The alternative name of Sokhumi is "Akujiha" (აყუჯიხა), and there are also Internet battles around it.
The word is definitely Megrelian, compare it with another well-known toponym - Tsalenjiha. That is, "jiha" is "tsikhe", "fortress". But what is "aku" ... In Kartvelian dictionaries, the word "aku" (აყუ) is not visible. At the same time, the Abkhazians claim that this is the "Abkhaz" word for "water" (that is, "water fortress", and Sokhumi is really on the sea), and it seems that this is confirmed by the Bgazhba dictionary, where "akua" is "rain". The impression is reinforced by the unambiguous connection between this "akua" and the Latin "aqua", which has no normal etymology.
But, still, neither the Latin "aqua" nor "Akujiha" are Abkhaz (in the sense of Adyghe Apsui). Firstly, the initial and final "a" in the Kartvelian languages are formants of demonstrative pronouns (that is, definite articles), which we are convinced of in Klimov's Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages. Secondly, the Apsua, as we know, shove this initial "a" wherever they can. Just one "akhachapur" is worth something.
Thus, if we want the real root in the words "აყუ", "akua" and "aqua", we must look for "ყუ" ("ku") in the "water" meaning...
...The search was not long. In Chanturia's dictionary, the word "ყუ" is present in the Ajarian dialect in the meaning of "well". That is, water, and, to a certain extent, rainwater. In general, "Akujikha" is indeed a "water fortress", but it only comes from the Kartvelian word "(a)ku". The Latin "aqua" may also come from the same Kartvelian root "ყუ".
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