-stan

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"Istan" redirects here. For the municipality in Andalusia (Spain), see Istán.
Suffixes
-archy
-Biology suffixes
-cide
-cracy
-cycle
-gate
-genesis
-hood
-ic
-id
-illion
-ism
-ist
-kinesis
-mania
-manship
-nik
-graphy
-oid
-logy
-ome
-omics
-nomy
-onym
-ous
-phil-
-phob-
-phone
-polis
-scope
-ship
-stan
-ville
-ware

The suffix -stan (spelled ـستان in the Perso-Arabic script) is Persian for 'place of,' and -sthan [st̪haːn] (स्थान in the Devanāgarī script) is a cognate Sanskrit suffix with the same meaning.

They appear in the names of many countries and regions, especially in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, areas where ancient Indo-Iranian peoples were established; in Iranian, however, it is also used more generally, as in Persian registan 'place of sand, desert' and gulistan 'place of roses, rose garden.' Both suffixes are of Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European origin, the Proto-Indo-European root being *stā- 'stand,' which is also the source of English stand, Latin stāre, and Greek histamai (ίσταμαι), all meaning 'stand,' as well as many other words, for instance the Russian word стан (stan) meaning 'settlement' or 'semi-permanent camp' (used in reference to semi-nomadic settlements encountered in certain areas of Central Asia) or in other Slavic languages such as Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian where stan means apartment.

The suffix -stan occurs in the following geographical or pseudo-geographical names:

Contents

[edit] Countries

[edit] Regions

[edit] Micronations

  • Lizbekistan, a popular Internet-based project created by Australian artist Liz Stirling.
  • Islamistan, a popular forum created by Dildar Hussain which means 'Land of Islam'.

[edit] Parodic, fictional, and cultural -stans

  • Absurdistan - sometimes used to satirically describe a country where everything goes wrong. Originally used by Eastern European dissidents to refer to parts (or all) of the Soviet Union. [2]
  • Adjikistan- a fictional central Asian country in the videogame SOCOM: Combined Assault
  • Aldestan - a fictional former Soviet republic from Command and Conquer: Generals.
  • Ancapistan- a theoretical country ruled by anarchocapitalism.
  • Avgatiganistan - a pun of 'Afghanistan', it means 'Fried eggs' (Avra tiganita) in Greek . Fictional country by author Eugenios Trivizas.
  • Blogistan - alternative name for the blogosphere.
  • Bradistan - reference to Bradford, England due to its large (South) Asian population.
  • Buttfuckistan - Term used by U.S. Army troops to describe faraway and/or desolate or unpleasant places. Compare Bumfuck, Egypt; Bumfuck, Nowhere.
  • Clarkistan - reference to New Zealand, as a slur on the Labour government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark, reflecting Clark's dominant personality in the government and its leftwing policies.Whaleoil blog Kiwiblog. Similar to Helengrad.
  • Canuckistan - see Soviet Canuckistan.
  • Dearbornistan - nickname for Dearborn, Michigan, in reference to its large Middle Eastern population.
  • Derkaderkastan - fictional Middle Eastern country in Team America: World Police.
  • Elladistan - Derogatory nickname of Greece; used by Greeks to describe loss of progress in politic and social affairs and less-than-satisfactory public services of the country, compared by themselves to those of third-world countries.
  • Ethniclashistan - sometimes used satirically to describe countries in which multiple ethnic groups were thrown together, who then began fighting each other, e.g. Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union. It was featured in the satirical The Onion newspaper in June, 2001 as being placed in the West Bank in the article Northern Irish, Serbs, Hutus Granted Homeland In West Bank (here spelled Ethniklashistan)
  • Franistan - fictional country referred to in the television show I Love Lucy.
  • Hamastan - concept of a Palestinian Islamist theocracy with Sharia as government law
  • Helmajistan - fictional area from the anime Full Metal Panic!.
  • Gopostan - a Tatar slang for underprivileged areas of city
  • Iranistan - an oriental region of Hyborea (Conan the Barbarian stories).
  • Istan - a fictional island state in the online role-playing game, Guild Wars Nightfall
  • Jafastan - nickname for Auckland.
  • Kabulistan - humorous name given to Fremont, California because of its large population of Afghans.
  • Katsapstan - humorous name given to Russia, derivative from Ukrainian nickname for Russians.
  • Kikistan - Anti-Semitic name for Israel.
  • Kreplachistan - fictional country in the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. ("Kreplach" -- Eastern European Jewish dish consisting of meat-filled dumplings.)
  • Lojbanistan - hypothetical country using Lojban as its native language.
  • Londonistan - the British capital of London was given this sobriquet by French counter-terrorism agents.
  • Långtbortistan - in Swedish, a common placeholder name for "far away from here" (literally "Far-away-in-the-city").
  • Nukhavastan - fictional country created by The Onion that has nuclear weapons.
  • Outsourcistan - nickname for the region of south central and southeast Asia (Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and Mayalasia) that many white collar and high-tech jobs have been sent by major corporate firms who outsource their work.
  • Pasokistan - Greek national sector that contained civil servants who were employed by (and support) the political party Pasok.
  • Pianostan - fictional country mentioned in an episode of Inspector Gadget.
  • Polakistan - derogatory nickname of Poland [3] and Catalonia [4]
  • Pretendistan - metasyntactic variable for a country, compare John Smith and foo.
  • Redneckistan - derogatory nickname of the Red States of the United States.
  • Spokanistan - humorous nickname for Spokane, Washington.
  • Soviet Canuckistan - derogatory nickname of Canada.
  • Verweggistan - in Dutch, a very commonly used word for "far away from here" (literally "Far-away-stan").
  • Zekistan - a fictional central Asian nation in the video game Full Spectrum Warrior

[edit] External link

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