استان

Inherited from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾwstʾn /⁠ōstān⁠/), a later form of [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾwstʾm /⁠ōstām⁠/), [Inscriptional Pahlavi needed] (ʾwstʾm /⁠ōstām⁠/), Manichaean Middle Persian 𐫀‎𐫇𐫏𐫘𐫤𐫀𐫖 (ʾ‎wystʾm /⁠aꞵestām⁠/), from Old Persian *abistavānā-, as witnessed by Elamite [script needed] (ap-pi-iš-da-man-na, “domain, demesne, estate”). Also found borrowed in Old Armenian ոստան (ostan) and exotisms Arabic أُسْتَان (ʔustān) and Classical Syriac ܐܘܣܬܢܐ‏ (ʾustānā).

The word became less common over the course of the Middle Ages, but was resurrected as a purist replacement of the Arabic loan ولایت (velâyat) in the modern period.

اُسْتان • (ostân) (plural استان‌ها (ostân-hâ))

1. province

• استاندار (ostândâr)

• Ciancaglini, Claudia A. (2008) Iranian loanwords in Syriac (Beiträge zur Iranistik; 28)‎, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 103
• Gershevitch, Ilya (1969) Iranian Nouns and Names in Elamite Garb, volume 68, Istituto di Glottologia dell’Università, →DOI, page 166
• Henning, W. B. (1977) Selected Papers (Acta Iranica; 14)‎, volume 1, Tehran and Liège: Bibliothèque Pahlavi, pages 131–132, explained as Old Persian 𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎹 (abi-, “up-, over-”) +‎ 𐎿𐎫𐎠𐎴 (stāna, “-stan”), not knowing the Elamite
• Hinz, Walther (1975) Altiranisches Sprachgut der Nebenüberlieferungen (Göttinger Orientforschungen, Reihe III, Iranica; 3)‎ (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 18
• Shaki, Mansour (1984) “A few unrecognized Middle Persian terms and Phrases”, in Middle Iranian Studies. Proceedings of the International Symposium Organized by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven from the 17th to the 20th of May 1982 (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta; 16), Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, pages 95–98