Hiroshi's question of November 5, 2001:

What is the meaning of the suffix "-stan" in country names?

As Miho said in class, this suffix means "country." Some countries and places that use this suffix include:

• Afghanistan
• Dagestan
• Hindustan
• Kazakhstan
• Kurdistan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Pakistan
• Tajikistan
• Turkmenistan
• Uzbekistan

Etymology: This suffix comes from Farsi (the language used in Iran) and originally meant "a place where a person stays," and by extension came to mean "one's homeland" or "country." The name of the country Afghanistan could be translated as "Land of the Afghans."

The origin of this suffix is the Indo-European root "sta-," which meant "to stand" or "to put." English words that are derived from this root include "stand," "stay," "state," "store," and "understand."