Ancient Telmessos in the south of modern Turkey can be written as "Telmeti", "the land of telmi", if we take into account the identity of the endings "-essos"/"-eti". The root "telmi" in pure form does not exist in the Kartvelian languages, but this root is definitely present in the word "telmuzi" (თელმუზი) in Chubinashvili's dictionary, meaning "raw cheese". The meaning is unexpectedly supported by the toponym Dalmatia, which in the corresponding article of this book is interpreted from the Kartvelian point of view as "Del(a)mati" - "the land of deeds", where "delami" is precisely "raw cheese" in Chanturia's dictionary.
Another equally legitimate interpretation implies the morpheme "telm-" being "telami", a Megrelian adjective formed out of "tela" - "elm". The toponym in such case would be exactly "Tel(a)meti". Compare to Telavi.
0 Comments