Names of Georgia

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Georgia ( JOR-jə) is the Western exonym for the country in the Caucasus natively known as Sakartvelo (Georgian: საქართველო [sakʰaɾtʰʷelo] ). The Armenian exonym is Vrastan (Armenian: Վրաստան [vəɾɑsˈtɑn]); predominantly Muslim nations refer to it as Gurjistan or its many similar variations; while in mostly Slavic languages it is Gruziya and its derivatives. The first mention of the name spelled as "Georgia" was recorded in Italian on the mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte dated AD 1320. In early appearances in the Latin world, the name was not always written in the same transliteration, the first consonant originally being spelt with J, as Jorgia. Both endonym and exonym for the country are derived from the same state-forming core and central Georgian region of Kartli (Georgian: ქართლი [ˈkʰaɾtʰli] ; known as Iberia to the Classical and Byzantine sources) around which the early medieval cultural and political unity of the Georgians was formed. All exonyms are likely derived from gorğān (گرگان...

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