Origins Of The Name Afghanistan

The origins and history of the name Afghanistan remain unclear, but there are numerous views regarding the origin of name ''Afghan'', most of them being purely speculative as can be seen below:

Makhzan-i-Afghni by Nematullah, written in 1612 CE, traces the Afghan or Pakhtun origin from Abraham down to one named King Talut or Saul . It states that Saul had a son Irmia (Jeremia), who had a son called Afghana. Upon the death of King Saul, Afghana was raised by David, and was later promoted to the chief command of the army during the reign of King Solomon . The progeny of this Afghana multiplied numerously, and came to be called ''Bani-Israel''. In the sixth century BCE, Bakhtunnasar, or Nebuchadnezzar king of Babil , attacked Judah and exiled the progeny of Afghana to Ghor located in the center of what is now Afghanistan. In course of time, the exiled community came to be addressed as ''Afghan'' after the name of their ancestor, and the country got its name as Afghanistan. This traditional view has some critics who refer to insufficient historical records.

Another version of Pashtun legend places Afghana, the professed eponymous ancestor of the Afghans or Pushtun s, as a contemporary of Muslim Prophet Mohammad . On hearing about the new faith of Islam, Qais from Aryana travelled to Medina to see the Muslim Prophet Muhammad , and returned to Aryana as a Muslim. Qais Abdur Rashid purportedly had many sons, one of whom was Afghana. Afghana, in turn, had four sons who set out to the east to establish their separate lineages. The first son went to Swat , the second to Lahore and India , the third to Multan , and the last one to Quetta . This legend is one of many traditional tales amongst the Pashtuns regarding their disparate origins. Again, it was this legendary Afghana who is stated to have given the Pushtuns their current name. It is notable that the Afghan of this legend is separated from the Afghana of Solomon 's times by at least 11 centuries.
Dr H.W. Bellew, in his book ''An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan'', believes that the name ''Afghan'' derives from the Latin term ''Alban'', used by Armenians as ''Alvan'' or ''Alwan'', which refers to mountaineers, and in the case of transliterated Armenian characters, would be pronounced as '' Aghvan '' or ''Aghwan''. To the Persians , this would further be altered to ''Aoghan'', ''Avghan'', and ''Afghan'' as a reference to the highlanders or "mountaineers" of the eastern Iranian Plateau .

Some people hold that the name derives from "Abagan" (i.e without God) which term the Persians are stated to have coined for the Pashtun s to describe them as ''Godless or non-believers''. It is claimed that word ''Abagan'' is antonym of the word Bagan (=believer in God) just as word apolitical is Antonym of political in the English language.

There are also a few people who link "Afghan" to an Uzbek word "''Avagan''" said to mean "original". Still others believe that the name derives from Sanskrit ''upa-ganah'', said to mean "allied tribes".

Another etymological view is that the name ''Afghan'' evidently derives from Sanskrit Ashvaka or Ashvakan (q.v), the Assakenoi of Arrian . This view was propounded by J. W. McCrindle and is supported by numerous modern scholars (including C. Lassen, S. Martin, Bishop, Crooks, W. Crooke, J. C. Vidyalnar, M. R. Singh, P. Smith, N. L. Dey, Dr J. L. Kamboj, S. Kirpal Singh and several others). In Sanskrit, word ''ashva'' ( Iranian ''aspa'', Prakrit ''assa'') means "horse", and ''ashvaka'' (Prakrit ''assaka'') means "horseman". Pre-Christian times knew the people of eastern Afghanistan as ''Ashvakas'' ( Horsemen ), since they raised a fine breed of horses and had a reputation for providing expert Cavalrymen . The fifth-century-BCE India n grammarian Panini calls them ''Ashvayana'' and ''Ashvakayana''. Classical writers use the respective equivalents ''Aspasios'' (or Aspasii, Hippasii) and ''Assakenois'' (or Assaceni/Assacani, Asscenus). The Aspasios/Assakenois (= Ashvakas = cavalrymen) is stated to be another name for the Kambojas because of their Equestrian characteristics (see List Of Country Name Etymologies ).

Before being called 'Afghanistan', the region had gone through several name changes in its long history of around 5000 years. One of the most ancient names, according to historians and scholars, was ''Ariana'' - the Greek pronunciation of the ancient Avestan ''Aryanam Vaeja'' or the Sanskrit "Aryavarta", ''Land of the Aryans ''. Today this Old-Persian, and Avestan expression is preserved in the name '' Iran '' and it is noted in the name of the Afghan national airline, '' Ariana Airlines ''. The term 'Ariana Afghanistan' is still popular amongst Persian speakers in the country.

Many centuries later, Afghanistan was part of Greater Khorasan , and hence was recognized with the name Khorasan (along with regions centered around Merv and Neishabur ), which in Pahlavi means "The Land of the Rising Sun" (خاور زمین in Persian). ''( Dehkhoda , p8457)''

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Origins Of The Name Afghanistan