A possible etymology for Matri

According to Shmuel 1:10:21, Shaul's family was part of a clan called Matri (Matrites). Curiously, in aggadic descriptions of Shaul's full genealogy all the way to Binyamin, Matar or Matri or Matari or something similar is nowhere to be found (see here). Little is otherwise known about this clan. Ze'ev Erlich thought that the Matrites lived in what is now known as Khirbet Rimnah, as nearby there's a later site called Khirbet al-Matari - evidently preserving the name of the Matrites. Both sites are located in the vicinity of the Gibdeonite cities, and since it's known that Shaul's family came from that region, this suggestion is quite plausible.

The name of the forefather of the family, Matar or Matari or Matri, shares the root of MTR (מט"ר), 'rain' (often referring to abundant rain). However, a few days ago I came across another possibility: This article by Norbert Nebes (p. 19, line 3) mentions that in Ethio-Sabaean, a 1st millennium BCE Semitic language from Ethiopia, there existed a few synonyms for altars, one being MṬR. A T with a dot below is the equivalent of a letter Tet in Hebrew, so the Ethio-Sabaean word would be written in Hebrew as מטר - just like our Matar. Perhaps, then, Matar/Matari/Matri's name had some kind of cultic connotation. This possibility brings to mind the connection between the Gibeonites cities and the Levites: According to Yehoshua 21:17, Giv'on (Gibeon) was given to the Levites as one of their 48 Levitical cities. Giv'on, however, does not appear in the parallel verse in Chronicles 1:6:45, likely indicating that the Levites weren't able to hold on to the city for along, if at all. But the indication of a possible cultic connection between the Matrites and the Levites is curious.