BASTARNI

The tribe is classified as mysterious, since it has not had a clear ethnic characteristic so far. Some consider it Germanic, some Celtic, some Slavic. It was located by Ptolemy in Ukraine. The word looks like another impeccable Kartvelian construction "bast + ar + n + i", where "bast-" is the root, "-ar" is the Svan plural suffix, "-n" is the Old Kartvelian plural suffix, and "-i" is the Kartvelian nominative-case ending. Thus, "bastar" means "the Basts", and "bastarni" is "settlements of the Basts", that is, an entire country. The meaning of the root "basti" is present in one of the Georgian dictionaries as "refuge". At the same time, the adjective "bastaneli" in Chanturia's dictionary means "very ancient". See also Bastetani, Bastuli, Bastia, Sivas, Zall-Bastar, Sevastopol.