Editing Bactria (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:High Asia Mountain Ranges.jpg|thumb|right|Bactria closing on the mountain range of the Hindu Kush (south) and bordering the Pamirs (north), as well as places that are close to neighboring Bactria on the map as observed on the North and East, the south branch of Tianshan further north, the Ferghana Valley to the north, the western Tarim Basin to the east.]]
The modern English name of the region is Bactria. Historically, the region was first mentioned in [[Avestan]] as ''Bakhdi'' in [[Old Persian]]. This later developed into ''Bāxtriš'' in [[Middle Persian]] and ''Baxl in'' [[New Persian]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/airyanavaeja.htm|title=Aryan Homeland, Airyana Vaeja, in the Avesta. Aryan lands and Zoroastrianism.|last=Eduljee|first=Ed|website=www.heritageinstitute.com|access-date=7 September 2017}}</ref> The modern name is derived from the {{langx|grc|Βακτριανή}} ([[Romanization of Greek|Romanized Greek]] term: ''Baktrianē''), which is the [[Greek language|Hellenized]] version of the [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] [[endonym]]. Other cognates include {{lang|xbc|βαχλο}} ([[Romanization|Romanized]]: {{lang|xbc|Bakhlo}}). بلخ ([[Romanization|Romanized]]: ''Balx''), [[Chinese language|Chinese]] 大夏 ([[pinyin]]: ''Dàxià''), [[Latin]] Bactriana. The region was mentioned in ancient [[Sanskrit]] texts as बाह्लीक or ''Bāhlīka''. 

[[Wilhelm Eilers]] proposed that the region was named after the [[Balkh River]] (in Greek transliteration ''Βάκτρος'') from underlying ''Bāxtri-'', itself meaning 'she who divides', from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root *''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/bʰeh₂g-|bhag-]]'' 'to divide' (whence also [[Avestan]] {{lang|ae|bag-}} and [[Vedic Sanskrit|Old Indic]] {{lang|vsn|bháj-}}).<ref>{{cite book|last= Tavernier|first= Jan|year= 2007|title= Iranica in the Achaemenid Period (ca. 550–330 B.C.): Lexicon of Old Iranian Proper Names and Loanwords, Attested in Non-Iranian Texts|publisher= Peeters |isbn= 978-90-429-1833-7|page= 25|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kQ6zTASmo6kC&pg=PA25 }}</ref>

Bactria is the geographic location after which [[Bactrian camel]]s are named.