ზღვა

From a conversation with my Tbilisi friend Gio Chachua regarding why Georgians are not among the outstanding seafarers, despite their status as a seafaring people. Probably, Georgians know that ზღვა [zgva], "sea", and ზღვარი [zgvari], "border" are cognate words.

Thus, the "sea" seems to have been a forbidden concept that could not be crossed. There is a clear difference with the Greeks, who perceived the sea exactly the opposite. The reason is clear: the Georgians could not encounter anything but evil beyond the sea, and it was much wiser to remain in their native land, especially since Georgia always had everything needed for an autonomous life, and there was no need to even know about the existence of other lands.