# Tjaikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan... suffix -stan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489 "2005-09-13T21:15:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/1 "2005-09-13T21:15:34Z")
In central Asia, naming a country after its people and adding the suffix -stan seems to be legio. Tajikistan Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Waziristan Kyrgyzstan Pakistan and of course Afghanistan I’m sure there are more. There’s obviously a pattern and I doubt all the folks from these countries share a common language, so did colonial powers name them? Or was there another reason? and where does -stan come from, what does it mean? Curious minds in Swedestan wants to know. Especially since “i stan” means “in town” in Swedish. Uncle Scrooge and Donald were always going away on adventures in “Farawayistan” when I was a kid (the golden age of Carl Barks, but I digress). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/2 "2005-09-13T21:24:07Z")
“stan” comes from a Persian word meaning homeland. So Tajikstan is home of the Tajiks, Afghanistan is home of the Afghans, etc. All of those countries were, at some time in their history, heavily influenced by the Persians. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/3 "2005-09-13T21:33:07Z")
Persian “-stan” is also cognate with Sanskrit “sthana”, “place” or “region”, whence Indian names like Rajasthan (“country of the kings”). [Word of the Day: -stan](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000808) > [@](#): > > The suffix -stan is related to English stand, Latin stare, and Greek histánai. > > Words that end in -stan are found in quite a few Indo-European languages, especially the Indo-Iranian branch. This branch includes Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, and other languages of India and Pakistan, as well as Persian, Pashto, Baluchi, Tajik, and Kurdish, languages spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and other parts of Asia. The suffix -stan is also found in some Turkic (non-Indo-European) languages spoken in Europe and Asia, including Turkish, Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kirghiz. That’s why -stan turns up in so many place names in these areas, such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. […] > > The suffix -stan isn’t readily used to form new words in English, though I did find one example in our files. A nerdistan is a suburban community where computer nerds live and work, and where high-tech companies have their offices. [:)] ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/4 "2005-09-13T23:55:03Z")
There’s also maristan, which I’ve seen for madhouse or insane asylum. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/5 "2005-09-14T00:16:13Z")
I want to form Landistan. What?!? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/6 "2005-09-14T00:21:17Z")
In Atlantic City or thereabouts there’s a street called “Plaza Place”. That belongs in your “Landistan”. Maybe in a city called “Villapur” or “Cityville”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/7 "2005-09-14T00:30:13Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > In central Asia, naming a country after its people and adding the suffix -stan seems to be legio. Now that we’ve figured out the 'stans… what is legio? ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/8 "2005-09-14T00:42:45Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > Now that we’ve figured out the 'stans… what is legio? Latin verb legere (to gather) has a form ‘legio’ which became French ‘legion’ and was borrowed to English. And naturally Swedish _stad_ and the form _i stan_ (i staden) have common linguistical roots with Persian 'stans, as this is a very old Indo-European word. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/9 "2005-09-14T00:59:05Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > In Atlantic City or thereabouts there’s a street called “Plaza Place”. That belongs in your “Landistan”. Maybe in a city called “Villapur” or “Cityville”. 🙂 And don’t forget Avenue Road in Toronto. 🙂 A while back, possibly during the Days of Madness of the tech boom, I saw an essay describing net users as inhabitants of “Cyberstan”. It was linked to various proposals for untraceable encrypted electronic money, with the hope that an untaxable net-based economy could somehow arise disconnected from any physical moorings. There is also the acronym UKOGBANI for the Uniked Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This sounds enough like an adjective form–Ukogbani–that there should be a noun form: Ukogbanistan… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/10 "2005-09-14T01:26:28Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > I want to form Landistan. Stanistan! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/11 "2005-09-14T01:53:45Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Stanistan! Kafiristan! [Which is, or was, a real place.](http://www.bartleby.com/65/x-/X-Kafirist.html) Now, if only I can find my contrack. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/12 "2005-09-14T03:17:32Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > There is also the acronym UKOGBANI for the Uniked Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This sounds enough like an adjective form–Ukogbani–that there should be a noun form: Ukogbanistan… 🙂 I coined **Ukogbanistan** in another forum some time ago. Alas that posting where I did it is lost do to ezboard having had much of their archives deleted under circumstances that I forget the details of. For inexplicable reasons, they failed to keep an off-line copy of those archives, so the message is lost forever. ---
**Author:** ![Lynwood\_Slim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Lynwood\_Slim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynwood_Slim)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/13 "2005-09-14T03:20:38Z")
Just for the sake of precision: Pakistan does not fall into this rule so cleanly – Pakistan is not the land of the Pakis, as far as I know. The PAK part is an initialism for Punjab, Afghan and Kashmir. I believe the term was originally Pakstan, a term coined in the 1930’s. It included people from the three aforementioned ethnic groups, as well as others. I think someone tried a back formation saying that Pakistan was the land (stan) of the “pure”, but I have no idea in what language Paki means pure, and when this idea was first floated. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/14 "2005-09-14T03:37:56Z")
> [@Lynwood](#): > > I have no idea in what language Paki means pure “Pak” (pay-alif-kaf) means “pure” or “holy” in Urdu, the language spoken by northern Indian and Pakistani Muslims. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/15 "2005-09-14T03:37:57Z")
_Pak_ means clean or pure in Persian, and in Urdu they tend to use it to mean holy or sacred. The name design was a deliberate acronym, a play on words attributed to an Indian Muslim student at Cambridge in the 1930s. I forgot his name, Muhammad somebody. He suggested Panjab, Afghans, and Kashmir as the source of the acronym or play on words “Pak.” Someone suggested filling out the whole name this way: Panjab, Afghans, Kashmir, Sindh, and the ending from Baluchistan. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/16 "2005-09-14T04:07:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > In Atlantic City or thereabouts there’s a street called “Plaza Place”. That belongs in your “Landistan”. Maybe in a city called “Villapur” or “Cityville”. 🙂 I can beat that. There’s a rise in Britain called Torpenhow Hill. The problem? If you translate it all into English, it means Hillhillhill Hill! Tor, pen and how are all “hill” in, respectively, Old English, Welsh, and Old Norse. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/17 "2005-09-14T06:29:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I can beat that. There’s a rise in Britain called Torpenhow Hill. The problem? If you translate it all into English, it means Hillhillhill Hill! Tor, pen and how are all “hill” in, respectively, Old English, Welsh, and Old Norse. I was going to mention Australia’s **Townsville** , a name so utterly generic-sounding that it was chosen as the deliberately generic setting for the Powerpuff Girls (probably without the creators even knowing such a town actually existed). But I think I’ve been beaten. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/18 "2005-09-14T08:18:07Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > I was going to mention Australia’s **Townsville** , a name so utterly generic-sounding that it was chosen as the deliberately generic setting for the Powerpuff Girls (probably without the creators even knowing such a town actually existed). But I think I’ve been beaten. Except of course that Townsville is named after Sir Robert Town, so it’s not a deliberate tautology. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/19 "2005-09-14T23:26:30Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I coined **Ukogbanistan** in another forum some time ago. Alas that posting where I did it is lost do to ezboard having had much of their archives deleted under circumstances that I forget the details of. For inexplicable reasons, they failed to keep an off-line copy of those archives, so the message is lost forever. If you google Ukogbanistan, you get two sites, one of which is Not Safe For Work (origin of the term ‘cum’ as relates to semen). This is the other one: [hand truck vs dolly](http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm1.showMessage?topicID=12491.topic). In fact, the OP has the same username as you. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489/20 "2005-09-15T00:34:51Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > If you google Ukogbanistan, you get two sites, one of which is Not Safe For Work (origin of the term ‘cum’ as relates to semen). This is the other one: [hand truck vs dolly](http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm1.showMessage?topicID=12491.topic). In fact, the OP has the same username as you. Yes, that’s my post on Dave Wilton’s Wordorigins message board where I used it. But it’s not the post where I coined it, which was also on that board but some time ago (last year, I think). Others have since occasionally used the name on that board, which is what the other Google hit is. Any other uses on that board were lost in the aforementioned archive deletion. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tjaikistan-uzbekistan-kazakhstan-suffix-stan/321489.md?page=2)