KARTVELIAN TOPONYMS IN ADRIATIC REGION

Dalmatia has already been addressed. It's Delmati, 'land of delami', 'land of raw cheese'. And it's closely related to Anatolian Telmeti (Telmessos) meaning the same (see the corresponding entry).

The Adriatic coast of Croatia used to be inhabited by an ancient tribe of Liburni. The word is utterly Kartvelian for it has the key root 'lyb' (there is an alternative, more correct spelling of 'lyburni', see here), plus the Kartvelian ur-suffix of adjectives, plus the n-suffix of Old Kartvelian plural form, and finally the nominative case i-ending.

So, Lyburni = Lyb+ur+n+i, which literally means 'Lybians' [lubians]. The lyb-root seems to be the name of the pan-Kartvelian nation that used to inhabit Europe, Africa and Asia in pre-Greek times (see the corresponding entry). The Adriatic region has another famous lyb-toponym of Ljubljana (Lubiana in Italian and Luvigana in Ancient), which seems to be a link of the same pan-Kartvelian chain.

In the neighbouring Serbia the attention should be drawn to a region of Machva south of Belgrade, a plain with occasional forests. The land used to be the richest part of Serbia and hosts many species of animals. For that reason we should look attentively at its root 'mach' which can be met more than once both in the Slav names of animals (machka meaning cat, bear and sometimes even goat) and in Kartvelian names of animals (machvi, badger, and machkatela, bat). The v-letter is a suffix both in the Slav and the Kartvelian words.

How would you call a river the bottom of which is paved with white stones and hence the river seems white? What are the chances you would want to call such a river 'milky'? Maybe high. At least, we have the Milky River in Canada, in Montana, and in Jamaica, as well as the Molochna (Milky) river in Ukraine. In Serbia and Bosnia there flows a river called Bely Rzav (White Rzav). What 'rzav' means in Serbian is not clear, but 'r(d)ze' does mean 'milk' in Kartvelian. As to the v-letter, the Kartvelian words like to accept it as a suffix very much.

In Macedonia there is a town called Gevgelia. The word seems utterly Megrelian, and actually there is a root 'gevgi' in one of Kartvelian languages. At least, here:
გევგი დო ვკათე ლაშქარი, ნაქები, დუდი სხუნილი
იკათეს, მორთეს ურიცხვიქ ლჲანდითჷ ცა რდუ მუნილი
http://wikisource.org/wiki//დუდი_10

What it means, is not known since the Georgians keep silence.

As for Macedonian capital of Skopje, see a separate intriguing entry.