Toponymy of the Swat Valley: Linguistic Archaeology by Matteo De Chiara

Swāt valley represents a paradise for scholars dealing with archaeology, history, anthropology, linguistics... The chronological stratification of civilizations, languages and cultures offers the possibility of developing endless research projects.
The present work deals with an aspect of Swāt until now quite neglected: toponymy. Indeed, notwithstanding the abundance of publications on the archaeology of the Swāt valley (cf. OLIVIERI 2006, 2009b, 2014 and 2018 for a general bibliographical survey), much work still remains to be done in this specific field. The task has been rendered particularly irksome due to the difficulties of free circulation in the region, especially after the beginning of the war in 2007. Nowadays a fully stabilised situation has re-opened the region to research and to economic development.
The main goal of this work is to offer new materials on the linguistic and ethnic situation of Swāt from a diachronic point of view. Therefore, I do not intend to provide a full synchronic description of all toponyms, even if sometimes more materials were available (cf. for instance in the case of Barikot), but I try to provide a general presentation of every item, its position, previous mentions, a summary description, and an etymological analysis (see conclusions). A more detailed survey will surely bring interesting surprises and remarks, as suggested by the micro-toponymy of the limited areas of the Kandak and nearby valleys (see Appendix)