Some observations on the origin of the Iori-Alazani river basin Toponymics

Abstract

The place names of the Iori–Alazani interfluve attracted the attention of scholars from the very beginning of Caucasology as a field of study. One of the first researchers to focus on this issue was the German scholar Johann Reineggs, who spent a certain period at the court of King Erekle II, where he studied local customs and culture. He believed that the name of the Alazani River derived from a tribal name (that of the Caucasian Albanians) and, accordingly, considered the Alazani Valley to have belonged to Albania in the past.