-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
Name of Afghanistan 1709 with the rise of the Hotaki dynasty, which was established by Mir Wais Hotak who is regarded as "Mirwais Neeka" ("Mirwais the grandfather"). The Encyclopaedia of Islam states: Name of Afghanistan The name "Afghānistān" (, "Afġānestān" , Pashto: افغانستان, "Afġānistān" ) means ""land of the Afghans"", which originates from the ethnonym ""Afghan"". Historically, the name ""Afghan"" mainly designated the Pashtun people, the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan. The earliest reference to the name is found in the 10th-century geography book known as "Hudud ul-'alam". The last part of the name, "-stān" is a Persian suffix for "place". In the