I assume it’s akin to -opolis, but I can’t find it anywhere. Sorry if it’s been addressed alread; couldn’t find it on a search.
It simply means “land” or “nation”. “opolis” generally refers to cities rather than whole areas. Afghanistan = “land of the Afghans”.
Try a google search with “stan suffix meaning”.
Supplement from the AHD:
Iranian -stan, English stand, stay, station (<Latin stare ‘to stand’), Polish stany, Russia starets ‘old’, and Sanskrit sthana in e.g. Rajasthan are all from one and the same Proto-Indo-European root, *sta- ‘to stand’.
Perhaps it refers to the color of desert sand. Pak is tan, Afghan is tan, etc.
Naturally, this is not true, it’s just “Istan” bull.
Ustan corrected.
yabob – where your cite mentions Afghanistan as being the A in Pakistan it seems to be a little confusing. Didn’t the A originally refer to just the North-West (i.e. Afghan) Province, rather than the whole of Afghanistan as we’d find it on a map today?
Probably. It’s just the etymology entry in the dictionary for Pakistan - not terribly detailed.
FYI - India is also known as Hindustan, in case you were wondering why it was left out.
My encyclopedia says Pakistan is “Land of the pure.”
Why is it Afghans not Afghanistanis while it is Pakistanis and not Paks?
It just is.
Nonny “the ever-helpful” Mouse
I believe there is a difference between Afghans and Afghanis these days. Afghanis are citizens of the country known as Afghanistan. As opposed to young Muslim men who fought with the Mujahadin against the Soviets. In that case, there are Filipino Afghans, Palestinian Afghans and even a few American Afghans. This is a new distinction I think as Afghan used to be the name of the citizen.
I think the train running across Australia is called the Ghan. This is in memory of the Afghan camel drivers that the train made redundant.
[sub]That last bit sounds like I made it up doesn’t it?[/sub]e
“-ania”
Markxxx is right - the “Pak” in Pakistan comes from the Urdu word “Pak” meaning “pure”. Thus the word “Pakistan” translates to “land of the pure”. I did hear something about the letters P, A and K vaguely referring to something or the other, but the main reason the “Pak” part of the word was chosen was because of its meaning.
[tangent]
You’re pretty close. The train running across Australia (Sydney or Melbourne to Perth) is the Indian-Pacific. The trip takes about 67 hours straight IIRC.
The Ghan doesn’t exactly span the country; it makes a right turn to head up into the red centre rather than continuing west, but it’s still an epic trip - either Sydney to Adelaide, or Melbourne to Adelaide then on to Alice Springs. Sydney to Alice Springs will take you from 1.10pm Sunday departure to 10.00am Tuesday arrival.
[/tangent]
The ending is also used in some other languages to mean the same thing. Turkish has “Macaristan” meaning Hungary (land of the Magyars), “Mongolistan” for Mongolia and even “Yunanistan” for Greece.
Thanks for answering my question so thoroughly. Interesting stuff.
Deb
“Sthan” means Land in Sanskrit. Thus the name of the Indian state Rajasthan, or “Land of the Kings”.
-Sthan is often used by non-Moslems in place names, whereas the ancient Persian -Stan is used by Moslems (ex: Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc…)
Yes, Hindus are apt to call India by the Persian name given to the land of those who follow Hinduism: “Hindustan”; but “Hindusthan” (note the Sanskrit terminology) is a term coined that describes “akhand Bharat” or “greater India” which includes India, Pak, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Tibet, etc… i.e. the historical land called Bharat (“BH’ar-ut”) by the inhabitants.
The Ghan actually originates in Adelaide. It runs to Alice Springs, and presumably will run to Darwin when the Alice to Darwin link is completed.