Aznauri

Aznauri (, ; pl. aznaurni, აზნაურნი, or aznaurebi, აზნაურები) was a class of Georgian nobility.

==History== The word derives from Middle Persian āznāvar, which, in turn, corresponds semantically to Middle Persian āzād and Avestan āzāta- ("nobility"). The term is related to Pahlavi āzāt-ān, "free" or "noble", who are listed as the lowest class of the free nobility in the Hajjiabad inscription of King Shapur I (240-270), and parallels to the azat of Armenia. It first appears in "The Martyrdom of Saint Shushanik", a 5th-century work of Georgian hagiographic literature. A later chronicle, that of Leonti Mroveli, derives "aznauri" from the semi-legendary ruler Azon (Georgian –uri is a common adjectival suffix), whose 1,000 soldiers defected him and were subsequently named aznauri by Azon’s victorious rival Parnavaz. This etymology is patently false.