Etymology
Hindustan is derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, which in turn is derived from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name for the Indus River. Old Persian refers to the people living beyond the Indus as Hinduš. This combined with the Avestan suffix -stān (cognate to Sanskrit "sthān", both meaning "place") results in Hindustan, as the land on the other side (from Persia) of the Indus. The term came into common use under the rule of the Mughals who referred to their dominion, centred on Delhi, as 'Hindustan'. A similar term, Indostan, was in common use during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to denote the countries of South Asia. Today "Indostan" is regarded as an archaism.
An alternate and infrequently cited theory on the origin of the word Hindustan puts it further the back in time. This may be based on the Sanskrit shloka from the Barhaspatya Samhita of the Rigveda (ca. 1700-1100 BC):
- Himalyam Samarabhya
- Yavadindusarovaram
- Tam Deonirmitam Desham
- Hindusthanam Prachakshate
Translation: "The country which starts from Himalayas and the borders of which reach till the Indian Ocean (Indu Sarovaram), has been created by devas and its name is Hindusthan."
Read more about this topic: Hindustan
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)