Where did the suffix "-at" come from in this toponym? Isn't this a Kartvelian construction "land of the emir"? By analogy with "sultanate", "caliphate", "rabbinate", etc.
The official etymology insists, that the toponym has an Italian ending "-ato". But this is the ending of a passive adverbial participle, derived from a verb. While "emir" is a noun. And there is no such Italian verb "emire". Thus, from now on the word "emirate" (and similar ones) has only one etymology, and it's Kartvelian.
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