What does -istan" mean as in Pakistan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan? | Notes and Queries

What does -istan" mean as in Pakistan, Uzbekistan or Afghanistan?

Jackie Rigden, London UK

• It's a suffix that exists is many Indo-European languages - but not English - and means "home" or "place"...the equivalent of the English or German "-land". The Hindi name for England is "Inglistan", but actually in Pakistan the "-stan" comes from "Baluchistan".

  Pete, Brixton

• It's a good acronym, as Pakistan also translates as "Land Of The Spiritually Pure And Clean"

  Rob, Hackney, London 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

• As a geographer with skills in several languages, the occurrence of "istan" in the names of several countries and towns interested me. I learned from one of my linguistic colleagues that "istan" meant "land of." Thus the land of Uzbek was Uzbekistan, of the Tajiks it was Tajikistan and so on. Not so unusual a factor. After all, in the Western world we have England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Greenland Iceland, and in the US there is Maryland.

  Tom Nobel, Washington, DC, USA

• The etymological origins of the suffix "-stan" are in the Sanskrit word "sthan", which means "place". Thus the Sanskrit words "janmsthan" for birthplace or "gautamsthan" which refers to the place of a mythological event in the Ramayana involving the Sage Gautam. The Sanskrit word, there is the cognate "-tun" in Pashto and the "-stan" in Persian. These are both used as a suffix for a place. Thus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan and Balochistan refer to the place of Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Afghans and the Baloch, respectively. Pakistan however is a portmanteau formed by the acronym for the regions of Punjab, (Afghan-inhabited frontier regions, Kashmir and Sindh, along with the Persian suffix "-stan".

  Winthrop S., Oxford, UK

• I wonder if this "-tun" or "-stan" is a cognate with modern English "town."

  Bill, San Diego US

• It may be a place or a house

  Thanya, Tamil Nadu India

• Simple. 'Stan' originates from the Sanskrit 'Sthan' ( ) which means 'place' or 'land'. Example: Uzbekistan means Uzbeki + Sthan. The land of the Uzbeks or Uzbekis.

  Neeta, New Delhi India