Barakzai

Barakzai
بارکزئ
Barakzai; بارکزئ
Ethnicity	Pashtun
Location	Afghanistan, Pakistan
Population	several millions
Branches	Mohammadzai
Language	Pashto and Dari
Religion	Islam

Bārakzai (Pashto: بارکزی, Bārakzay; plur. Pashto: بارکزي, Bārakzī) is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day, Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto.^[1] According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "In the detailed Pashtun genealogies there are no fewer than seven instances of the ethnic name Bārakzī, at very different levels of tribal segmentation. Six of them designate simple lineages within six different tribes located in the Solaymān mountains or adjacent lands... The seventh instance, on the other hand, designates one of the most important Pashtun tribes in numbers and historic role, part of the Zīrak branch of the Dorrānay confederation.^[2]

^ Martin, Mike (2014). An Intimate War: An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict, 1978-2012. Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-0199387984. Retrieved 26 July 2016. In Pushtun folklore, Barak, Alak and Popol were brothers who went their separate ways to found tribes in their own namesake with the addition of the—zai (son of) suffix, for example, Barakzai.
^ Cite error: The named reference Iranica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[1] Martin, Mike (2014). An Intimate War: An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict, 1978-2012. Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 978-0199387984. Retrieved 26 July 2016. In Pushtun folklore, Barak, Alak and Popol were brothers who went their separate ways to found tribes in their own namesake with the addition of the—zai (son of) suffix, for example, Barakzai.

[Iranica-2] Cite error: The named reference Iranica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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