ცხინვალი

Etymology
First attested in the 14th century.

From, from , from + , ultimately from.

The earliest form was probably,. In the 15th century it developed into (the  →  development is regular in Middle Georgian). Due to metathesis of the consonants and due to natural in the language, the first two consonants of the root ( and ) were lost, while  was replaced with the more convenient  (and vice versa. The same development is seen in Old Georgian  → ).

In all forms of the term the root is (or later ), suffixed with, where  is lost due to phonetic contraction. Old Georgian (modern ) was the name of a certain type of an endemic tree (of genus ) commonly found in this region. Thus, the literal meaning of the toponym can be viewed as "the land of hornbeams".