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[[File:ႱႾႧ.jpg|thumb|A detail from [[coin]] of King [[David IV]] with ''[[Asomtavruli]]'' ႱႾႧ (''skht'' i.e. [of] somekh [ta]) mentioned in his [[Style of the Georgian sovereign|style]], c. AD 1124.]]
'''Somkhiti''' ({{lang-ka|სომხითი}}, {{IPA|ka|somχitʰi|}}) was an ambiguous geographic term used in medieval and early modern [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] historical sources to [[Name of Armenia|refer to Armenia]] on one hand and to the Armeno-Georgian marchlands along the river valleys of [[Debed]] and [[Khrami River|Khrami]] on the other hand. In the 18th century, ''Somkhiti'' was largely replaced with '''Somkheti''' ({{lang-ka|სომხეთი}}, {{IPA|ka|sɔmχɛtʰi|}}) as a Georgian [[exonym]] for Armenia, but it continued, for some time, to denote the frontier region which is currently divided between [[Lori Province|Lori]], Armenia, and [[Kvemo Kartli]], Georgia. This patch of land was sometimes referred to as "Georgian Armenia" in the 19th-century [[Europe]]an sources.<ref name="metropolitana">"Georgia", in ''[[Encyclopædia Metropolitana]]'', ed. by [[Edward Smedley]], [[Hugh James Rose]] and [[Henry John Rose]] (1845), p. 538.</ref> 

== Etymology ==
The term "Somkhiti"/"Somkheti" is presumed by modern scholars to have been derived from "Sukhmi" or "Sokhmi", the name of an ancient land located by the [[Assyria]]n and [[Urartu|Urartian]] records along the upper [[Euphrates]].<ref>[[Giorgi Melikishvili|G. Melikishvili]], ''Nairi-Urartu'' (Tbilisi, 1954), pp. 418-19, cited in [[Ronald Grigor Suny|Suny, Ronald Grigor]] (1994), ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'', p. 344, n. 20. [[Indiana University Press]], {{ISBN|0-253-20915-3}}.</ref> According to Professor [[David Marshall Lang]],
{{quote|The name 'Sokhmi',[...] applied to tribes living along the upper Euphrates, seems to be perpetuated in the medieval and modern Georgian texts as a name for the Armenians in general – 'Somekhi', meaning 'an Armenian' and 'Somkheti' for 'Armenia'. Following the fall of Urartu and the Median invasion, there was further fusion and intermingling of all these tribes, so that 'Hai', 'Arme' and 'Sokhmi' became more or less synonymous. The Armenians themselves adopted the form 'Hai', the Georgians 'Somekhi', while the Iranians took over the form 'Armina', which in Greek or Latin turns into the familiar 'Armenia.'<ref>Lang, David Marshall (1970), ''Armenia: Cradle of Civilization'', p. 114. Allen and Unwin.</ref>}}

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|სომეხი}}
*[[Name of Armenia]]
*[[Saberdzneti]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*''[[The Georgian Chronicles]]'', [[TITUS (project)|TITUS]] (Online Version).
[[Category:Historical geography of Armenia]]
[[Category:Historical geography of Georgia (country)]]