The ethnonym Afghan (Pashto/Persian: افغان) has been used historically to refer to a member of the Pashtuns, however for the past 2 centuries the term is also used to refer to any native or inhabitant of Afghanistan, including those outside of the Pashtun ethnic group.
Pashtuns have referred to themselves as Afghan in the extant Pashtoworks.
In the 3rd century, the Sassanids mentioned an eastern tribe called Abgân, which is attested in its Persian form Afġān in the 10th century Hudud al-‘Alam.
In the nineteenth century, the term “Afghan” was also used again by various writers as a synonym for “Pashtun”.
Contents
- Etymology
- Afghanistan
- Historical and obsolete suggestions
- See also
- References
Etymology
Names of territories during the Islamic Caliphate of the 7th century and onward.
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) as reference to a particular people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan..
In the past, several scholars sought a connection with “horse,” Skt.aśva-, Av.aspa-, i.e.the Aśvaka or Aśvakayana, however according to linguist Johnny Cheung, it It would be extremely difficult to reconcile these names with the world Afghan.
The etymological view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name Afghan evidently derives from Sanskrit Aśvakan, q.v. the Assakenoi of Arrian. This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen, J. W. McCrindle, M. V. de Saint Martin, and É. Reclus,
Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): “To Ormuzd Bunukan ,the chief of the Afghans”
The Sanskrit word ashva, Avestan aspa, and Prakrit assamean “horse”, while ashvaka(Prakrit assaka) means “horseman”, “horse people”, “land of horses”,as well as “horse breeders”.Pre-Christian times knew the people of the Hindu Kushregion as Ashvakan, which literally means “horsemen”, “horse breeders”, or “cavalrymen”, since they raised a fine breed of horses and had a reputation for providing expert cavalrymen. The 5th-century-BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini calls them Ashvakayana and Ashvayana. Mahabharata mentions them as Ashvaka(na). Classical writers, however, use the respective equivalents Aspasioi (or Aspasii, Hippasii) and Assakenoi (or Assaceni/Assacani, Asscenus) etc. The Aspasioi/Assakenoi (Ashvakan = Cavalrymen) is stated to be another name for the ancient Iranian Kambojas of ancient texts because of their equestrian characteristics. Alexander Cunninghamand a few other scholars identify these designations with the modern name Afghan.
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 Avestan language and followed Zoroastrianism. Some scholars believe Zoroastrianism originated in land of Kambojas.
The names of the Aspasioi and the Aśvaka may be also preserved in that of the Esapzai (or Yusufzai) tribe of Pashtuns, who are mostly based in northern and eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan. McCrindle noted: “The name of the Aśvaka indicates that their country was renowned in primitive times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses. The fact that the Greeks translated their name into “Hippasioi” (from ἵππος, a horse) shows that they must have been aware of its etymological signification.” In the 6th century the word Afghan is mentioned in the form of “Avagāṇa” (अवगाण) by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihirain his Brihat-samhita.
As Mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan:
“To Ormuzd Bunukan , … greetings and homage from … ) , the ( sotang ( ? ) of Parpaz ( under ) from you , so I have heard how written ‘ ‘ to me concerning ] my health . I arrived in good health , ( and ) ( afterwards ( ? ) ‘ ‘ I heard that a message ] was sent thither to you ( saying ) thus : … look after the farming but the order was given to you thus. You should hand over the grain and then request it from the citizens store: I will not order, so…..I Myself order And I in Respect of winter sends men thither to you then look after the farming, To Ormuzd Bunukan, Greetings”
— the Bactrian documents, 4th century
The Encyclopædia Iranica explains:
From a more limited, ethnological point of view, “Afġān” is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Paštō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Paštūn. The equation Afġān Paštūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Paštūn tribal confederation is by far the most important in the country, numerically and politically. The term “Afġān” has probably designated the Paštūn since ancient times. Under the form Avagānā, this ethnic group is first mentioned by the astronomer Varāha Mihira in the beginning of the 6th century in his Brhat-samhita.
Hiven Tsiang, a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim visiting the Afghanistan area several times between 630 and 644 CE, speaks about the native tribes inhabiting the region. According to scholars such as V. Minorsky, W.K. Frazier Tyler and M.C. Gillet, the word Afghan has appeared in the 982 Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where a reference is made to a village.
“Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans“.
Saul was probably located near Gardez, in the Paktia province of Afghanistan. Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam also speaks of a king in “Ninhar” (Nangarhar), who shows a public display of conversion to Islam, even though he has over 30 wives, which are described as Muslim, Afghan, and pagan or Hindu wives. Some of these names were used as geographical terms. For example, “Hindu” has been used historically as a geographical term to describe someone who was native from the general region known as Hindustan or the land of the Indus river.
Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler, in his Tarikh-i Yamini records that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern Ghilji) enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated.
“The Afghans and Khiljis who resided among the mountains having taken the oath of allegiance to Subooktugeen, many of them were enlisted in his army, after which he returned in triumph to Ghizny.”
Al-Utbi further states that Afghans and Ghiljis made a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi’s army and were sent on his expedition to Tocharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi. 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 today Pakistan.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.
“We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principal mountain is called Kuh Sulayman. It is told that the prophet Sulayman ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it.”
— Ibn Battuta, 1333
A 16th-century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent states:
“He retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sulaiman Mountains, situated between Multan and Peshawar, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The one Lodhi, the other Sur; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. I have read in the Mutla-ul-Anwar, a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at Burhanpur, a town of Khandesh in the Deccan, that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans.”
— Ferishta, 1560-1620
Afghanistan
A 19th century Lithography collection showing two Afghan Durrani soldiers.
The last part of the name -stān is a Persian suffix for “place of”, the Pashto translation of which is stogna prominent in many languages of Asia. The name Afghanistan is mentioned in writing by the 16th century Mughal rulers Babur and his descendants, referring to the territory between Khorasan, Kabulistan, and the Indus River, which was inhabited by tribes of Afghans.
“The road from Khorasān leads by way of Kandahār. It is a straight level road, and does not go through any hill-passes… In the country of Kābul there are many and various tribes. Its valleys and plains are inhabited by Tūrks, Aimāks, and Arabs. In the city and the greater part of the villages, the population consists of Tājiks*(Sarts). Many other of the villages and districts are occupied by Pashāis, Parāchis, Tājiks, Berekis, and Afghans… In the hill-country to the north-east lies Kaferistān, such as Kattor and Gebrek. To the south is Afghānistān.”
— Babur, 1525
The name “Afghanistan” is also mentioned many times in the writings of the 16th-century historian, Ferishta, and many others.
“The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, “Don’t call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances.” Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns. The people of India call them Patán; however the reason for this is not known. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the city of Patná, and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patáns—but God knows!”
— Ferishta, 1560-1620
Regarding the modern state of Afghanistan, the Encyclopædia Of Islamexplains:
“The country now known as Afghanistan has borne that name only since the middle of the 18th century, when the supremacy of the Afghan race became assured: previously various districts bore distinct apellations, however the country was not a definite political unit, and its component parts were not bound together by any identity of race or language. The earlier meaning of the word was simply “the land of the Afghans”, a limited territory which did not include many parts of the present state but did comprise large districts now either independent or within the boundary of British India (Pakistan).”
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. Some four centuries after Afghana, in the 6th century BCE, Bakhtunnasar, or Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babil, attacked the Kingdom of Judahand 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 Albanwhich 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”.