Afghan(i)

[A. Maberry]

"Afghani" would be the Arabic noun (inhabitant) or adjective "of or
pertaining to Afghans or Afghanistan" masc. Afghani (fem. Afghaniyah).
In Arabic this term is called al-nisbah which Wright's Grammar glosses as
Nomen relativum or, in a later section, "relative adjectives" which "are
formed by adding the termination -[macron]i to the words from which they
are derived, and denote that a person or thing belongs to or is connected
therewith (in respect of origin, family, birth, sect, trade, etc.)" v.1,
p.149, sec. C.

I wouldn't hesitate capitalize and to use it as the adjective/inhabitant.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Mark Mandel wrote:

> Apropos of Barry's restaurant-surfing and other comments, AHD3 says
> "afghani" is a unit of currency. Is there any justification for
> capitalizing it and using it as the adjective/inhabitant? I've used it
> myself, but now I'm dubious.
>
> What does it do that "Afghan" doesn't? It seems to be formed by a careless
> analogy to "Pakistani", where the root before "-istan", whatever its
> origins, is not an ethnonym.
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel
>