Pashto, a national language of Afghanistan, is also spoken by a notable minority in Pakistan. As an archaic member of the Iranian language family, it boasts a rich vocabulary that includes many words from Old Iranian and proto-Indo-European roots, alongside a significant amount of foreign terms from Classical Greek, Persian, and modern Indian languages. Georg Morgenstierne's “Etymological Vocabulary of Pashto,” published in 1927, was the first systematic exploration of these linguistic relationships. Although he began working on a revised version, it remained unfinished at his death in 1978. Now, after a quarter-century, the “New Etymological Vocabulary of Pashto” has been compiled from Morgenstierne's notes by three prominent Iranian linguistics scholars. This new work retains the essence of Morgenstierne’s original while incorporating additional references that reflect the wealth of contemporary knowledge on modern Indo-Aryan and Middle Iranian languages like Bactrian and Khwarezmian. It supersedes the earlier vocabulary and stands alongside Morgenstierne's “Etymological Vocabulary of the Shughni Group” as a crucial reference on the history of Afghan languages. Comprehensive indexes of words from Iranian, Indo-Aryan, and other languages enhance accessibility for non-specialists.
