-stan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The suffix -stan (Persian: ـستان‎ -stān) is Persian for "place of"[1] or "country".[2]

The suffix also appears in the names of many regions, especially in Central and South Asia, areas where ancient Indo-Iranian peoples were established; in Indo-Iranian, however, it is also used more generally, as in Persian and Urdu rigestân (ریگستان) "place of sand, desert", Pakistan "land of the pure" and golestan (گلستان) "place of flowers, garden", Hindi devasthan ("place of devas, temple"), etc.

The suffix, originally an independent noun, but evolving into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds, is of Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European origin: It is cognate with Sanskrit sthā́na (Devanagari: स्थान) – pronounced [st̪ʰaːna] – meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location", and ultimately descends from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sthāna-.

The Proto-Indo-European root from which this noun is derived is *steh₂- (older reconstruction *stā-) "to stand" (or "to stand up, to step (somewhere), to position (oneself)"), which is also the source of English to stand, Latin stāre, and Greek histasthai (ἵστασθαι), all meaning "to stand", as well as Pashto تون (tun, "habitat" or "homeland") and Russian стан (stan, meaning "settlement" or "semi-permanent camp"). In Polish, stan means "state" or "condition", while in Macedonian, Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian it translates as "apartment" in its modern usage, while its original meaning was "habitat". In Czech and Slovak languages, it means "tent" or, in military terms, "headquarters". Also in Germanic languages, the root can be found in Stand ("place, location"), and in Stadt (German), stad/sted (Dutch/Scandinavian), stêd (West Frisian) and stead (English), all meaning either "place" or "city". The suffix -stan is analogous to the suffix -land, present in many country and location names.

Countries

Native names

Sub-national units

Iran

Pakistan

Russia

Others

Cities and counties

Iran

Others

Regions

Proposed names

Fictional

Other

  • Absurdistan – sometimes used to satirically describe a country where everything goes wrong
  • Bimaristan – a kind of hospital in medieval Persia and the medieval Islamic world
  • Bradistan – a moniker for Bradford, England, owing to its large population of Pakistani worker migrants
  • Dondestan – an album by Robert Wyatt. Sounds like ¿Dónde están? (Where are they?) in Spanish.
  • Filmistan – a film-production company
  • Gazimestan – name of a monument commemorating the historical Battle of Kosovo
  • Hamastan – a concept of a Palestinian Islamic government with Sharia as law
  • Iranistan – a pseudo-orientalist mansion built for P. T. Barnum in 1848 in Connecticut
  • Islamistan – means 'Land of Islam', used in various contexts
  • Londonistan – French counter-terrorism agents gave the British/English capital of London this sobriquet. Sometimes used derogatorily to refer to the large immigrant population in the city of London.
  • Muristan – a complex of streets and shops in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem
  • New Yorkistan – the title of the cover art for the December 10, 2001 edition of The New Yorker magazine
  • Paganistan – the pagan/neo-pagan community of Minneapolis-Saint Paul in Minnesota[6]
  • Registan – a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Samarkand, Uzbekistan
  • Sarvestan – a Sassanid-era palace in the Iranian province of Sarvestan, Iran
  • Shabestan – an underground space, usually found in traditional architecture of mosques, houses, and schools in ancient Persia
  • Shahrestan (several meanings)
  • Skateistan – a skateboarding/educational organization based in Kabul, Afghanistan

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, Bridget. "'Stan Countries – What the Suffix 'Stan' Means". About.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-30. Retrieved October 9, 2012. 
  2. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "-stan". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved January 18, 2013. 
  3. ↑ Jewistan: Finally Recognizing Israel as the Jewish State, Abstract, Connections@Illinois (University of Illinois)
  4. ↑ Jewistan: Finally Recognizing Israel as the Jewish State by Francis A Boyle, Atlantic Free Press, October 21, 2010.
  5. ↑ Francis Boyle, The Palestinian Right of Return under International Law, Clarity Press, 2011. Chapter 3.5 "The State of the Jews—Jewistan!" and The Palestinian Right of Return Under International Law at Google Books.
  6. ↑ Pizza, Murphy (2009). "Schism as midwife: how conflict aided the birth of a contemporary Pagan community". In Lewis, James R.; Lewis, Sarah M. Sacred schisms: how religions divide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 249–261. ISBN 978-0-511-58071-0. Retrieved May 25, 2011. "[...] the Pagan community of the Minnesota Twin Cities, otherwise known by members as 'Paganistan.' 'Paganistan' is the nickname, and now proud moniker of self-identification, of the uniquely innovative, eclectic, and feisty Neopagan community of the Twin Cities Metro area of Minnesota." 

External links

Look up -stan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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