HEVSURETI

If the name of the charming Georgian province is a combination of two roots "hevi" and "sureti", then Khevsureti becomes "Mountain Syria", since "khevi" (ხევი) in Georgian is "mountain gorge", and "Sureti" is "land of the suri", i.e., Syria.

The Syrians themselves call their country "Suria", not "Syria". The name also fell victim to the upsilon problem.

This story is of additional interest in the sense that the inhabitants of the very Kartvelian Cappadocia in the time of Herodotus were called "white Syrians". We also should remember the main city of the Indian Georgians in Gujarat - Surat. The root "suri" means "herd, flock"" in Laz.

But we should take into account that "hevsi" ("hevsuri" as adjective) means "porridge" in Georgian and could have led to the formation of the toponym.