--- In cybalist@..., "Davius Sanctex" <davius_sanctex@...> wrote:
> According to historical sources modern Kandahar was founded (or
renamed) by Alexander the Great around 330 a.C., it is posible that
the toponim <Kandahar> is his historical related to <Alexandria>, for
example:
>
> Alexandria > *Al-Ksandar > *Al-Kandsar > *Kandasar > Kandahar
>
> (This chain is just an imagitive one, I don't consider it
seriously!)
>
> Davius Sanctex
This question about the etymology of the name Kandahar has
been circulating around the cybalist, IndianCivilization list,
and the Indology list for awhile now. It appears that nobody
online can give an authoritative answer. It would be helpful
to know in which language the name is first attested and in
exactly what form, vowel length included. I know that there's
a variation 'Qandahar'. Davius' suggestion doesn't seem right
because it appears as if he's arabicizing 'Alexander', applying
metathesis, and then the I.Ir. > Ir. change of 's' to 'h'. If
so, that's an impossible sequence. If the word really must be
traced to Alexander's name, then the problem is the 'h' between
the 'd' and 'r'. We can't simply insert it, and Indo-Aryan
'dh' is a single phoneme that can't split into two with a vowel
between them just because we transcribe it as a sequence.
This has been suggested so as to derive it from Gandhara.
It seems to me that '-har' should be considered a seperate
component. If we start with the closest eastern variation
of Alexander's name 'Skandar', then we should start with
something like *Skandar-har(a)-/-dhar(a)-. Although I have
no idea what 'har(a)' or 'dhar(a)' would mean or even in which
language group to look. Indo-Aryan? Iranian? Turkic? Elsewhere
(
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndianCivilization/message/11661 )
I also suggested a derivation from the Iranian kantha- that
appears in the city names Samarkand, Yarkand, and Taškent,
but there seems to be a widespread insistence on a
connection with Alexander.
David