Pashto

Meaning

Noun

• The native Indo-Iranian language of the Pashtun people; an official language of Afghanistan.

Origin

• From Pashto پښتو.
• Most likely derived from Old Iranian *Parsuwā, with the basic stem *Parsū-; closely related to *Parθaʰ (“Parthian”) and Old Persian 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿, both from the earlier *Parsūa-, probably meaning "border or borderland" (in contrast to Media, meaning "central land"); cf. Sanskrit (Pāṇini) Parśu- “a (northwestern) warrior tribe” and Late Babylonian 𒌓𒍪.