CHA-/A- PREFIX (IN FACT, ARTICLE)

The mysterious Cha-/A-prefix contained in certain toponyms, in fact turns out to be nothing but Phoenician...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenician_language

...and Hebrew...
http://mylanguages.org/hebrew_articles.php

...defninte article Cha/A. It's no mystery how Cha transforms into A, since the CH in certain languages in rendered with H and further muted.

Thus, Alazones turn into Lazones (Laz, in fact), the Iranian tribe of Amardis turn into Mardi, Aswan turns into Sweneti, Assyria turns into Syria, etc. But what the most important is that Chalybes/Alybes turn into Lybes (Lubes, if we remember that Y was pronounced as [u] in ancient Greece). Or, more precisely, Chalybes turn into The Lubes.