What does mean Pashtun ?

[Tjanaparh]

Best greeting to everybody!
I'd like to as if there are any knoledges on what is meaning Pashtun?
Please don't understand my question as a stupid one.
Mostly every name has a meaning.
So will also the Pashtun.

[graveyardofempires]

why does it matter?

[Tjanaparh]

Interest to the meaning of the word.
Doesn't it matter to know such things?

[graveyardofempires]

to me it really doesnt matter that much cuz its not so much about the meaning og the word rather the meaning of being a pashtun.

some say it comes from the word paktyans,paktas etc.

i cant trsut all those sources,

the word is not just pashtun but pashtun,pakhtun,pokhtun,pashtin,depending on the region and dialect.

in south and southcentral Afghanistan and balochistan they would use the word pashtun,in the east Afghanistan down to pukhtunkhwa they would use the word pukhtun,in north Afghanistan and north east and west they use the word pakhtun,in waziristan paktia khost etc they use the word pashtin.

[Soldat_Amir]

Pashtun means being of relation or part of the recognized Pashtun tribes.

Pashtun does not mean Islam/Buddism/Hinudism/Chrisitainity.

Pashtuns existed way before any religion was created.

Greek Historians have even wrote of our existance as the Pactyan people.

Afridis and Khattaks are one of the most ancient tribes recorded in historical books to be the first Pashtun tribes to be recorded in a historical context.

There are many other theories of what Pashtun means, most are Arabised/Jewified nonsense that insults the essence of our history as a people, and how we lived in our mountains way before Ghaznavi came to imperialism the region.


Thanks, thats just my opinion.

[ScimitarXEdge]

This would be a incorrect association, because the original dialect of Pashto was the "Sha" dialect so Pactyan wouldn't make sense

also there's no evidence of the Pashto language in even historical accounts by outsiders, where as languages such as Soghdian, Khotanese and so on, have both written texts in said languages and also outside references that assert their existence.

[Tjanaparh]

In our historians tradition(there are texts starting from year 400 AD) when is referd to the region of Afghanistan it is refered to the country of HON, or sometiemes as country of Kushan(during the Kushan state).
It appears many times specially when our historian describe our wars agains the Sasanian dynasty in Persia. in two parts of history a more detaild description appears. 1) When Khosrov II of Armenia was fighting with the Sasanian dynasty and was having a correspondence with the KUshan rulers that were his relatives.
2) When Sasanian rulers(I do not remember which exactly) several times were sending Armenians to fight on nowdays Afghan territory, and Armenians and how is written "Hons" remembered their old kings and din'T fight.
Or According to an other historian the armenians were the only survived in the battle.

However my question was more linguistical, but as I understood there seem not to be an answer?
It has surely no connection , in my language Pashton means - worship, honour, position, duty (in ancient it was written like Pashtawn) , also there are words like pashtel(to worship), pashtpan (defender , pan in that case means defender and pashtpan is like defender of honour) and phushtipan(bodygard).

[Toramana]

Arevapashth, There are three things i.e., (1) Pashto, the language of Pashtuns, Pashto also means a set of rules and values to be upheld and followed, (1)Pashtunwali, which means the ways of Pashtuns --- really a code of honour Pashtuns should abide by in order to have a status and respect in Pashtun society, and lastly (3) Pashtuns ---those that are of Pashtun lineage, speak Pashto, and follow Pashtunwali and uphold Pashto (i.e. Pashtun values).

[gadoonwal]

In our historians tradition(there are texts starting from year 400 AD) when is referd to the region of Afghanistan it is refered to the country of HON, or sometiemes as country of Kushan(during the Kushan state).
It appears many times specially when our historian describe our wars agains the Sasanian dynasty in Persia. in two parts of history a more detaild description appears. 1) When Khosrov II of Armenia was fighting with the Sasanian dynasty and was having a correspondence with the KUshan rulers that were his relatives.
2) When Sasanian rulers(I do not remember which exactly) several times were sending Armenians to fight on nowdays Afghan territory, and Armenians and how is written "Hons" remembered their old kings and din'T fight.
Or According to an other historian the armenians were the only survived in the battle.

However my question was more linguistical, but as I understood there seem not to be an answer?
It has surely no connection , in my language Pashton means - worship, honour, position, duty (in ancient it was written like Pashtawn) , also there are words like pashtel(to worship), pashtpan (defender , pan in that case means defender and pashtpan is like defender of honour) and phushtipan(bodygard).

welcome to the forum
could you pls tell us what dose ,,afghan or awghan,,,mean in your language.
There is theory that afghan mean people of mountain or mountain region in armenian.
There are many other theories about the origin of word of afghan but this one is also written in pashtun history book.
Armenia is realy nice place.One man long time ago from our place went to armenia for study and got married there with armenian woman.
He said the people are realy nice and freindly.

[Tjanaparh]

Dear Gadoonwal, an interesting question.
In Armenian actually there was no F, it was introduced with fasri influence, so all the Armenian words, exept some modern slang havn't got F.
It can be that there is a word Avghan, but i nevere heard it, can be out of use so I would have to find Hrachya Acharyan's dictinary of armenian roots - but at the moment I havn't one at home.
there is actually the word Aghvan, it is also a name and the name of a mountainous region called Aghvanq. The root of this name I can tell You. It is not Armenian but our ancient neighbour state that today doesn'T exist anymore (it was called by the westerns Alpania or caucasian Albania).
Today those people are splitted in different ethnicities liiving mostly in Russia and Azerbaijian, and only a few in Georgia and Armenia. They Are called, Agul, Rutul, Tabasarani, Lezgi, Udi, Tsakhur, Kryz...(the Lezgi are the biggest group) . Their name of Alpan comes from their lightening God Alpan, if im am ot wrong even today alpan in their language means lightening.
In armenian L often traforms to Gh, so we called them Aghvan as sometiemes it was part of Armenia perhaps this Aghvan region was meant in the history book?
Mountain in Armenian is Sar o Lerr, actually if I am not wrong the Pashto word for mountain in Ghar , no? It sounds quiet similar to Armenian Sar(mountain) and Qar (stone).
Does Your friend live here ?
When did he study , is it long time ago?

[gadoonwal]

Dear Gadoonwal, an interesting question.
In Armenian actually there was no F, it was introduced with fasri influence, so all the Armenian words, exept some modern slang havn't got F.
It can be that there is a word Avghan, but i nevere heard it, can be out of use so I would have to find Hrachya Acharyan's dictinary of armenian roots - but at the moment I havn't one at home.
there is actually the word Aghvan, it is also a name and the name of a mountainous region called Aghvanq. The root of this name I can tell You. It is not Armenian but our ancient neighbour state that today doesn'T exist anymore (it was called by the westerns Alpania or caucasian Albania).
Today those people are splitted in different ethnicities liiving mostly in Russia and Azerbaijian, and only a few in Georgia and Armenia. They Are called, Agul, Rutul, Tabasarani, Lezgi, Udi, Tsakhur, Kryz...(the Lezgi are the biggest group) . Their name of Alpan comes from their lightening God Alpan, if im am ot wrong even today alpan in their language means lightening.
In armenian L often traforms to Gh, so we called them Aghvan as sometiemes it was part of Armenia perhaps this Aghvan region was meant in the history book?
Mountain in Armenian is Sar o Lerr, actually if I am not wrong the Pashto word for mountain in Ghar , no? It sounds quiet similar to Armenian Sar(mountain) and Qar (stone).
Does Your friend live here ?
When did he study , is it long time ago?

Thanks for your useful post.Many words are no longer in use.Some words are from other language used and then disapear after sometime.
However it is written in a pashtu history book that iranain called us afghans then the mugals and the word afghan or awghan originally an armenian mean the people of mountain,,,,,,,,,,
We call our people pashtun or pakhtun.The oldest ever known word is also pakhteen(which mean pakhtun or pashtun) herodotus mention in his book (greek hsitorians).
Yes ,that man is still in armenia.He is not friend but known to me cus we are from the same place.He use to talk about the life in armenia and its people.
He lived there for almost 15 years and still there.
The pumigrinate/anar of armenia is the best.

[Tjanaparh]

Dear Gadoonwal, I will inform myself about the word Awghan , if there is such a word it will be 100% in the dictionary of Acharyan.
Herodotus is really interesting, as almost every nation between Asia and europe refers to hom somehow.
If the man is a good man tell him to visit as here in Kotayq region - we are always glad to find new friends.
But Your Pomgranate/Anar/Nur(in Armenian) is also very famous to be best ! Actually its my favourite fruit, when I was smaller I was always drying pomgranete to have much of it the whole year, but i liked it so much that I ate everything in some days and my mother was laughing

[graveyardofempires]

what does pasht or pashtun means in armenian?

[Tjanaparh]

what does pasht or pashtun means in armenian?

Dear Graveyard of Empires, I have written it a bit befor:

.... in my language Pashton means - worship, honour, position, duty (in ancient it was written like Pashtawn) , also there are words like pashtel(to worship), pashtpan (defender , pan in that case means defender and pashtpan is like defender of honour) and phushtipan(bodygard).

Pashtun there is not as word in Armenian , but Pashton meaning - thw worship, the honour, the position, the duty
Your nation today is called in Armenian Phushthun(with an aspirated P and an aspirated T)
The partcle Pasht is not exactly a word but derives from the verb Pashtel -to worship , to honour, to greet.
My nickname is means for example"the one who greets the sun"

[Toramana]

“Pashto, as has been illustrated by myself and others in length, is not just a language but a complex conglomerate of cultural behaviour. One does not merely speak, but one does, one performs, Pashto. As my own linguistic skills grew, so did the behavioural expectations the culture had of me” Benedicte Grima’s (2004)

"The survey concludes that although Pakhtun attitude towards other
languages is favourable, their attitude towards Pakhto is overwhelming; ‘not only is it virtually the only language of use in most domains, it also is seen as a strong mark of identity and pride"...

"Although the significance of Pakhto language as an identity marker, the language is forgotten by a number of people who still identify themselves as Pakhtuns or claim to have Pakhtun ancestry. These include Pakhtuns in urban centres of Afghanistan such as Kabul, who have undergone ‘Persianization in speech and culture’ (Barth, 1969b: 129) or of India (Rahman, 1994: 134) have long forgotten Pakhto language. Similar trends could be seen among the Pakhtun tribes in Hazara district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Ahmed, 1997: 109) and the South of Punjab where ethnic groups identifying themselves with Pakhtun ancestors have forgotten their language and adopted either Punjabi or Saraiki. In all these cases ethnic reference to Pakhtun identity is often made but not through the Pakhto language, rather through Pakhtun tribal ancestry or Pakhtunwali.18 This raises important questions, if Pakhto language is such an important diacritical feature of Pakhtun identity where would those non-Pakhto speaking people who continue to identify with Pakhtun ethnicity be placed? Conversely, would all those who speak Pakhto but lack other diacritical features such as patrilineal descent or Pakhtunwali be identified as Pakhtuns? These are some of the themes on which this project reflects."