The suffix -(i)s(e)tan in Classical Persian and descendants means roughly “place of $noun”. While you see it often being attached to human groups, that isn’t the only way to use it. Like,
flower garden: ⟨بستان⟩ bostân = place of fragrance[s]
hospital: ⟨بیمارستان⟩ bimârestân = place of [the] ill
summer: ⟨تابستان⟩ tâbestân = place of heat
rural district: ⟨دهستان⟩ dehestân = place of village[s]
etc.
So you could theoretically name some place after the local fauna with -stan.
It helps if you remember that suffix is cognate to “stand”, “status” (see status quo), “stay”.
This gets more amazing the more I look at it, but why Duckstan?
Probably because of the common eider. I’m not sure what is its state in the wild, but Iceland makes up the majority of eiderdown harvests globally.
The suffix -(i)s(e)tan in Classical Persian and descendants means roughly “place of
$noun”. While you see it often being attached to human groups, that isn’t the only way to use it. Like,So you could theoretically name some place after the local fauna with -stan.
It helps if you remember that suffix is cognate to “stand”, “status” (see status quo), “stay”.
Thanks for the explanation but I was more wondering what Iceland has to do with ducks.
Ah, my bad; I don’t know it either.