Etymological of Iberia
Maciej St. Zieba and I got into a discussion of the origins of the words Spain and Iberia. Spain is not so hard to explain is it derives from the Latin Hispania. Iberia is a bit trickier. Here is what Maciej found in his Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of English Language:
Iberii = inhabitants of the peninsular:
Maybe related to Celtic: Iveriuu - old name of Ireland ( gr. 'Iernee > lat. Hibernia)
Maybe related to AArya (noble, hence: Indo-European as opposed to other "barbarian" ) > old Irish: EEriu, and > Perian: Iran (double vowel letters stand for vowel-macron)
Also remember: "Ebro" = in Latin: Iberus (many nationalities' names were derived from topographic names)
take into consideration there were two "Iberia" - one in Spain another one in Georgia (Caucasus)