The ancient name of Switzerland is "Helvetia". From that it is easy to extract the Kartvelian "Helveti" toponym - "land of helvi or helva". Considering that "H" is silent in Romance languages, we have the right to assume that the root of the toponym is "elvi" or "elva". The latter is present (ელვა) in Georgian dictionaries in the meaning of "lightning", turning Switzerland into the "land of lightnings". How appropriate this name was can be judged by the map of lightning density in Europe between 2006 and 2010. Switzerland indeed is one of the European "capitals" of lightnings.
But we must take into consideration two more interpretations which imply using either ხელუა (helua) or ხელვა (helva) as the root. The former means "handicraft" in Georgian, while the latter means "tilling/tending vines" or "kneading".
0 Comments