Daba (settlement)
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Daba (Georgian: დაბა) is a type of human settlement in Georgia, a "small town".[1][2] It is equivalent to an urban-type settlement in some other countries of the former Soviet Union.
In present-day Georgia, daba is typically defined as a settlement with a population of no fewer than 3,000 and established social and technical infrastructure, which enables it to function as a local economic and cultural center; it, furthermore, should not possess large agricultural lands. The status of daba can also be granted to a settlement with a population of fewer than 3,000, provided it functions as an administrative center of the district (municipality) or has a prospect of further economic and population growth in the nearest future.[1]
Daba is the term well known in Old Georgian, where it had the meaning "cornfield, hamlet". It is derived from a Common Kartvelian root *dab(a), which is also a source of the Svan däb, "cornfield", and, possibly, the Mingrelian dobera (dobira), "arable land". The derivative words are udabno, "desert", and mdabali, "low".[3] The name daba is also a basis for several placenames in Georgia, such as Daba, Akhaldaba ("new daba"), Q'veldaba ("cheese daba"), and Dabadzveli ("old daba").