CUBA

Rumors say that Columbus's crew included Megrelians. At least one of them was called Eguia, which is both Basque and Megrelian surname. Meanwhile "Cuba" cannot boast of a clear etymology. Cuban linguists have recently begun to doubt the traditional version of the origin of the name from the Taino Indian language, leaning toward the idea that the word "Cuba" was brought by the Spaniards from Spain. Indeed, there are several toponyms named "Cuba" in Spain and Portugal. While Chanturia's dictionary it (კუბა) is present in the meaning of "clod of earth", that is, "land". That's the word that Columbus's Iberian sailors should have shouted when they saw land (Cuba was the first large land on their way). And not at all the Spanish "Tierra!"... Although we also have all the reasons now to think that the island received its Kartvelian name many centuries (actually, several millennia) before Columbus...