<P> The suffix - stan (Persian: ـستان ‎, translit . stân) is Persian for "place of" or "country". It appears in the names of many regions, especially in Central and South Asia, but also in the Caucasus and Russia; areas where significant amounts of Persian culture were spread or adopted . </P> <P> The suffix, originally an independent noun, but evolving into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds, is of Indo - Iranian and ultimately Indo - European origin: It is cognate with Sanskrit sthā́na (Devanagari: Sanskrit: स्थान (st̪haːna)), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location", and ultimately descends from Proto - Indo - Iranian * sthāna - . </P>

What does stan mean at the end of a country name