You might not realize that many country names have the same ending. Starting from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. These five countries have the same name ending that often makes us confused with their names.
Apart from that, countries like Finland, Thailand, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland and Poland also have the same name ending. So, why does this happen? Here are the facts.
Country name ending in Stan comes from Persian
The suffix "-stan" is an interesting phenomenon found in many different languages but is primarily believed to have originated from the Persian language. It is a widely-used suffix that carries a range of meanings related to place, such as "where one stands" or "place of," and also "land."
According to various sources, a number of countries made the name as a country name based on the Persian Empire that once ruled the Asian land.
Until later, after being divided, various words or languages were still used by Asian countries such as Russia, Turkey, and Slavic. In addition, these names were also influenced by the Turkish Empire. Moreover, the country now led by Rajib Tayyip Erdogan used to control some remote areas in Russia.
So, the use of Persian in countries ending in booth was pioneered by Turkey, which controlled the language.
No wonder, countries such as Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan use the suffix stan because the inhabitants of these countries were known to have used Persian before they were formed into countries.
Country names ending in Land come from Germanic languages
Besides ending in stan, countries that have the same ending name are Finland, Thailand, Iceland, Ireland, Greenland and Poland. These countries are known to come from the Germanic language group.
Just like Stan, the naming of the suffix land in a country also means homeland or where people live. It is claimed that the naming of the land suffix is based on the extensive explorations of European nations in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Even before that, the Germanic language group is said to have spread in Asia, Central, Northern and Western Europe. It is no wonder that the use of the land suffix in every country today is based on the spread of Germanic languages from ancient times.
Even so, many countries don't always make their country names based on language. Take the United States of America for example. The name of this superpower is known to come from the name Amerigo Vespucci, the discoverer of the American Continent.
Not only that, there is also Bolivia which comes from the name of their hero, Simon Bolivar, and the Philippines which stems from the name of the king, King Philip II. Finally, Saudi Arabia also comes from the name of their leader, Muhammad Bin Saud.
That's the real fact why country suffix names are often the same. That is, the naming was not because of the bandwagon, but has its own history.
It turns out that if you look for the origins, many of the names of countries that we know are not just names, but have meaning and history behind them.
