# "Dual" Taliban? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066 "2001-10-12T15:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wozzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@Wozzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wozzo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066/1 "2001-10-12T15:32:04Z")
With all the current…uh…excitement in the world, I did what I usually do: I went to the library. Along with a big stack of books, I also brought home some Arabic language tapes. (I love studying languages.) Thus I found out that the word “Taliban” means not simply “students,” as we non-Arabic-speakers know from the media, but specifically “two students.” It’s a plural form not found in English, French, German, etc. - a “dual” form (used as we might say, “Hey, you two,” rather than “Hey, you” or “Hey, y’all”). So: Who might those “two students” be? An original pair of scholars, or what? My big stack of books yields no clue, but I trust the SDMB to enlighten me. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066/2 "2001-10-12T16:24:49Z")
A “behind the news” piece on CNN said that the Taliban was originally started as a vigilante squad to avenge the rape and murder of two female students. Perhaps that’s the origin of the name, but I can’t find a corroborating cite. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066/3 "2001-10-12T19:04:04Z")
**Wozzo** , you gots a case of (_tuffah wa-burtuqal_) apples and oranges here. In Arabic, _-an_ is a dual suffix. But in Persian, _-an_ is a plural suffix. It’s the Persian that applies here; they speak Persian in Afghanistan, not Arabic. There are, unfortunately, more than just two of those creeps. ---
**Author:** ![Wozzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@Wozzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wozzo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066/4 "2001-10-16T13:30:32Z")
Thank you, JM. I figured that out over the weekend. Boy, is my face red - just like an apple that is not an orange. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dual-taliban/87066/5 "2001-10-16T15:01:17Z")
This case is closed.