# Asian languages: Londonstani



## amelesperanza

Hi everybody!

I was reading an article about the book of Gautam Malkani, _Londonstani_, and I was just wondering if _stani_ means something in Hindi or urdu or any South Asian language. If it does, could you please helpe me to translate it?
Thank you in advance!


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## linguist786

I don't know if this is the complete answer, but it's basically a way of showing someone's nationality. 

The nationalities for which the "-stani" suffix works is for places ending in "-stan" (so: Pakistan, Hindustan (Hindi word for India), Kazakhstan, Uzbekhistan, etc). So if you think about it, these countries are mainly in Asia.

Now since "London" has no "-stan" ending, "Londonstani" is a sarcastic way of saying "an asian person living in London" (it could be considered racist by some people). If you've ever watched the film "East is East" (very funny!), a family is going to Bradford where there is a huge asian population so some racist person had changed the "Bradford" sign (when entering into Bradford) to "Bradistan" - basically implying that the whole of Bradford is filled with asians


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## vince

-Stan is the Persian equivalent of Germanic -land (e.g. England, Deutschland, Russland) or Latin/Slavic -ia (Francia, Alemania, Russia). The -stan ending is related to Spanish "estar".

The following non-Western/Central Asian countries are -stan countries in at least one language:

- Bulgaristan (Bulgaria in Turkish)
- Chinastan (Armenian for China)
- Hirvatistan (Turkish for Croatia)
- Yunanistan (Turkish for Greece)
- Lehastan (Persian for Poland)
- Majaristan (Persian for Hungary)
- Rusastan (Armenian for Russia)
- Sirbistan (Persian for Serbia)
- Engelestan (Persian for England)


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## linguist786

Very interesting vince! Thanks for that.


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## werrr

Oh Vince, slow down. Latin/Slavic -ia (-ie) is often used in country names but it is'nt equivalent of -stan or -land.

This Londonistan reminds me Absurdistan. This name was used for communistic Czechoslovakia and sometimes is still (perhaps justifiably) used for today's Czech Republic.


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## panjabigator

The term stan comes from Persian.  The term sthan comes from Sanskrit...but they are sister languages so they must be related.  Stan literally means land, so Londonstan would be the land of the London, literally.  A londonstani would be a somone from the land of the london, but the term is most likely aimed at labeling someone from South Asian decent.


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## vince

werrr said:
			
		

> Oh Vince, slow down. Latin/Slavic -ia (-ie) is often used in country names but it is'nt equivalent of -stan or -land.
> 
> This Londonistan reminds me Absurdistan. This name was used for communistic Czechoslovakia and sometimes is still (perhaps justifiably) used for today's Czech Republic.



What I mean is when -ia is at the end of a country name or group. Of course I am not referring to non-country-related words that just happen to end with ia, like "nostalgia" or "biologia".

-stan means "land" or "home of", it is from proto-Indo-European -*sta (stand), from which Spanish "estar" comes.


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## amelesperanza

Thank you all for your help, now I can understand the title and the relationship with the story of the book. _Londonstani_ refers to south asians living or born in London. It makes sense because London is full of them, I can just remember Southhall area, I used to go there when I was living in London, I thought I was in India or Pakistan! how funny!


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