MACUREBII

The Makurebi tribe inland from the present-day Tunisian coast is mentioned by both Pliny and Ptolemy. The word "makurebi" is, firstly, a remarkable Kartvelian construction "ma + kur + eb + i", where "ma-" is a personifying prefix, "kur-" is a root denoting "ear" (ყური) or "to watch" (ყურება), "-eb" is a plural suffix and "-i" is the ending of the nominative case. And second, this word is present in its entirety in the adjective "makurebeli" (მაყურებელი) from Chanturia's dictionary, which is translated as "audience", "testimony", which has a direct relation to ears. From this we conclude that the tribe received its name for its special ears or ability to hear.