Samanid Empire
Under the Samanid Empire (819–999), whose founder Saman Khuda was a Persian Zoroastrian convert to Islam, the city came to be known as Binkath. However, the Arabs retained the old name of "Chach" for the surrounding region, pronouncing it "ash-Shash" () instead. Kand, qand, kent, kad, kath, kud—all meaning a city—are derived from the Persian/Sogdian کنده kanda, meaning a town or a city. They are found in city names such as Samarkand, Yarkand, Panjakent, Khujand etc.).