Afghanistan, where sword remains mightier than pen, can't even decide whether to use the Pashtu or the Dari word for 'university'

[Nicholas Ostler]

Dennis Baron wrote:
> There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
> Afghanistan, where sword remains mightier than pen, can't even decide 
> whether to use the Pashtu or the Dari word for 'university'
>
> This week, as Afghanistan continued to outpace Iraq in the two 
> countries' olympic race toward self-destruction, the Loya Jirga, or 
> Afghan parliament, debated whether to use the Pashtu or the Dari word 
> for 'university' in the new higher education law. Delegates also 
> argued over which of the nation's two official languages should be 
> used in class.
>
> ... A reporter for a state-run newspaper was recently fined for using 
> the Dari word for 'university' instead of the Pashtu one, even though 
> that Persian word is on Kabul University’s official seal.
>
One of the frustrating things about this story, as retailed passim in 
the English-language press, is that we are told neither the Dari nor the 
Pashtu words at issue (You can almost see the editor's knowing wink: 
"What sane person would care about two words in non-European languages? 
This is just for fun!")

This seems to have led Dennis Baron into an error. Looking at a 
Persian-language report (e.g. http://tinyurl.com/5ww7bf) it is clear 
that the Dari/Persian word is دانشگاه (dâneshgâh) while the Pashtu is 
پوهنتون (pohantun).

Dennis kindly exhibits the relevant seal from Kabul on his Web of 
Language (http://tinyurl.com/6blufj). But it clearly bears the Pashtu 
word for university.

So the Kabul University authorities are only guilty of a foolish 
consistency, not reduced ad absurdum.

-- 
Nicholas Ostler
nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk