Definition of afghanistan

Definitions

Afghanistan

proper noun

A landlocked country in Central Asia. Official name: Afghanistan. Capital: Kabul. Official languages: Persian (Dari), Pashto.

Translations:

Dutch: Afghanistan
French: Afghanistan
German: Afghanistan
Italian: Afghanistan , Afganistan
Spanish: Afganistí¡n

Etymology: The name Afghan has been synonymous with Pashtun at least since the Islamic period though seventeenth century evidence ((1609): W. Finch, in Purchas, Vol I. 521)) seems to differentiate Awgan (Afghan) from Potan (Pathan). In Pashtun legend, Afghana, son of Qais Abdur Rashid and the supposed eponymous ancestor of the Afghans, is stated to be an early convert to Islam. The name Afghan however, is believed by many modern Indic scholars to have been derived from a Sanskritic term Ashvakan, meaning "horseman" though, some people claim its origin from the Turk , Turkic word "Avagan" (said to mean "Original") or else from the Latin word Alban (said to mean "mountaineers"), as supposed by H. W. Bellew. The suffix stan has the meaning "land" in (Pers.), so that Afghan + stan = Afghanistan, or "land of Afghans" ((FAchar, ÙÙÙ)).See: w:List of country name etymologies, Wikipedia article on Etymology of Afghanistan. Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AfghanistanOrigin_and_history_of_the_name

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