Afghan (Pashto: ) is an ethnonym historically used to refer to Pashtuns. Since the second half of the twentieth century, the term has evolved into a demonym for all residents of Afghanistan, including those outside of the Pashtun ethnicity.
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" (ñòóñýñýÿ) was used in reference to a particular people as mentioned in the Bactrian documents. Brihat-samhita, a 6th century CE Indian encyclopedia refers to a people called "AvagÃÂá¹Âa," [à ¤ à ¤µà ¤Âà ¤¾à ¤£] which is presumed by some to be an earlier iteration of "Afghan."
The word again appeared in the 982 CE Ḥudà «d al-ÿÃÂlam, referring to the residents of the village of Saul, which was estimated to be located near Gardez, Afghanistan. The text also refers to a kind in Ninhar (Nangarhar), who had Muslim, Afghan, and Hindu wives.
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 now known as Pakistan.
Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler. In his Tarikh-i Yamini records that many Afghans and Khiljis (possibly the modern Ghilji) living between Laghman and Peshawar enlisted in the army of Sabuktigin after Jayapala was defeated. Al-Utbi further states that Afghans and Ghiljis made up a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi's army and were sent on his expedition to Tokharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished a group of opposing Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi. It is recorded that Afghans were also enrolled in the Ghurid Kingdom (1148âÂÂ1215). By the beginning of the Khilji dynasty in 1290, Afghans were well-known in northern India.
Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan traveler, visiting Kabul following the era of the Khilji dynasty in 1333, wrote that the city had become occupied by Afghans, who "possess considerable strength" and were "mostly highwaymen."
A 16th-century Muslim historian, writing about the history of Muslim rule in the subcontinent, states:
The coined term of "Afghanistan" came into place in 1855, officially recognized by the British during the reign of Dost Mohammad Khan.
Some scholars suggest that the word "Afghan" is derived from the 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 word may also be an evolution of the name of the AÃ Âvakan people, who lived in modern-day Afghanistan.
19th- and 20th-century scholars suggested that the name Afghan was derived from the word Aà Âvakan, meaning "horsemen" (from aà Âva or aspa, the Sanskrit and Avestan words for "horse"), or the Assakenoi of Arrian, which was the name used for ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush. However, more recent scholarship has noted linguistic inconsistencies that call the theory into question.
The last part of the name -stÃÂn is a Persian suffix for "place of". The Pashto translation of is prominent in many languages of Asia. The name Afghanistan is mentioned in writing by the 16th century Mughal ruler 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 in the writings of the 16th-century historian Ferishta:
Regarding the modern state of Afghanistan, the Encyclopædia of Islam explains:
There are a number of other hypotheses suggested for the name historically, all of them obsolete.