What does the -stan ending of a country name mean?

Answer 1

Stan is the route of the English words, stay and stand, and is of Persian origin. Its use at the end of a country name stems from the manner in which the Persians referred to the homelands of various peoples. Its original meaning is something similar to "place of." Thus, Afghanistan, literally means, "place of the Afghani". At times, "stan" is inaccurately misconstrued to mean "land" however, "place," with it's present day meaning is actually more accurate. Land can refer to a place, but can also refer to the actual dirt and rocks under our feet. Whereas, place can refer to any place. Place is a more accurate match due to its inherent ambiguity of meaning. "Place of" referred originally to very unspecific areas within which a particular people lived. While there may have been some well defined borders and landmarks defining those areas, in many cases specific borders were nonexistant. In ancient history, it was common for large peoples to migrate slowly as resources were depleted in certain areas, so borders could be a bit more ambiguous.

Thus, wherever those people were, that was "their place." Of course, most borders are about as permanent as they will ever be these days, and human migration is restricted by those borders. The former "stans" of thousands of years ago, are now more firmly defined by geopolitical boundaries than in the past. The use of "land" as its meaning today is just as accurate as "place of," but tends to confuse the true etymology of the word.

Answer 2

I believe it means home or land. So Afghanistan would be roughly translated as home/land of the Afghans.