Altaic Language States

Afghanistan

Main article: Name of Afghanistan
"Land of the Afghans" in Persian (افغانستان, Afğânestân), attested since at least the 16th century in the Baburnama.[1] The name of Afghanistan is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, which is documented in a 10th-century geography book called Hudud al-'Alam focusing on territories south of the Hindu Kush.[2][3] The root name "Afghan" has been used historically in reference to the Pashtuns and the ending suffix -stan means "place of" in the local languages. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to the "Afghan-land; place of the Afghans" in the nation's official languages, Pashto and Dari.[4][5][6] Until the 19th century, it was used for the traditional Pashtun tribal territories between the Hindu Kush and the Indus River. The name "Afghanistan" began appearing in treaties since 1801[7] and in many written works by historians, particularly by British Indians. The Constitution of Afghanistan later clarified that this was the official name of the state.[8]

Kabul or Caboul, a former name: "Land of Kabul", a city probably deriving its name from the nearby Kabul River which was known in Sanskrit as the Kubhā,[9] possibly from Scythian ku ("water").[10] Although the city has only been attested at its present site since the eighth century, after the Islamic conquest made it preferable to the less defensible Bagram,[11] it has been linked to the Kabolitae (Ancient Greek: Καβωλῖται, Kabōlîtai)[12] and Cabura (Κάβουρα, Káboura)[13] found in some versions of Ptolemy,[14] which in turn has been claimed to have originally been a "Kambojapura" derived from Kamboja above and -pura (Sanskrit: पुर, "city").[15][verification needed]
It is said that the word 'Afghanistan' is derived from two Sanskrit words, first is avagāṇa (Sanskrit: अवगाण) which was used by the Indian astronomer Varahamihira in his Bṛhat Saṃhitā in the 6th century [16][17] and the second is sthāna (Sanskrit: स्थान) which means 'place'. So literally, 'Afghanistan' means 'place of Avaganas/Afghans'.

1. Afghanistan 
2. Azerbaijan 
3. Bulgaria 
4. Estonia 
5. Finland 
6. Hungary 
7. Japan 
8. Kazakhstan 
9. Korea (North and South) 
10. Kyrgyzstan 
11. Latvia 
12. Lithuania 
13. Mongolia 
14. Tajikistan 
15. Turkey 
16. Turkmenistan 
17. Uzbekistan 

The branches of the Altaic language familyː    Turkic languages    Mongolic languages    Tungusic languages    Japonic languages ?    Koreanic languages ?    Ainu languages ?





Azerbaijan

Main article: Azerbaijan § Etymology
"Land of Atropates", an Achaemenid then Hellenistic-era king over a region in present-day Iranian Azarbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan, south of the modern state.[75][76] Despite this difference, the present name was chosen by the Musavat to replace the Russian names Transcaucasia and Baku in 1918. "Azerbaijan" derives from Persian Āzarbāydjān, from earlier Ādharbāyagān and Ādharbādhagān, from Middle Persian Āturpātākān, from Old Persian Atropatkan. (The name is often derived from the Greek Atropatene (Ἀτροπαρηνή),[77][78] Atropátios Mēdía (Ἀτροπάτιος Μηδία),[79] or Tropatēnē (Τροπατηνή),[80] although these were exonyms and Atropatkan was never thoroughly Hellenized.) Atropatkan was a renaming of the Achaemenian XVIII Satrapy of Eastern Armenia, comprising Matiene and the surrounding Urartians and Saspirians,[81] upon Aturpat's declaration of independence from the Diadochi Seleucus following the death of Alexander the Great. Aturpat's own name (Old Persian: 

; Greek: Aτρoπάτης, Atropátēs) is the Old Persian for "protected by atar", the holy fire of Zoroastrianism.[82]
Albania, a former name: From the Latin Albānia, from the Greek Albanía (Ἀλβανία),[83] related to the Old Armenian Ałuankʿ (Աղուանք). The native Lezgic name(s) for the country is unknown,[84] but Strabo reported its people to have 26 different languages and to have only been recently unified in his time. It is often referenced as "Caucasian Albania" in modern scholarship to distinguish it from the European country above.
Arran, a former name: From the Middle Persian Arran, from Parthian Ardhan, derived via rhotacism from earlier names as above.[citation needed]
Transcaucasia, a former name: A Latinization of the Russian name Zakavkaz'e (Закавказье), both meaning "across the Caucasus Mountains" — i.e., from Russia. It appeared in the names of two states, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.


Bulgaria

Main article: Etymology of Bulgar
From the Bulgars, the extinct tribe of Turkic origin, which created the country. Their name is possibly derived from the Proto-Turkic word bulģha ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative bulgak ("revolt", "disorder")[132] Alternate etymologies include derivation from a Mongolic cognate bulğarak ("to separate", "split off")[citation needed] or from a compound of proto-Turkic bel ("five") and gur ("arrow" in the sense of "tribe"), a proposed division within the Utigurs or Onogurs ("ten tribes").[133]
Within Bulgaria, some historians question the identification of the Bulgars as a Turkic tribe, citing certain linguistic evidence (such as Asparukh's name) in favor of a North Iranian or Pamiri origin.[134][135]


Estonia

Main article: Etymology of Estonia
"Land of the Aesti", a correction of earlier Esthonia, a Latinization of the Danish Estland, from an earlier Baltic people recorded as the Ostiatoi as early as Pytheas's On the Ocean in 320 BC, possibly ultimately from the proposed Proto-Germanic *austam and Proto-Indo-European *aus- ("east").[citation needed]

Finland

Main articles: Etymology of Finland and Etymology of Finn
"Land of the Finns", from the Swedish spelling,[54] first attested in runestones in Old Norse in present-day Sweden. Early mentions of the Fenni in Tacitus's first-century Germania and the Phinnoi (Ancient Greek: wikt:Φιννοι) in Ptolemy's second-century Geography are today thought to refer to the modern Sami people. The etymology of "Finn" is uncertain: it may derive from Germanic translations of the Finnish suo ("fen")[54] or from the proposed Proto-Germanic *finne "wanderers", "hunting-folk".[215]
Suomi, the endonym: Uncertain etymology. Possibly derived from the proposed proto-Balto-Slavic *zeme "land"[216] or from the Finnish suomaa ("fen land").[54]


Hungary

Main article: Name of Hungary
Turkic: on-ogur, "(people of the) ten arrows" – in other words, "alliance of the ten tribes". Byzantine chronicles gave this name to the Hungarians; the chroniclers mistakenly assumed that the Hungarians had Turkic origins, based on their Turkic-nomadic customs and appearance, despite the Uralic language of the people. The Hungarian tribes later actually formed an alliance of the seven Hungarian and three Khazarian tribes, but the name is from before then, and first applied to the original seven Hungarian tribes. The ethnonym Hunni (referring to the Huns) has influenced the Latin (and English) spelling.

Ugre (Old Russian), Uhorshchyna (Угорщина, Ukrainian), Vengrija (Lithuanian), Vuhorščyna (Вугоршчына, Belarusian), Wędżierskô (Kashubian), and Węgry (Polish): also from Turkic "on-ogur", see above. The same root emerges in the ethnonym Yugra in Siberia, inhabited by Khanty and Mansi people, the closest relatives to Hungarians in the Uralic language family.
Magyarország (native name – "land of the Magyars"), and derivatives, e.g. Czech Maďarsko, Serbo-Croatian Mađarska, Turkish Macaristan: According to a famous Hungarian chronicle (Simon of Kéza: Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum, 1282), Magyar (Magor), the forefather of all Hungarians, had a brother named Hunor (the ancestor of the Huns); their father king Menrot, builder of the tower of Babel, equates to the Nimrod of the Hebrew Bible.


Japan

Main articles: Etymology of Japan and Names of Japan
From Geppun, Marco Polo's Italian rendition of the islands' Shanghainese name 日本 (Mandarin pinyin: rìběn, Shanghaiese pronunciation: Nyih4 Pen2, at the time approximately jitpun), or "sun-origin", i.e. "Land of the Rising Sun", indicating Japan as lying to the east of China (where the sun rises). Also formerly known as the "Empire of the Sun".
Nihon / Nippon: Japanese name, from the local pronunciation of the same characters as above.

Kazakhstan

Main article: Etymology of Kazakhstan
"Land of the Kazakhs", an amalgam of Kazakh qazaq (Қазақ, 'nomad', 'free') and Persian -stan (ستان 'land').

Korea (North and South)

Main articles: Etymology of Korea and Names of Korea
From "Gaoli," Marco Polo's Italian rendition of Gāo Lí (Chinese: 高麗), the Chinese name for Goryeo (918–1392), which had named itself after the earlier Goguryeo (37 BC–AD 668). The original name was a combination of the adjective go (고 ; 高) meaning "lofty" and a local Yemaek tribe, whose original name is thought to have been either Guru (구루, "walled city") or Gauri (가우리, "center").
South Koreans call Korea Hanguk (한국) from Samhan (1st century BC-1CE).
North Koreans call it Chosŏn (조선) from Gojoseon (?–108 BC).


Kyrgyzstan

"Land of the forty tribes", from three words: kyrg (kırk) meaning "forty", yz (uz) meaning "tribes" in East-Turkic, and -stan meaning "land" in Persian.

Latvia
Main article: Latvian people
Emerged in the 19th century by combining ethnonym with finale -ija. The meaning and origin of name of Latvian people is unclear, however the root lat-/let- is associated with several Baltic hydronyms and might share common origin with the Liet- part of neighbouring Lithuania (Lietuva, see below) and name of Latgalians - one of the Baltic tribes that are considered ancestors of modern Latvian people.

Lithuania

Multiple theories: Some link it to the word lieti ("to consolidate" or "to unite"), referring to the first union of tribes in ethnic Lithuanian lands (not lands of Balts, but lands of ancient tribes of Lithuanians including Prussians, nowadays Latvians and Belarusians).

Alternatively, could be a hydronym, possibly from a small river Lietava in central Lithuania. That hydronym has been associated with Lithuanian lieti (root lie- "pour" or "spill"). Compare to Old Slavic liyati (лыиати "pour"), Greek a-lei-son (α-λει-σον "cup"), Latin litus ("seashore"), Tocharian A lyjäm ("lake").

Historically, attempts have been made to suggest a direct descendance from the Latin litus (see littoral). Litva (genitive: Litvae), an early Latin variant of the toponym, appears in a 1009 chronicle describing an archbishop "struck over the head by pagans on the border of Russia/Prussia and Litvae". A 16th-century scholar associated the word with the Latin word litus ("tubes")—a possible reference to wooden trumpets played by Lithuanian tribesmen.

A folkloric explanation is that the country's name in the Lithuanian language (Lietuva) is derived from a word lietus ("rain") and means "a rainy place".

Mongolia

"Land of the Mongols" in Latin. "Mongol" ultimately from Mongolian Mongol (монгол) of uncertain etymology, given variously as the name of a mountain or river; a corruption of the Mongolian Mongkhe-tengri-gal ("Eternal Sky Fire");[268] or a derivation from Mugulu, the 4th-century founder of the Rouran Khaganate.[269] First attested as the Mungu[270] (Chinese: 蒙兀, Modern Chinese Měngwù, Middle Chinese Muwngu[271]) branch of the Shiwei in an 8th-century Tang dynasty list of northern tribes, presumably related to the Liao-era Mungku[270] (Chinese: 蒙古, Modern Chinese Měnggǔ, Middle Chinese MuwngkuX[272]) tribe now known as the Khamag Mongol. The last head of the tribe was Yesügei, whose son Temüjin eventually united all the Shiwei tribes as the Mongol Empire (Yekhe Monggol Ulus).

Tajikistan

Main article: Etymology of Tajikistan
"Home of the Tajiks", a Persian-speaking ethnic group, with the suffix -stan. Sogdian Tājīk (j pronounced /ʒ/) was the local pronunciation of New Persian Tāzī, from Sassanian Persian Tāzīg, derived from the Tayy tribe and meaning "Arab". The Tajiks were New Persian–speaking Muslims, although not necessarily Arabs.[303] (An alternate etymology[citation needed] is via Tibetan Tag Dzig, meaning "Persian" and "tiger" or "leopard".)


Turkey

Main articles: Etymology of Turkey and Name of Turkey
"Land of the Turks", Latin Turcia and Arabic Turkiyye, an ethnic group whose name derives from their endonym Türk ("created"). Some historical use:
The Greek cognate of this name, Tourkia (Greek: Τουρκία) was used by the Byzantine emperor and scholar Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his book De Administrando Imperio;[315][316] though in his use, "Turks" always referred to Magyars.[317]

The Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its contemporaries.[318]
The medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the northern shores of the Black and Caspian seas, was referred to as Tourkia ("land of the Turks") in Byzantine sources.[319]
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) is known in local language as "Sulṭanat Misr al-Mamālīk Dawla al-Turkiyya"


Turkmenistan

"Home (stān) of the Turkmens", an ethnic group whose name derives from the Sogdian Türkmen ("Turk-like"), in reference to their status outside the Turkic dynastic mythological system.[320] However, modern scholars sometimes prefer to see the suffix as an intensifier, changing the meaning to "pure Turk" or "most Turk-like of the Turks".[321] Muslim chroniclers such as Ibn-Kathir advocated a pseudoetymology from Türk and iman (Arabic: إيمان‎‎, "faith, belief") in reference to a mass conversion of two hundred thousand households in 971 (AH 349).[322]


Uzbekistan

"Home of the Free", from an amalgamation of uz (Turkic: "self"), bek (Turkic: "master", "bey in modern Turkish"), and -stan (Persian: "land of").


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country-name_etymologies#A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altaic_languages