft. T. 1. Kaukasische Miszellen (in German), Königsberg: R. Leupold, pages 18–19
• Erckert, Roderich von (1895) Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes. I. Theil. Wörterverzeichniss (in German), Vienna: Alfred Hölder, § 103, page 57
• Erckert, Roderich von (1895) Die Sprachen des kaukasischen Stammes. II. Theil. Sprachproben und grammatische Skizzen (in German), the Kartvelian section contributed by Mose Ǯanašvili, Vienna: Alfred Hölder, page 299
• J̌ahukyan, Geworg (2010) “երկաթ”, in Vahan Sargsyan, editor, Hayeren stugabanakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), Yerevan: Asoghik, page 226b
• Klimov, G. A. (1964) Этимологический словарь картвельских языков [Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages] (in Russian), Moscow: Academy Press, pages 156–157
• Marr, N. Ja. (1911) “Яфетические элементы в языках Армении. I [Japhethic Elements in the Languages of Armenia. I]”, in Известия Российской Академии Наук. VI серия‎ (in Russian), volume 5, number 2, pages 139–144
• Nikolaev, Sergei L., Starostin, Sergei A. (1994) “*rʕēnq̇wɨ”, in A North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary‎, Moscow: Asterisk Publishers, pages 943–944
• Starostin, S. A. (2005) “*rḳina-”, in Kartvelian etymological database compiled on the basis of G. Klimov's and Fähnrich-Sarjveladze's etymological dictionaries of Kartvelian languages, retrieved 2016-06-19
• Kiria, Č̣abuḳi, Ezugbaia, Lali, Memišiši, Omar, Čuxua, Merab (2015) Lazur-megruli gramaṭiḳa [Laz–Mingrelian Grammar] (in Georgian), Tbilisi: Gamomcemloba Meridiani, page 803