SMYRNA

As is well known, the Turkish city of Izmir was previously called Smyrna. What language did its inhabitants speak?

The famous sailors from neighboring Phocaea, as Herodotus tells us in detail, set out for distant Tartessos beyond the Strait of Gibraltar in the incomprehensible hope of receiving help from the local king there, and they received it!

To count on such help, you must at least be sure that in Iberian Tartessos you will simply be understood. But the Phocians not only knew that they would be understood, they knew that they would be helped...

First, the word "Σμύρνα" must be read correctly. Based on the true sound of the ancient Greek upsilon, the name should be read as "Smurna". Then you should pay attention to the alternative spelling of the name - "Σμύρνη" - [smurni].

It is worth remembering that the suffix "-n", as in many other world toponyms, may be an Old Kartvelian plural formant. If so, the root in the singular will be "smuri". In Georgian dictionaries, this word exists in the meaning of "toast" and is close to the cognate "mosmuri" - "wine drinking". Technically, the word "smuri" is an adjective, formed from the masdar "sma", meaning "drinking". To show that the word "smuri" is used in the plural in modern Georgian, we will quote from Grigol Robakidze's "Snake Skin":

"...სმურები და ყველგან სახელი - "ფერგჲუს ურვოორ"...".

If there is a word "smurebi" in modern Georgian, then there was also a word "smurni" in Old Kartvelian. But how can a city be called "toasts" or "binge"?

The fact is that Smyrna, together with neighboring Lesbos and Ikaria, is considered the cradle of the legendary Greek wine "pramnios". So, the word "binge" may well be associated with Smyrna, where the best Greek wine was produced (and drunk en masse). It is also worth keeping in mind that the etymology of neighboring Troy may also be related to drinking, since "troba" (თრობა) in Georgian means "to get drunk". Perhaps the etymology of Byzantium is also related to the word "buza" - "wine drink".

Of particular interest is the comparison of the name of the city to the Russian word "smurnoy", meaning "drunk", "in a hangover": «...смурные со сна и после пьянки ремонтники...». «...(разг. о человеке) печальный, грустный; хмурый, мрачный...»