Why do so many counties have names that end in “-istan”?
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It’s a derivative of a (Proto)Indo-European root approximated to “steh”. Over the approximate 6 millennia this word has given rise to pretty much the same word in many related languages.
You find it in English – e.g. “stead” and “stand”. It’s in German with “stadt” and “stehen”. The Nordic languages have it with “sted”/”stad” and “stå”. Latin and its many children has it: “status”, and so does Greek. In any case, it means something that stands, either literally or figuratively (like a place).
As a suffix, “-sta” is common in placenames in certain regions of Sweden. Quite fascinating that there’s an obvious link between Swedish placenames and central Asian ones, which only further cements the argument for Swedistan..
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