TIBARENI

The semi-mystical Tibareni, like the Laz and Chalybes, inhabitants of ancient Anatolia, are sometimes identified with Tabal (Tubal), an ancient state on the Anatolian-Syrian border. The Georgian name for the Tibareni is "ტიბერია" [tiberia]. Since we determined in the article about the Teukroi that "თე" [te] is a Zan demonstrative pronoun (i.e., a definite article), all Kartvelian toponyms beginning with "t(e)-" can rightfully be interpreted as containing an article. Accordingly, the root will be another part of the word, previously not considered as one. Thus, "tibareni"/"tiberia" now represents a combination of "te-ibareni" and "te-iberia". The root is now "iber", adding the Tibareni to the list of "Iberian" toponyms.

Since a more or less precise geographical reference of the Tibareni can only be related to Tubal, we can see that our interpretation of the root "ibar" as "valley" fits this area perfectly: Tubal lies in the valleys of two rivers - Seyhan and Goksu.

Also, the "-ena" ending in "Tibarena", which is hugely popular on the ancient maps of the region, has two Kartvelian meanings: (1) "language" in Georgian, and (2) diminutive suffix in Laz.