Turkmenistan
/tɜːrkˈmɛnɪstɑːn/noun
A country in Central Asia, bordered by the Caspian Sea, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
Did you know?The suffix -stan comes from Persian istān and is related to Sanskrit sthāna and English stand, linking a modern country name to an ancient idea of place and stability.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*steh₂-
“To stand or be in a standing position; the remote ancestor of Persian -stan.”
Old Persian
Old Persian
stāna
“Place, location, or region.”
Old Turkic
Old Turkic
türk
“A Turk; the ethnonym associated with Turkic-speaking peoples.”
11th Century
Middle Persian/Arabic sources
Turkmen
“The name used for a Turkic people; its precise internal meaning is debated, though it was historically associated with Turkic tribal groups.”
Medieval Persian
Persian
Turkmenistān
“The land or region of the Turkmen.”
20th Century
Russian/English
Туркменистан / Turkmenistan
“The established modern name of the Central Asian country.”
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