-stan "koborsthan" ( "") "graveyard/cemetery", known as "Qabaristan" as (). Originally an independent noun, this morpheme evolved into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds. It is of Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European origin: It is cognate with Sanskrit "" (Devanagari: ), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location; abode, dwelling", and ultimately descends from Proto-Indo-Iranian . The Proto-Indo-European root from which this noun is derived is (older reconstruction ) "to stand" (or "to stand up, to step (somewhere), to position (oneself)"), which is also the source of
Asha ("haiθiia-"), "true", the opposite of which is also "druj-". Avestan "haithya-" derives from Indo-Iranian "*sātya" that in turn derives from Indo-European "*sat-" "being, existing". The Sanskrit cognate "sátya-" means "true" in the sense of "really existing." This meaning is also preserved in Avestan, for instance in the expression "haiθīm var"ə"z", "to make true" as in "to bring to realization." Another meaning of "reality" may be inferred from the component parts of the "aša/arta": from (root) "ŗ" with a substantivizing "-ta" suffix. The root "ŗ" corresponds to Old Avestan "ar"ə"ta-" and Younger Avestan ə"r"ə"ta-" "established", hence "aša/arta" "that which is established."