Afghan (name)

The ethnonym Afghan (Pashto: ) has been used historically to refer to the Pashtuns. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term "Afghan" evolved into a demonym for all residents of Afghanistan, including those outside of the Pashtun ethnicity.

Mentions

The earliest mention of the name ''Afghan'' (''Abgân'') is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE. In the 4th century, the word "Afghans/Afghana" (αβγανανο) was used in reference to a particular people as mentioned in the Bactrian documents.

The name of the ''Aśvakan'' or ''Assakan'' has been preserved in that of the modern Pashtun, with the name Afghan being derived from Asvakan.Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol I, fn 6; also Vol II, p 129, et al.Etude Sur la Geog Grecque & c, pp 39-47, M. V. de Saint Martin.The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83, Élisée Reclus - Geography.''"Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks; this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning 'horsemen' " '' (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).

The term "Afghan" is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of ''"Avagāṇa"'' ��वगाणby the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.

The word Afghan also appeared in the 982 Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where a reference is made to the village of Saul, which was estimated to be located near Gardez, in the Paktia province of Afghanistan.

Hudud al-'Alam also speaks of a king in Ninhar ( Nangarhar), who had Muslim, ''Afghan'' and Hindu wives.

In the 11th century, Afghans are mentioned in al-Biruni's ''Tarikh-ul Hind'' ("History of the Indus"), which describes groups of rebellious Afghans in the tribal lands west of the Indus River in what is now known as Pakistan.

Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler. In his '' Tarikh-i Yamini'' records that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern Ghilji) living between Laghman and Peshawar enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated.

Al-Utbi further states that Afghans and Ghiljis made up a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi's army and were sent on his expedition to Tokharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi. It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the Ghurid Kingdom (1148–1215). By the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290, Afghans have been well known in northern India.

Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan traveler, visiting Afghanistan following the era of the Khilji dynasty in 1333 writes.A 16th-century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent states:

The coined term of Afghanistan came into place in 1855, officially recognized by the British during the reign of Dost Mohammad Khan.

Etymology

Some scholars suggest that the word "Afghan" is derived from the words ''awajan/apajan'' in Avestan and ''ava-Han/apa-Han'' in Sanskrit, which means "killing, striking, throwing and resisting, or defending." Under the Sasanians, and possibly the Parthian Empire, the word was used to refer to men of a certain Persian sect.

Another view is that the name ''Afghan'' evidently derives from the word ''Aśvakan'' which means "horsemen", "horse breeders", or "cavalrymen" (from ''aśva'' or ''aspa'', the Sanskrit and Avestan words for "horse"), or the Assakenoi of Arrian, which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush. This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen, J. W. McCrindle,''"The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... "'' (Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180. See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J. W. McCrindle). M. V. de Saint Martin, and É. Reclus,''"Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses"'' (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).cf: ''"Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the Sanskrit, ''Asva'', or ''Asvaka'', a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "''(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society).Cf: ''"The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a ''cavalier'', and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander" '' (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).

The Indian epic Mahabharata speaks about Kambojas among the finest horsemen, and ancient Pali texts describe their lands as the ''land of horses''. Kambojas spoke a language close to Younger Avestan and followed Zoroastrianism. Some scholars believe Zoroastrianism originated in the land of Kambojas.

Afghanistan

The last part of the name '' -stān'' is a Persian suffix for "place of". The Pashto translation of is prominent in many languages of Asia. The name ''Afghanistan'' is mentioned in writing by the 16th century Mughal ruler Babur and his descendants, referring to the territory between Khorasan, Kabulistan, and the Indus River, which was inhabited by tribes of Afghans.

The name "Afghanistan" is also mentioned in the writings of the 16th-century historian Ferishta:

Regarding the modern state of ''Afghanistan'', the '' Encyclopædia of Islam'' explains:

Historical and obsolete suggestions

There are a number of other hypotheses suggested for the name historically, all of them obsolete.
* The ''" Maḫzan-e Afġān"'' by Nimat Allah al-Harawi, written in 1612 at the Mughal court, traces the name ''Afghan'' to an eponymous ancestor, an ''Afghana'', identified as a grandson of Saul. Afghana was supposedly a son of Irmia (Jeremia), who was in turn a son of Saul (''Talut''). Afghana was orphaned at a young age, and brought up by David. When Solomon became king, Afghana was promoted as the commander-in-chief of the army. Neither Afghana nor Jeremia son of Saul figure in the Hebrew Bible, the king of Babil, attacked the Kingdom of Judah and exiled the descendants of Afghana, some of whom went to the mountains of Ghor in present-day Afghanistan and some to the neighborhood of Mecca in Arabia. Until the time of Muhammad, the deported Children of Israel of the east continually increased in number in the countries around Ghor which included Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni and made wars with the infidels around them. Khalid bin Walid is said to belong to the tribe of descendants of Afghana in the neighborhood of Mecca, although actually he was from the tribe of Quraysh. After conversion to Islam, Khalid invited his kinsmen, the Children of Israel of Ghor, to Islam. A deputation led by Qais proceeded to Medina to meet Muhammad and embraced Islam. Muhammad lavished blessings on them, and gave the name ''Abdur Rashid'' to Qais, who returned to Ghor successfully to propagate Islam. Qais had three sons, Sarban, Bettan and Ghourghusht, who are progenitors of the various Pashtun tribes.
* Samuel G. Benjamin (1887) derived the name Afghan from a term for 'wailing', which the Persians are said to have contemptuously used for their plaintive eastern neighbors.
* H. W. Bellew, in his 1891 ''An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan'', believes that the name ''Afghan'' comes from ''Alban'' which derives from the Latin term ''albus'', meaning "white", or "mountain", as mountains are often white-capped with snow (''cf.'' Alps); 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 eastern highlanders or "mountaineers".
* Michanovsky suggests the name ''Afghan'' derives from Sanskrit ''Avagana'', which in turn derives from the ancient Sumerian word for Badakhshan - ''Ab-bar-Gan'', or "high country".
* Scholars such as Yu Gankovsky have attempted to link "Afghan" to an Uzbek word "''Avagan''" said to mean "original".Gankovsky, Yu. V., et al. "A History of Afghanistan." Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1982. 8vo. Cloth. 359 p. USD 22.50

See also

* List of country name etymologies
* Name of Afghanistan

References

Further reading

Biases and Controversies around the word "Afghan
– Nasimfekrat.com
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{{Asia topic, Name of

History of Afghanistan
Ethnonyms
Country name etymology
Pashto words and phrases
English words

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