I. Sumerian and Georgian: A study in Comparative Philology

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Personal Pronouns.—Georgian (with Lazian, etc.) makes no distinction of genders in personal pronouns (as in general Georgian makes no distinction of genders). Herein Georgian corresponds perfectly to Sumerian. The personal pronouns in Sumerian are also very like to Georgian, though the same cannot be said of other pronouns. The 1st person singular is regularly me-e in Sumerian, and in Georgian me = I = Lazian ma, man = Mingrelian ma = Svanian mi. The 2nd person is in Sumerian za-e = Georgian šen = Mingrelian si = Lazian si = Svanian si. As to the 3rd person, it is most interesting that Georgian and the other languages of the Georgian group have no special pronoun to designate directly the 3rd person; in Sumerian it is the same. Both Sumerian and Georgian borrow the pronoun for the 3rd person from demonstrative pronouns: Sumerian ni (rectus) and na, (obliquas) for persons, and bi and ba for inanimate objects; Georgian is, igi, Mingrelian , ena, θena, Lazian ham, Svanian ada, ala. But in Georgian the root of the pronoun of the 3rd person appears in the genitive, dative, and other cases, and this root being m we can compare it with Sumerian demonstrative bi and ba. Indeed, we have in Georgian , is igi = he she, it, but in genitive m-is, dative m-as, etc.; in Mingrelian , ena, θena = he, she, it, but in genitive m-u-ši, etc. In Lazian as independent personal pronoun 3rd person, the demonstrative ham, = this, is used, but the pronominal nominative is m-u-q, genitive m-u-ši, etc. It must be remembered, moreover, that in Lazian the demonstrative pronouns have the root of the personal pronoun 3rd person m, and that is why they replace the personal pronoun 3rd person.