Afghan (ethnonym)

The word Afghan ( Persian افغان ) is originally used in the Persian both to refer to the Pashtuns as well as in a more general meaning in modern Persian, inter alia, for " Lament "; In addition, there are the terms " Afghan " and in Russian " Afghan network " for local dry dusty winds.

" Afghan " and " feghān " in common use in New Persian

The terms Afghan ( Persian افغان ) and feghān (Persian فغان ) are words of the New Persian language or the Dari and are for example reflected in the Germans cry, wail, whine, Wehtöne, woe and moan. In Persian poetry, for example, the 12th - 14th Century found such a word usage eg Saadi, Rumi or Hafez.

" Afghan " to refer to the Pashtuns

The terms " Afghan " (Persian افغان ) or " Pashto " ( Pashtun پښتون ) were and are often used synonymously. The term Pathan ( Urdu: پٹھان ) or ( hindi: पठान / Pathan ) or Pathans is also a Synoym for Pashtuns in India since partition in 1947 and in Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa predominantly except, common. Both Afghan and Pashtun, was until 1936 the official names for Pashtuns in Afghanistan. This is the proper name of Pashtun and Afghan ( Persian افغان ) the foreign name from the Persian, which was probably used primarily for historical tribes from the west, which explains why sometimes a matter of terminology was proposed such that " Afghan " refers to the Durrani ( the westernmost tribe ) and their allies refer. The term " Afghan " as nationals of Afghanistan was established in 1965 in the Constitution.

A first mention is found in the encyclopedia Brhat Samhita of the Indian astronomer and mathematician Varahamihira from the early 6th century. There is talk of " Avagāṇa ". In the little developed later biography of the Buddhist pilgrim and translator Xuanzang written by Huili his students and Yencong, is from "A- p'o - kien " spoken as a tribe in the north of the Suleiman Mountains.

In Persian geographical manual Hudud al - ʿ Ālam ( 982, persian حدود العالم ( limits of the world ) ) is of " Qabila ha e Afghanan " ( " tribes of the Afghans" ) speech.

Al Biruni, a scientist of the 11th century, who accompanied Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni to India, describes in his work Kitab al - Hind Tuarikh (Persian تحقیق ماللهند, India Research), (Persian التفهیم لاوایل صناعة التنجیم, Kitab al - Tafhim li - Awa'il Sina `at al - Tandjim, written in 1029 ) the areas of the Afghans between Multan to the Suleiman mountain range south of the Hindu Kush.

Also in Kitaab al - Yamini ( Büch about Yamin ) Abū Nasr al - ʿ UTBI, a 1020 finished biography of Mahmud of Ghazni (whose nickname Yamin al-Dawla, right hand of the empire, was ) the name " Afghan " in connection with the original settlement area of ​​the Pashtuns, for example, in today's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Wazirestan, today province of Pakistan, used.

Jamal al-Din al - Afghani narrates in his written in Arabic Tatimmat al - Tarikh al Bayān fi Afghan ( تتمة البيان في تاريخ الأفغان; ger Some consequence statements about the history of the Afghans ) an explanation of why the Pashtuns became known as Afghan.

Hamidullah Qeyam translated several sets of Al Afghani into English as follows:

' Bakhtinasr '. In Persian, ' Afghan ' Means to shout or to whine, and ordinary Persian ( Farsiwans ) call them " Awghan " ( Afghani, 1901. P.13 ). In another place of this book, Afghani states did the language of the Afghans is called Pashto ( Afghani, 1901. P.19 ). "

Al Afghani further writes about the tribes of the Afghans or Pashtuns in his work:

" Afghan " and " Afghan network " as names for dust storms

Afghan is found as a name for a hot, dusty wind, inter alia, synonymous to the Russian term " sukhovei " ( plural). It is an east wind esp. in the steppes of southern Russia, the semi-deserts and deserts of Kazakhstan and the Caspian lowland - Aralo. This wind phenomenon is similar to the Egyptian " Khamsin " and the North African and Sicilian " Sirocco ".

Further, " Afghan network " a Russian term for a local wind phenomenon. This " Afghan network " corresponds to the so-called three months wind (because from May / June to August / September permanently ) or 120 day wind, pers Bad -i -sad -o- bistroz (Persian باد صد و بیست روزه ). It is a hot, continental air from the steppes of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and moved to strong dust storms carries with it. As you climb to the Iran- Afghan mountains, he cools down a bit and then heated again on his way south. In the south-western basins it is ultimately responsible for maximum temperatures of over 50 ° C.

Literature on Afghan Pashtun, Pathan

• Said Jamaludin Al Afghani: Tatimmat al - bayan fi tarikh al - Afghani, Egypt 1901
• Barbara A. West, Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania, New York, 1967
• C. Heather Bleaney, María Ángeles Gallego, Afghanistan: A Bibliography, Leiden The Netherlands, 2006
• Juan Eduardo Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam, NY, USA, first edition 1950, 2nd Afl. 2009