What does -istan" mean as in Pakistan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan? | Not... https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-21211,00.

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SEMANTIC ENIGMAS
Categories
Nooks and crannies What does -istan" mean as in Pakistan, Uzbekistan or
Yesteryear
Afghanistan?
Semantic enigmas Jackie Rigden, London UK
The body beautiful
Red tape, white lies It's a suffix that exists is many Indo-European languages - but
Speculative science
not English - and means "home" or "place"...the equivalent of the
English or German "-land". The Hindi name for England is
This sceptred isle
"Inglistan", but actually in Pakistan the "-stan" comes from
Root of all evil "Baluchistan".
Ethical conundrums
This sporting life Pete, Brixton
Stage and screen
The suffix means "land of" a particular people or tribe or national
Birds and the bees group.

Robert del Valle, Detroit USA

Pakistan is an acronym, for Punjab, Afghan (the North-West

frontier region), Kashmir, Indus (some say it's for Islam) and
Sind. The "Tan" is said to represent Baluchistan.

John, Wellington, New Zealand

It's a good acronym, as Pakistan also translates as "Land Of The

Spiritually Pure And Clean"

Rob, Hackney, London UK

The word Stan just means country, although I have a feeling that
one of the countries in Asia ends with the spelling Sthan,
pronounced the same with the letter H silent although I am not
sure which one.

George Handley, Nottingham UK

Sthan in sanskrit literally means 'place'. Surely some of the

languages spoken in the Asian subcontinent have words that are
similar to sanskrit.

Patricia, Guildford UK

-istan is a suffix in the Persian language (Farsi), denoting a

place. Thus, Pakistan means place of the pure (pak=pure). It
does not just refer to geographical areas, as in bimarestan=place
of the sick=hospital. The suffix is widespread in Eurasia because
of Persian influence (the Mughals of India for example used
Farsi). The point made above about Sanskrit is relevant also,
since this word is an ancestor of the Farsi suffix. If you remember
that Hindi, many Indian languages as well as Farsi have a
common ancestor in Sanskrit, it is not surprising that this word in
various forms pops up a lot in the region.

David Shariatmadari, London UK

Sthan/Stan is a very common root in Indo-European languages.

Even in English, the words Stationary, State, and Standard are
derivatives of the Stan root. Usually the country's name is formed
by adding the nation's name (ie. Uzbekh, Tajik), adding an
appropriate connector (i, a, u) and then adding stan. As for India,
known as Hindustan, it is based on "religion" rather than
ethnicity, and for Pakistan, it is based on the Urdu word Pak
(Pure). There is a common hoax going around concerning an
acronymic origin of Pakistan. Recent scholarship has shown that
this was first recorded after the creation of Pakistan (plus, no part
of the acronym includes Bengal which was originally part of

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