Etymology
The earliest appearance of "nan" in English literature dates back to 1780, viz. in a travelogue of William Tooke. The original Persian word nān 'bread' (= Tajik non (нон)) is already attested in Middle-Persian / Pahlavi as n'n 'bread, food'. The form itself is either of Iranian or even Indo-Iranian origin; cognate forms include Parthian ngn, Balochi nagan, Sogdian nγn-, Pashto nəγan - "bread". The form naan has a widespread distribution, having been borrowed in a range of languages spoken in central Asia, and in the aftermath of Muslim conquests, also in South Asia, i.e., present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the surrounding regions. In these countries and regions, the generic designation "naan" refers to a kind of (in most cases) flatbread, baked according to locally adapted recipes. The spelling naan is first attested in 1979, and has since become the normal English spelling.
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