Monday, August 19, 2013

KARTVELIAN TOPONYMS IN SWITZERLAND

The old name of the country is Helvetia, which is 'Helveti' - 'land of helvi'. Given that in Romanic words the 'h' letter is mute, we assume, it was 'elvi' in fact. 'Elvi' is a Kartvelian word (ელვი) that means 'lightning'. How far is Switzerland associated with lightnings can be seen on this map:
http://www.lightningmaps.org/blitzortung/europe/index.php?lang=en&

It's actually the land of the highest lightnings concentration in Europe.

The name of Helvetia's king is Orgetorix. We already tried to have a look at Vercingetorix from Kartvelian point of view. Looking at Orgetorix from the same angle is as exciting. After taking off 'rix' (king) we are left with Orgeto, which after replacing the final 'o' with 'i' becomes a Kartvelian toponym of Orgeti. To make it easier to find  the meaning of the root, let's add the starting 'H' which in Romanic languages is mute anyway: Horgeti - 'place of horgi'. Now the root of the word looks pretty Kartvelian. It's 'horgi' (ხორგი) - 'a big lump of ice'. Given that Helvetii used to live up to Jura Mountains the 'big lump of ice' could be a glacier. The glaciers do exist in Jura Mountains, as the link proves:
http://www.ams.ethz.ch/publications/annual_reports/2009/55

So, Orgeti quite believeably could be 'land of ice'.

Also, let's not forget that the Italian tribe of Suaneti came to Val di Soane from the Swiss canton of Grigioni.

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