While trying to sleep perusing Reddit last night, I found a question that I frequently wondered about on the Explain It Like I’m Five subreddit.

“Why do so many countries end with -stan?”

I found the answer pretty intriguing, as I’m a bit of a language/etymology dork.  Do bear in mind this information comes from the internet, but it seems pretty legit to me, being the bit of a language/etymology dork that I am.

In Persian the word “stan” means “land”.  So let’s take Uzbekistan as an example, it would translate to “Land of the Uzbeks” which makes sense because the Uzbeks are a large people group who settled in that area.  Tajikistan similarly translates to “Land of the Tajiks”, etc.

An interesting one is Pakistan, as there is no people group called the Paks.  It turns out it’s an acronym of sorts.  There are regions in Pakistan corresponding to the ancient tribes who settled in the area.  Among them are Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Balochistan.  Slap all of that together and you get Pakistan!  Also, “pak” in Urdu means “pure” so another meaning of the country’s name could mean “Pure Land”.

But wait, isn’t that similar to Europe?

Actually yes!  Eng-land, Fin-land, Deutsch-land are examples of the same concept.  But the interesting part is looking at what those countries are called in Persian.  England, for example, is called “Engelestan”.

 

Just a little Thursday morning etymology trivia for everyone!

Get the latest updates daily!

You have Successfully Subscribed!