ფოტელი AND PHOTIS

DO YOU KNOW THAT...

...Kartvelian language used to have a word denoting North-Africans! How many languages do you know that have a word for a 'North-African'? What is there so special in North Africans for Kartvelians to want to have a separate word for them?

This word is ფოტელი [photeli]. Obviously, it's adjective derived from ფოტი-noun.

Will we find any confirmation of this in Africa itself? Oh yes, we will. On the Ptolemy's map, right across the Nile from world-famous SVAN city Aswan (Soane, Swenet) we see today-non-existing Photis (see the picture). This is exactly the land from where, according to Herodotus, pharaoh Sesostris started his voyage over Europe with eventual settling of some of his warriors in Kolchida. Right where soon there showed up a local city of Photi (ფოთი).

It's way far from being the only African-Kartvelian connection. Look at the city of Lasica somewhere on today's Algeria-Tunisia border. And recall huge amount of other Kartvelian toponyms in Africa, that have been mentioned in this blog...