The ethnonym Afghan (Pashto/Persian: ) has been used historically by Persian speakers (and non-Pashtun speakers in general) to refer to Pashtuns.
However, in current political usage, the term "Afghan" 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 Pashto works.
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.The Khalaj West of the Oxus ; excerpts from "The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol 10, No 2, pp 417-437 (retrieved 10 January 2007).
In the nineteenth century, the term "Afghan" was also used again by various writers as a synonym for "Pashtun".
Etymology
Some modern scholars suggest that the word "Afghan" is derived from words awajan/apajan in Avestan and ava-han/apa-han in Sanskrit, which means "killing, striking, throwing and resisting, or defending."
Under the Sasanians, and possibly the Parthian Empire, the word was used to refer to men of a certain Persian sect.
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 would be extremely difficult to reconcile these names with the word 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.Arrian writes them Assakenoi.
Strabo also calls them Assakanoi, but Curtius calls them Assacani.
This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen,Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol I, fn 6; also Vol II, p 129, et al. J. W. McCrindle,"The name Afghan has evidently been derived from Asvakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian... "
(Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180.
See also: Alexander's Invasion of India, p 38; J. W. McCrindle).
M. V. de Saint Martin,Etude Sur la Geog Grecque & c, pp 39-47, M. V. de Saint Martin.
and É. Reclus,The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83, Élisée Reclus - Geography."
Even the name Afghan is Aryan being derived from Asvakayana, an important clan of the Asvakas or horsemen who must have derived this title from their handling of celebrated breeds of horses" (See: Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture abroad, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan).cf: "Their name (Afghan) means "cavalier" being derived from the Sanskrit, Asva, or Asvaka, a horse, and shows that their country must have been noted in ancient times, as it is at the present day, for its superior breed of horses.
Asvaka was an important tribe settled north to Kabul river, which offered a gallant resistance but ineffectual resistance to the arms of Alexander "(Ref: Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1999, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society)."
Afghans are Assakani of the Greeks; this word being the Sanskrit Ashvaka meaning 'horsemen' "   (Ref: Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood).Cf: "The name represents Sanskrit Asvaka in the sense of a cavalier, and this reappears scarcely modified in the Assakani or Assakeni of the historians of the expedition of Alexander"  (Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological..by Henry Yule, AD Burnell).See few more references on Asvaka = Afghan: The Numismatic Chronicle, 1893, p 100, Royal Numismatic Society (Great Britain);  Awq, 1983, p 5, Giorgio Vercellin; Der Islam, 1960, p 58, Carl Heinrich Becker, Maymūn ibn al-Qāsim Tabarānī;  Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, p 470, Trivandrum, India (City), University of Kerala.
Dept. of History;  Literary History of Ancient India in Relation to Its Racial and Linguistic Affiliations, 1970, p 17, Chandra Chakraberty;  Stile der Portugiesischen lyrik im 20 jahrhundert, p 124, Winfried Kreutzen.; See: Works, 1865, p 164, Dr H. H. Wilson; The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83;  Chants populaires des Afghans, 1880, p clxiv,  James Darmesteter; Nouvelle geographie universelle v. 9, 1884, p.59, Elisée Reclus; Alexander the Great, 2004, p.318, Lewis Vance Cummings (Biography & Autobiography); Nouveau dictionnaire de géographie universelle contenant 1o La géographie physique ... 2o La .., 1879,  Louis Rousselet, Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin; An Ethnic Interpretation of Pauranika Personages, 1971, p 34,  Chandra Chakraberty;  Revue internationale, 1803,  p 803; Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973,  p  470,  Trivandrum, India (City).
University of Kerala.
Dept. of History;  Edinburgh University Publications, 1969, p 113,  University of Edinburgh;  Shi jie jian wen, 1930, p 68 by  Shi jie zhi shi chu ban she.
Cf also: Advanced History of Medieval India, 1983, p 31, Dr J. L. Mehta; Asian Relations, 1948, p 301, Asian Relations Organization ("Distributed in the United States by: Institute of Pacific Relations, New York."); Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1892, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society - Geography; The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India, 1971, p 87,  Nundo Lal Dey; Nag Sen of Milind Paṅhö, 1996, p 64, P. K. Kaul - Social Science; The Sultanate of Delhi, 1959, p 30, Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava; Journal of Indian History, 1965, p 354, University of Kerala Dept. of History, University of Allahabad Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore - India; Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, 1858, p 313, fn 3,  Stanislas Julien Xuanzang - Buddhism.
thumb|Bactrian document in the Greek script from the 4th century mentioning the word Afghan (αβγανανο): "From Ormuzd Bunukan to Bredag Watanan, the chief of the Afghans"
The Sanskrit word ashva, Avestan aspa, and Prakrit assa mean "horse", while ashvaka (Prakrit assaka) means "horseman",Ref: Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times, 1915, p 140, Dr K. P. Jayaswal;  Sva, 1915, p 113, Christopher Molesworth Birdwood; Imprints of Indian Thought and Culture Abroad, 1980, p 124, Vivekananda Kendra; Stile der portugiesischen Lyrik im 20.
Jahrhundert, 1980, p 124,  Winfried Kreutzer.
"horse people",Al-Hind, The Making of Indo-Islamic World, 2002, p 84, Andre Wink; The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire, C.
1710-1780, 1995, p 16, JJL Gommans; Journal of Indian History Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, p 470, University of Kerala, Department of History; A Geographical Introduction to the History of Central Asia, 1944, K. B. Codrington.
"land of horses",Historical Geography of Madhya Pradesh, From Early Records, 1977, p 3, Dr P. K. Bhattacharya; Proceedings of the World of Sanskrit Conference.
1985, p 783, International association of Sanskrit.
as well as "horse breeders".Encyclopedia of Religions of Faiths of Man, Part I, 2003, p 554, J. G. R. Forlong.
Pre-Christian times knew the people of the Hindu Kush region 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 AshvakayanaAshtadhyayi, Nadadi gana IV-1, 99 and Ashvayana.Ashtadhyayi Sutra IV-1, 110History and Culture of Indian People, the Age of Imperial Unity, Vol II, p 45, Dr A. D. Pusalkar, Dr R. C. Majumdar, Dr Munshi etc; Panjab Past and Present, pp 9-10, Dr Buddha Parkash; See also: History of Porus, pp 12, 38; Ancient India, 2003, pp 260-61, Dr V. D. Mahajan; India as Known to Pāṇini, pp 456-57, Dr V. S. Aggarwala; Preliminary Notes on the Excavation of the Necropolises found in Western Pakistan and The Tombs of the Asvakayana-Assakenoi, Antonini, Chiara Silvi & Tucci, Giuseppe, pp 13 to 28; 'Asvakayana-Assakenoi', East and West, NS,.
14 (Roma, t963), pp 27-28.
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.Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133 fn 6, pp 216-20, (Also Commentary p 576 fn 22), Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukerjee; Historie du bouddhisme Indien, p110, Dr E. Lammotte; History of Poros, 1967, p 89; East and West, 1950, pp 28, 149, 158, Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Editor, Prof Giuseppe Tucci, Co-editors Prof Mario Bussagli, Prof Lionello Lanciotti; History of Indian Buddhism: From the Origins to the Saka Era, 1988, P 100, History; Panjab Past and Present, pp 9-10, Dr Buddha Parkash.
J. W. McCrindle says that the modern Afghanistan -- the Kaofu (Kambu) of Xuanzang was ancient Kamboja, and the name Afghan evidently derives from the Ashavakan, the Assakenoi of Arrian (Alexandra's Invasion of India, p 38; Megasthenes and Arrian, p 180, J. McCrindle); Ancient Kamboja, People and Country, 1981, pp 271-72, 278, Dr J. L. Kamboj; These Kamboj People, 1979, pp 119, 192, K. S. Dardi; Kambojas, Through the Ages, 2005, pp 129, 218-19, S Kirpal Singh; Sir Thomas H. Holdich, in his classic book, (The Gates of India, p 102-03), writes that the Aspasians (Aspasioi) represent the modern Kafirs.
But the modern Kafirs, especially the Siah-Posh Kafirs (Kamoz/Camoje, Kamtoz) etc are considered to be modern representatives of the ancient Kambojas.
Other noted scholars supporting this view are Dr Romilla Thapar, Dr R. C. Majumdar etc.
Alexander Cunningham and a few other scholars identify these designations with the modern name Afghan.The Ancient Geography of India.
I.
The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, p 87, Alexander Cunningham; India as Seen in the Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira, 1969, p 70, Dr Ajay Mitra Shastri.
The Indian epic Mahabharata speaks about Kambojas among the finest horsemen,Journal of American Oriental society, 1889, p 257, American Oriental Society; Mahabharata 10.18.13.
and ancient Pali texts describe their lands as the land of horses.Kambojo assa.nam ayata.nam i.e Kamboja the birthplace of horse......
(|| Samangalavilasini, Vol I, p 124||).Aruppa-Niddesa of Visuddhimagga by Buddhaghosa describes the Kamboja land as the base of horses (10/28)In the Anushasnaparava section of Mahabharata, the Kambojas are specifically designated as Ashava.yuddha.kushalah (expert cavalrymen).
:tatha Yavana Kamboja Mathuram.abhitash cha ye | :ete 'ashava.yuddha.kushalahdasinatyasi charminah.
|| 5 ||.
Kambojas spoke Avestan language and followed Zoroastrianism.Jataka, Vol VI, pp 208, 210 (trans Fausboll); The Jataka, VI, p 110, (Trans. E. B. Cowell) + Videvati XIV.5-6 + Herodotus (I.140); Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1912, p 256, Dr Grierson; Das Volk Der Kamboja bei Yaska, First Series of Avesta, Pahlavi and Ancient Persian Studies in honour of the late Shams-ul-ulama Dastur Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana, Strassberg & Leipzig, 1904, pp 213 ff, Dr Ernst Kuhn*Dr V. S. Agarwala writes: "As shown in the Jataka and Avestic literature, the Kamboja was the center of ancient Iranian civilization as is evidenced by the peculiar customs of the country " (Ref: The Kamboja Janapada, January 1964, Purana, Vol VI, No 1, p 229; Jataka edited by Fausboll, Vol VI, p 210.)
* Dr Michael Witzel: "The Kambojas, located somewhere in east Afghanistan, spoke Iranian language and followed Zoroastrian habits of killing lower animals."
(Early Eastern Iran and the Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, fn 81, p 114; Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 7 (2001), issue 3 (May 25), Art. 9).
* Dr D. C. Sircar: "The Kambojas were of Iranian extractions ..
they were settled in Afghanistan region in Uttarapatha.
Their numbers were occasionally swelled by new migrants from Iran, especially during age of Achaemenians."
(Purana, Vol. V, No. 2, July 1963, p 256, Dr D. C. Sircar).
* Willem Vogelsang: "The name Kamboja was commonly applied in Indian sources to the Iranian population of the borderlands i.e Afghanistan."
(The Afghans (Peoples of Asia), 2001, p 127).
* Dr R. Thapar: "The Kambojas were a tribe of the Iranians " (History of India, Vol. I, 1997, p 276).
* E. Benveniste: "The Kambojas ... were known in Indian traditions as a foreign people, with peculiar customs, ... raised celebrated horses, spoke - as the Nirukata (II,2.8) tells us - a language with Iranian words in it ... and had, according to Buddhist Jataka (VI.206, 27-30), a certain religious practice - the killing of insects, moths, snakes and worms - which we may recognize as Mazdean from the passages in Mazdean books like the Videvati (XIV.5-6) as well as from the remark of Herodotus (I.140) about the Persian religion " (Journal Asiatique, CCXLVI 1958, I, pp 47-48, E. Benveniste).
Some scholars believe Zoroastrianism originated in land of Kambojas.Cf: "Zoroastrian religion had probably originated in Kamboja-land (Bacteria-Badakshan)....and the Kambojas spoke Avestan language" (Ref: Bharatiya Itihaas Ki Rup Rekha, p 229-231, Jaychandra Vidyalankar; Bhartrya Itihaas ki Mimansa, p 229-301, J. C. Vidyalankar; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 217, 221, J. L. Kamboj).
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 The ethnonym Afghan (Pashto/Persian: ) has been used historically to refer to a member of the Pashtuns .
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)Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in his Brihat-samhita.
As Mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan:
The Encyclopædia Iranica explains:
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.Dawn News, The cradle of Pathan culture 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 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.
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.R. Khanam, Encyclopaedic ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia: P-Z, Volume 3 - Page 18 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.A Glossary Of The Tribes And Castes Of The Punjab And North-West Frontier Province Vol. 3 By H.A. Rose, Denzil Ibbetson Sir Published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, 1997, Page 211, ,  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.
A 16th-century Muslim historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent states: Afghanistan
The last part of the name -stān is a Persian suffix for "place of", the Pashto translation of which is  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 name "Afghanistan" is also mentioned many times in the writings of the 16th-century historian, Ferishta, and many others.
Regarding the modern state of Afghanistan, the Encyclopædia Of Islam explains:M. Longworth Dames, G. Morgenstierne, R. Ghirshman, "Af<u>gh</u>ānistān", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition {{anchor|Historical and obsolete sugestions}}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 Judah and 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.Olaf Caroe, The Pathans: 550 BC - AD 1957, Link
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.Persia, p 142, Samuel G. Benjamin.
H. W. Bellew, in his 1891 An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, believes that the name Afghan comes from Alban which 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".John Charles Griffiths, Afghanistan, pg 13Gary W. Bowersox, Bonita E, Gemstones of Afghanistan, pg 27
Scholars such as Yu Gankovsky have attempted to link "Afghan" to an Uzbek word "Avagan" said to mean "original".Gankovsky, Yu.
V., et al.
"A History of Afghanistan."
Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1982.
8vo.
Cloth.
359 p. USD 22.50
See also
List of country name etymologies
Name of Afghanistan
References
Further reading
Category:History of Afghanistan Category:Kambojas Category:Ethnonyms Category:Country name etymology Category:Pashto words and phrases Category:English words
lv:Afganistānas nosaukums sq:Afganët
