Editing Georgian language (section)

==History==
{{further|Kartvelian languages|Proto-Kartvelian language|Proto-Georgian–Zan language|Old Georgian}}{{Georgians}}
The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases:<ref name="woodard"/>
* Early [[Old Georgian language|Old Georgian]]: 5th–8th centuries
* Classical Old Georgian: 9th–11th centuries
* Middle Georgian: 11th/12th–17th/18th centuries
* Modern Georgian: 17th/18th century–present

The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings of [[Marcus Cornelius Fronto]], a Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD.<ref>Braund, David (1994), ''Georgia in Antiquity; a History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 B.C.&nbsp;– A.D. 562'', p. 216. [[Oxford University Press]], {{ISBN|0-19-814473-3}}</ref> The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions and [[palimpsest]]s dating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th century ''[[Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik]]'' by [[Iakob Tsurtaveli]].

The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of the [[Christianization of Georgia]] in the mid-4th century, which led to the replacement of [[Aramaic]] as the [[literary language]].<ref name="woodard">[[Kevin Tuite|Tuite, Kevin]], "Early Georgian", pp. 145–6, in: Woodard, Roger D. (2008), ''The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor''. [[Cambridge University Press]], {{ISBN|0-521-68496-X}}</ref>

By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is the [[National epic|epic poem]] ''[[The Knight in the Panther's Skin]],'' written by [[Shota Rustaveli]] in the 12th century.

In 1629, a certain [[Nikoloz Cholokashvili]] authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the ''[[Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione]]'' and the ''[[Dittionario giorgiano e italiano]]''. These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian for [[Evangelism|evangelical]] purposes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georgian and Italian Dictionary|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/321/|publisher=World Digital Library|accessdate=3 July 2013}}</ref>