Etymograph

English

Taliban

Taliban comes from Pashto طالبان ‘students, seekers’, and goes back to Arabic طَالِب.

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentطَالِبṭālib‘seeker, student’
  2. Pashtomodernطالبانtālibān‘students, seekers’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2005Taliban

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentطَالِبṭālib‘seeker, student’
  2. Pashtomodernطالبانtālibān‘students, seekers’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2005Taliban

Earliest quotation: 2005, Scott Baldauf, Taliban coming in from cold: “We will deal with the Afghan Taliban through dialogue.…”

Every English word from Arabic طَالِب

Today it means

name A Deobandi Islamist and largely Pashtun religious political movement founded in Afghanistan in 1994 by mullah Mohammad Omar, which has governed the country from 1996 to 2001 and since 2021.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Arabic طَالِب / Taliban

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