Editing Tashkent (section)

===Etymology===
During its long history, Tashkent has undergone various changes in names and political and religious affiliations. [[Al-Biruni|Abu Rayhan Biruni]] wrote that the city's name Tashkent comes from the turkic ''tash'' and persian ''kent'', literally translated as "Stone City" or "City of Stones".<ref>Sachau, Edward C. Alberuni's India: an Account of the Religion. Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about AD 1030, vol. 1 London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRtJBNBR & CO. 1910. p.298.</ref>

[[Ilya Gershevitch]] (1974:55, 72) (apud Livshits, 2007:179) traces the city's old name Chach back to [[Iranian languages#Old Iranian|Old Iranian]] *''čāiča-'' "area of water, lake" (cf. ''Čaēčista'', the [[Aral Sea]]'s name in the [[Avesta]]) (whence [[Middle Chinese]] transcription *''źiäk'' > [[standard Chinese]] ''Shí'' with [[Chinese character]] 石 for "stone"<ref>{{iranica|Čāč|Čāč}}</ref><ref>{{iranica|personal-names-sogdian-1-in-chinese-sources|Personal Names, Sogdian i. in Chinese sources}}</ref>), and *''Čačkand'' ~ ''Čačkanθ'' was the basis for [[Turkic language|Turkic]] adaptation Tashkent, popularly etymologized as "stone city".<ref name = "livshits2007">Livshits, Vladimir (2007). "The Leader of the People of Chach in Sogdian Inscriptions" in Macuch, Maggi, & Sundermann (eds.) ''Iranian Languages and Texts from Iran and Turan. Ronald E. Emmerick Memorial Volume''. p. 179</ref> Livshits proposes that ''Čač'' originally designated only the [[Aral Sea]] before being used for the Tashkent oasis.<ref name = "livshits2007"/>

Ünal (2022) critiques Gershevitch's and Livshits's etymology as being "based on too many assumptions". He instead derives the name ''Čač'' from Late [[Proto-Turkic]] *''t<sub>1</sub>iāt<sub>2</sub>(ă)'' "stone", which he proposes to be seemingly another translation, besides the apparent Chinese translation 石 ''shí'' "stone", of *''kaŋk-'' (whence Chinese transcription 康居 [[Eastern Han Chinese|EHC]] *''kʰɑŋ-kɨɑ'' > [[standard Chinese]] ''[[Kangju|Kāngjū]]''), which possibly meant "stone". Against [[Harold Walter Bailey]]'s and [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]]'s suggested [[Tocharian languages|Tocharian]] origin for *''kaŋk-'', Ünal proposes that it was instead an [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] word and compares it to [[Pashto]] ''kā́ṇay'' "stone".<ref>Ünal, Orçun (2022). [https://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp325_proto_Turkic_consonants.pdf "On *p- and Other Proto-Turkic Consonants"] ''[[Sino-Platonic Papers]]'', '''325''', pp. 45-46</ref>