Editing Abkhaz language (section)

== History ==
The earliest indisputable extant written records of the Abkhaz language are in the [[Arabic script]], recorded by the Turkish traveller [[Evliya Çelebi]] in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gippert |first=Jost |title=Caucasian Perspectives |publisher=Lincom |date=1992 |isbn=978-3-929075-01-4 |editor-last=Hewitt |editor-first=George |location=München |page=9 |language=en |chapter=The Caucasian Language Material in Evliya Çelebi's 'Travel Book'}}</ref> Abkhaz has been used as a literary language for only about 100 years.

It was suggested that certain inscriptions on [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Ancient Greek pottery]] which had been considered nonsense are in fact written in Abkhaz-Adydge languages.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mayor |first1=Adrienne |last2=Colarusso |first2=John |last3=Saunders |first3=David |date=2014 |title=Making Sense of Nonsense Inscriptions Associated with Amazons and Scythians on Athenian Vases |journal=Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens |language=en |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=447–493 |doi=10.2972/hesperia.83.3.0447|s2cid=8068881 }}</ref> The methodology of the research was criticised and the results called improbable.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kassian |first=Alexei |date=December 2016 |title=Un-Making Sense of Alleged Abkhaz-Adyghean Inscriptions on Ancient Greek Pottery |journal=Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia |language=en |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=177–198 |doi=10.1163/15700577-12341301}}</ref>

In 1918, [[Tbilisi State University]] became the first institution of higher education to teach Abkhazian language. The founders of the university began to take care of the development and scientific study of the Abkhazian language. At the meeting of the Council of Professors held at Tbilisi State University in 1918, [[Ivane Javakhishvili]] noted the scientific importance of studying Caucasian languages. In 1918, by the decision of the Council of Professors, Petre Charaia was invited to teach the Abkhazian language, and from 1925, this mission was continued by [[Dmitry Gulia|Dimitri Gulia]] and [[Simon Janashia]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 October 2020 |title=Apkhazuri enis dghe tsu-shi |script-title=ka:აფხაზური ენის დღე თსუ-ში |language=ka |trans-title=Abkhazian Language Day at TSU |work=www.tsu.ge |url=https://www.tsu.ge/ka/news/%E1%83%90%E1%83%A4%E1%83%AE%E1%83%90%E1%83%96%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98%20%E1%83%94%E1%83%9C%E1%83%98%E1%83%A1%20%E1%83%93%E1%83%A6%E1%83%94%20%E1%83%97%E1%83%A1%E1%83%A3-%E1%83%A8%E1%83%98 |access-date=23 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=8 February 2018 |title=Ketevan tsikhelashvili: "1918 ts'els, tbilisis sakhelmts'ipo universit'et'is daarsebisas, misma damaarsebelma mamebma, pakt'obrivad tavidanve daits'q'es imaze zrunva, rom universit'et'shi shesadzlebeli q'opiliq'o apkhazuri da osuri enebis shests'avla" |script-title=ka:ქეთევან ციხელაშვილი: "1918 წელს, თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტის დაარსებისას, მისმა დამაარსებელმა მამებმა, ფაქტობრივად თავიდანვე დაიწყეს იმაზე ზრუნვა, რომ უნივერსიტეტში შესაძლებელი ყოფილიყო აფხაზური და ოსური ენების შესწავლა" |language=ka |trans-title=Ketevan Tsikhelashvili: "When Tbilisi State University Was Founded in 1918, Its Founding Fathers Actually Took Care of the Possibility of Studying Abkhazian and Ossetian Languages at the University from the Very Beginning." |work=Sherigebisa da samokalako tanasts’orobis sak’itkhebshi sakartvelos sakhelmts’ipo minist’ris ap’arat’i |url=https://smr.gov.ge/ge/news/read/1176/ |access-date=23 May 2021}}</ref>