TARTAR

The well-known toponym, the origin of which is unknown, perfectly consists of the Kartvelian/Svan morphemes:

TART + AR

We already told about '-ar' suffix which is the Svan equivalent of Kartvelian '-et', meaning 'the land of...'. Besides, we saw the root 'tart' in Tartess. Hence, the toponym 'Tartar' means 'land of tart(i)', which is 'land of sturgeon', being a total synonym to Tartess.

The land of Tartar (Tataria, Tatarstan) lies on the banks of the Volga between two main Tartar cities of Kazan' and Astrahan'. Everyone knows that the Volga basin is the main supplier of sturgeon's black caviar, thus making Tartar associate with sturgeon strongly and naturally.