Y’know, Afganistan, Pakistan, Istanbul, etc.
Search for ‘stan’, ‘istan’. I believe it’s “home of”.
I just heard this reported on NPR the other day…
Actually it is what stan means (not istan).
Stan means ‘land of’ so Afghanistan means Land of Afghan. Uzbekistan means Land of Uzbek (and so on). However, I don’t know if the ‘Istan’ in Istanbul follows the same rule or has some other meaning.
OK, but in what language? And why do so many countries use the same ending when they all have different languages? Or is it only in English that all these countries end in “stan”? (Couldn’t find the link mentioned - anyone else find it?)
For the record, I did a search before posting but found nothing.
Since this has been discussed so recently, I’ll close this thread and direct any remaining comments on the subject to the earlier thread, What does -istan mean?
bibliophage
moderator GQ