Editing Pashtuns (section)

=== Linguistic origin ===
[[File:Saka warrior Termez Achaeological Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sculpture]] of a [[Saka]] warrior in [[Termez]], [[Uzbekistan]]]]
Pashto is generally classified as an [[Eastern Iranian]] language.<ref>{{cite web|quote=(69) Paṣ̌tō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch. It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Comrie|first=Bernard|title=The World's Major Languages|year=2009|quote="Pashto belongs to the North-Eastern group within the Iranian Languages"}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Afghanistan volume 28|publisher=Historical Society of Afghanistan.|year=1975|quote=Pashto originally belonged to the north – eastern branch of the Iranic languages}}</ref> It shares features with the [[Munji language]], which is the closest existing language to the extinct [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Waghmar|first1=Burzine|last2=Frye|first2=Richard N.|title=Bactrian History and Language: An Overview|journal=Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute|date=2001|volume=64|pages=40–48}}</ref> but also shares features with the [[Sogdian language]], as well as [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmian]], [[Shughni language|Shughni]], [[Sanglechi language|Sanglechi]], and [[Khotanese language|Khotanese Saka]].<ref>{{cite web|quote="It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian. The Waṇ. dialect shares with Munǰī the change of -t- > -y-/0. If we want to assume that this agreement points to some special connection, and not to a secondary, parallel development, we should have to admit that one branch of pre-Paṣ̌tō had already, before the splitting off of Waṇ., retained some special connection with Munǰī, an assumption unsupported by any other facts. Apart from l <*δ the only agreement between Paṣ̌tō and Munǰī appears to be Pṣ̌t. zə; Munǰī zo/a "I." Note also Pṣ̌t. l but Munǰī x̌ < θ (Pṣ̌t. plan "wide", cal(w)or "four", but Munǰī paҳəy, čfūr, Yidḡa čšīr < *čəҳfūr). Paṣ̌tō has dr-, wr- < *θr-, *fr- like Khotanese Saka (see above 23). An isolated, but important, agreement with Sangl. is the remarkable change of *rs/z > Pṣ̌t. ҳt/ǧd; Sangl. ṣ̌t/ẓ̌d (obəҳta "juniper;" Sangl. wəṣ̌t; (w)ūǧd "long;" vəẓ̌dük) (see above 25). But we find similar development also in Shugh. ambaҳc, vūγ̌j. The most plausible explanation seems to be that *rs (with unvoiced r) became *ṣ̌s and, with differentiation *ṣ̌c, and *rz, through *ẓ̌z > ẓ̌j (from which Shugh. ҳc, γ̌j). Pṣ̌t. and Sangl. then shared a further differentiation into ṣ̌t, ẓ̌d ( > Pṣ̌t. ҳt, ğd)."|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref>

It is suggested by some that Pashto may have originated in the [[Badakhshan]] region and is connected to a [[Saka language]] akin to Khotanese.<ref>{{Cite web|quote=It is, however, possible that the original home of Paṣ̌tō may have been in Badaḵšān, somewhere between Munǰī and Sangl. and Shugh., with some contact with a Saka dialect akin to Khotanese.|title=Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref> In fact major linguist [[Georg Morgenstierne]] has described Pashto as a [[Saka language|Saka]] dialect and many others have observed the similarities between Pashto and other Saka languages as well, suggesting that the original Pashto speakers might have been a [[Saka]] group.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indo-Iranica|publisher=Iran Society|year=1946|location=Kolkata, India|pages=173–174|quote=... and their language is most closely related to on the one hand with Saka on the other with Munji-Yidgha}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bečka|first=Jiří|title=A Study in Pashto Stress|publisher=Academia|year=1969|pages=32|quote=Pashto in its origin, is probably a Saka dialect.}}</ref> Furthermore, Pashto and [[Ossetian language|Ossetian]], another Scythian-descending language, share cognates in their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheung|first=Jonny|title=Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb|publisher=(Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)|year=2007}}</ref> Cheung suggests a common isogloss between Pashto and Ossetian which he explains by an undocumented Saka dialect being spoken close to reconstructed Old Pashto which was likely spoken north of the [[Amu Darya|Oxus]] at that time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cheung|first=Jonny|title=Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb|publisher=(Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)|year=2007}}</ref> Others however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to [[Old Avestan]].<ref>{{Cite web|quote=But it seems that the Old Iranic ancestor dialect of Paṣ̌tō must have been close to that of the Gathas.|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/afghanistan-vi-pasto}}</ref>