PECHENEGS

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-959) tells a lot about the native Ukrainians - the Pechenegs. Many interesting conclusions could have been made, if the famous Turkologist Baskakov had not interfered with his turkisms. However, everyone has the right to have their own opinion.

As you remember, one of the Pecheneg clans was called "Kankali", which is translated from Georgian as "to wander". The Pechenegs wandered through the extremely Kartvelian-speaking Ukrainian land. On the right bank of the Dnieper, exactly where the tribe of Tivertsi (more precisely, "the Ivertsi") lived, Porphyrogenitus places a whole heap of Pecheneg fortresses with their own names. And here Baskakov intervenes with his Turkic interpretation, insisting that all the names contain the Turkic word "katai" - "fortress", "fortification":

Tungati - Tun-Katay (peaceful fortress) Kraknakati - Karak-Katay (guard fortress) Salmakati - Salma-Katay (patrol fortress) Sakakati - Saka-Katay (fortress on piles) Gieukati - Iayu-Katay (military fortress)

Everyone refers to Baskakov's book "Turkic Languages", which I did not find. But I found the Turkish-Russian Dictionary of the same Baskakov from 1977, where there is no "katai", but only "kat" meaning "to make harder". Everyone can check for themselves. There is nothing similar in the Turkmen-Russian Dictionary, which he had compiled ten years earlier. I did not find the Turkic word "katai" anywhere. Actually, Baskakov himself says that the word was borrowed by the Turks from the Persians. But the Persians do not have such a word either. Not in online sources, not in Rubinchik's Persian-Russian Dictionary, not in the Etymological Dictionary of Turkic Languages.

So, we have the right to assume that Baskakov invented the Turkic word "katai" meaning "fortress". If so, then nothing prevents us from looking at the names of the Pecheneg fortresses from the Georgian angle. We will see that the names do not contain any root "katai", but contain the Megrelian toponymic ending "ati" (analogous to the Georgian "-eti", as in Kakheti, Imereti, etc.):

- Tungati - თუნგათი (Tungati). თუნგი (tungi) is a wine flask. Thus, "Tungati" is "a place of wine flasks" or more simply "a place of wine"; - Kraknakaty - კრაკნაკათი (Kraknakati). We have already seen the Georgian word "krko" meaning "acorn", which corresponds to the Old Slavonic word "krak" meaning "oak". If "kraki" once meant "oak" in Georgian, then "krakni" is "oaks" in Old Georgian, since "n" is an Old Georgian plural suffix. And the suffix "-ak", as already mentioned, is a variety of the Scythian (Ossetian) adjective suffix "-ag". We have seen it in the words "akinak", "patsinak", etc. If so, then "kraknak" is "oak", and "Kraknakati" is "the country of oak (forests)"; - Salmakaty - სალმაკათი (Salmakati). Here, the repeatedly mentioned tautological toponymic construction "SA + <root> + AT" with the root "almak" may take place. Taking into account the legitimate alternation of "-ak" and "-ag", this could be the Georgian word ალმაგი (almagi) - "chain mail". "Salmakati/Salmagat" is thus the "country of chain mail"; - Sakakaty - საკაკათი (Sakakati). There are various possible interpretations here. The simplest one is "the country of Akaki", where "Akaki" (აკაკი) is the Caucasian hackberry (Celtis caucasica), a plant from the hemp-like family with edible fruits. It could also be the "country of Sakaki", where "Sakaki" is a Scythian adjective from the root "saki". This was the name of one of the Scythian tribes;- Gieucati - Yeyucati. There are no options here yet. Unless you pay attention to the fact that in Greek the name is read differently than it is given in the translation of Porphyrogenitus' work.

And never forget that "-ak" is also the Basque basic plural suffix, found in huge quantities all over the world.