In this paper author will demonstrate that the Svans, who speak a Kartvelian language distantly related to Georgian, preserve a structurally-comparable ritual the designation of which — ch’æch’-il-ær — is formed from a root cognate with that of c’ac’-l-oba. On the basis of a comparative analysis of the Svan and Pshav-Xevsurian practices in the context of traditional Georgian beliefs concerning marriage and relationships between “in-groups” and “out-groups”, author will propose a reconstruction of the significance of *c´’ac´’-al- “anti-marriage” in prehistoric
Kartvelian social thought.
Tuite, K. 2000. “Antimarriage” in Ancient Georgian Society. Anthropological Linguistics 42 (1): 37–60.
