TARTESSOS

One of history’s greatest enigmas, which has perplexed researchers for over 2,500 years, may finally have been unraveled: the mysterious Tartessos, a toponym associated with the Iberian lands beyond the Strait of Gibraltar in modern-day Spain. Historians have long debated whether Tartessos referred to a city, a country, or a local tribe. A step-by-step etymological and historical analysis offers a compelling resolution to this age-old mystery.

1. Greek Consonant Alternation: A well-documented feature of ancient Greek dialects involves the alternation between t and s. In pairs such as tettara/tessara ("four"), thalatta/thalassa ("sea"), and glotta/glossa ("tongue"), the Dorian and Attic dialects favor t, while the Ionian and Aeolian dialects use s. This pattern, explored extensively in prior discussions, allows us to reconsider the second s in Tartessos.
2. Reconstructing the Toponym: Applying this alternation, Tartessos can be rewritten as Tartet-, which aligns with the Kartvelian toponymic structure Tarteti, meaning "the country of tarti." This form mirrors the names of Georgian regions such as Kakheti, Imereti, Tusheti, and Khevsureti, all of which use the suffix -eti to denote a land or region.
3. The Meaning of Tarteti: In Chubinashvili’s dictionary, the Kartvelian word tarti refers to the "stellate sturgeon." Thus, Tarteti translates to "the country of sturgeon." This interpretation is historically substantiated by the ancient Greek comedian Antiphanes, who, in the 4th century BCE, described preserved sturgeon salads in Cádiz, a city near the Guadalquivir River. More recently, a 2012 article by José Cano in El Mundo reported the return of sturgeon to the Guadalquivir after 3,000 years, a phenomenon the author of this text personally confirmed with fishermen in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It is precisely at this location, where the Guadalquivir meets the Atlantic Ocean, that Tartessos is believed to have been situated.

This analysis extends to the name of the legendary Tartessian king Argantonios, whom Herodotus credits with offering refuge to the Phocians. Stripped of its Greek ending, the name becomes Argantoni, revealing the Kartvelian adjectival suffix -oni, as seen in Georgian names like Bagrationi. The absence of an -i before the suffix is not unusual, as Svan and Zan dialects of the Kartvelian family often omit this vowel in nominative forms, unlike standard Georgian. The stem Argant- can thus be interpreted as Arganeti, meaning "land of the Argans." The use of the -oni suffix with -eti toponyms is also attested, as seen in the name of the association Kakhetioni, derived from Kakheti.

The root argan- likely refers to the argan tree (Argania spinosa), a species native to North Africa whose oil was highly prized in antiquity. Today, the argan tree grows in Morocco and Algeria, directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Tartessos. This proximity suggests that Argantonios—or the cultural influences associated with his name—may have originated on the North African coast, a region that, in ancient times, may also have been home to Kartvelian-speaking peoples. Alternatively, the argan tree could have been cultivated on the Iberian side of the strait during Tartessian times, further linking the two regions.

The Kartvelian etymology of Tartessos as "the country of sturgeon" and Argantonios as potentially tied to the "land of the Argans" not only resolves a long-standing historical mystery but also underscores the profound Kartvelian linguistic influence in the ancient Mediterranean, bridging the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa through shared cultural and environmental heritage.