Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language

Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
3
The Kurdish Language from
Oral Tradition to Written Language
It is a great pleasure for me, and certainly for all others who
are truly interested in the emancipation of the suppressed
Kurdish language, that this international conference is taking
place. It will shed light on some practical implications and the
future perspectives of the Kurdish language. As an orientalist,
respectively as an Iranologist, and as a person who has dealt
for around forty years with the multi-faceted problematics of
Kurdish language, history, and culture, I know the meaning,
value, and necessity of events such as this, and treasure
them. Let me therefore take the opportunity to thank the
Kurdish Institute in Paris and the Sorbonne University for their
efforts in making this meeting possible. I hope very much
indeed that this gathering will not be both a first and final
occasion but rather a starting point on the long road towards
the serious nurturing and research of the Kurdish language,
spoken by some forty million stateless and endangered
people.
The unprejudiced academics who study Kurdish history are
united in the view that the Kurds are an ancient race (1).The
Kurds have lived for many thousands of years -even longer
than written documentation can reflect- in a land that has
been described as the 'cradle of human civilisation'. We need
only think of Jewish and Islamic mythology, which designates
Mount Judi (Cudi) in Kurdistan as the resting place of Noah's
ark (2); we know from history that in the land of the Kurds and
its surrounding territories numerous advanced civilisations
existed, such as that of Mesopotamia, of the Hittites, the
Hurrites; the Karduchi, the Mittanis, the Parthians, and the
Sassanids. Additionally, many of the world’s major religions
have found their place in the land of' the Kurds, such as, for
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example, Mithraism (the Cult of the Sun), Mazdaism
(Zoroastrianism), mystery religions, Judaism, Christianity,
Manichaeism, and Islam. Even today in Kurdistan one finds a
large number of Kurdo-syncretic religious communities (3)
such as the Ezidi, Kakayi (Yarsan or Ahl i-Haqq, or 'People of
Truth'), Alevi, Shabak, Sarayi, Bajwan, Haqqa, etc., all of
whom bear witness to the fact that the Kurds are the heirs of a
vastly rich cultural heritage.
The Kurds have played a remarkable role in the history of the
Orient, both before and after the rise of Islam in the seventh
century. After the partial islamification of the Kurds, Moslem
Kurds participated in the foundation of the Arabian, Persian,
and Turkish Dynasties with a degree of selflessness seldom
seen in any other people. To cite just a few examples: The
founding of the Abbasid Dynasty on the part of the
revolutionary Kurd Abu Muslimi Khorasani in the year 750
C.E., Saladin (1137-1193) and his reversal of the conquest of
Palestine by the Crusaders in the twelfth century; the
foundation of the Safavid Dynasty (1501/ 2-1736) at the start
of the 16th century by Ismail Shah Safi, son of the Kurd Sheikh
Safi, leader of an order of Dervishes, and last, but not least the
foundation of the Ottoman Empire, which was supported by
the majority of the independent Kurdish principalities. They
formally united with the Ottoman Dynasty in 1515, after the
famous battle of Chaldiran, in which the Ottomans, with the
help of the Kurds, defeated the Persians. Thus the Ottoman
Empire began.
The military and political achievements of the Kurds on behalf
of their neighbours were not all; the outstanding contributions
of Kurdish scholars and artists in enriching Arabic, Persian,
and Turkish culture (4), and their contribution to the wealth of
Islam was so great, that of the four people designated by the
famous Moslem scholar Ghazzali as 'pillars of the Islamic
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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culture', three are Kurds (5). The fact that the Kurds for
centuries didn't concentrate their efforts on the foundation of
their own State, or the cultivation of their own language and
culture, drew the attention of outsiders. The Ottoman Turk
chronicler Shamsaddin Sami wrote in the last century in his
lexicon 'Qamus EI-Aalam' (Dictionary of Names):
'All of the educated Kurds occupied themselves with the Arabic and
Persian language, while ignoring their own language' (6).
Just one example: The Kurdish Moslem scholar Sheikh Marifi
Node (yi) Barzinji (1733-1838) was the author of more than 46
considerable works in the Arabic and Persian languages (7).
These works were on jurisprudence, ethics, theology,
astronomy, philology and literature. Node (yi) Barzinji lived to
the age of 85 and wrote only one book in Kurdish. It was a
small Arabic-Kurdish glossary of some hundred words. In the
introduction to this work, Barzinji tells us in the Persian
language why he wrote it. I cite him: "In order that my son
Ahmad will be able to learn Arabic vocabulary more easily.
Therefore, I have named the book Ahmadia." (8).
It is very interesting to notice that within those Kurdish
principalities which were governed by independent Kurdish
dynasties such as, for example, Hasnavi (founded 959) (9),
Dostaki (990 - 1096) (10), etc., the Kurdish language was not
used as the official written language. It remained, however, the
language of the people and was the main means of
communication between the people and their rulers. This
neglect and lack of concern caused negative repercussions for
the Kurds which can still be felt today. It is not entirely clear
why the educated Kurds invested their intellectual 'capital' on
others' soil, so to speak. We only want to expound briefly on
this theme, as it belongs to another chapter, to which as well,
belongs the question of why educated Kurds were not able (or
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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not willing) to import others' capital into Kurdistan in order to
make their own people more 'Arabic' or 'Persian'. In any case,
if one doesn't speak about one's self, or doesn't pursue one's
own interests, others will do it for you and often incorrectly.
Thus, since the dawn of time, the phantasmagorical
explanations for the origin of the Kurds, and the diminishing
opinions of the value of the Kurdish language were created.
We only want to expound briefly on this theme: For over a
thousand years Arab historians, such as, for example, El
Masudi (died 956/7) (11), bn-Hawqal (died circa 977), etc.,
have asserted that the Kurds are descended from spirits. The
Persian epic poet Firdosi (932? -1020) regarded the Kurds in
his epic poem 'Shahname' (The King's Book) as the
descendants of those young people who were saved from
being decapitated by the tyrant Zohak (Ajdahak), and
managed to flee into the mountains (12). Khoja Saddadin
(1537-1599) the Turkish Mufti of the Ottoman Empire wrote in
his book 'Taj ül-Tawarikh' (The Crown of Histories):
"It has been decreed by God that the Kurds cannot found a state
because, once upon a time, a very ugly and frightening man visited
the prophet Mohammed. The prophet was scared, and asked the
man from whence he came. The guest answered in a friendly and
respectful manner that he was a Kurd. The prophet lifted his head
to the sky and said, 'Thou, God, must not allow the Kurds to unify;
their unification would cause the destruction of the world".(13)
The disparagement of the Kurdish identity and language goes
so far as to be reflected in a popular rhyme (translated from
Persian) such as the following:
'Arabic is the Alpha and Omega,
Persian is (as sweet as) sugar,
Turkish is a work of art,
Kurdish is a donkey's fart.'
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The neglect of the Kurdish language by Kurdish intellectuals is
a fact, and so is the abundance of myths and legends
generated on the subject. Just one more example to make the
point: The founder of the Bahai religion, Bahaullah (1817-
1892), who lived two years in Kurdistan (1854-56) disguised
under the assumed name af 'Dervesh Mohammed', called the
Kurdish language 'the language of Adam'. He asserted that
Adam spoke Kurdish because, in his opinion, Kurdish had 'no
grammar' (14). Bahaulla didn't voice an opinion as to which
language Adam used when he spoke to his bride Eve. It would
also be interesting to know in what language Eve spoke; the
prophet Bahaullah didn't tell us.
Language is an intellectual product of mankind. Every
language (Esperanto excepted) began orally, as a medium for
trade and communication. Historical circumstances allowing,
such an oral language can develop into a written language.
These circumstances are socially limited. Sometimes religious
factors play a part, sometimes political factors, at other times
economic or psychological factors or indeed a combination of
all these elements. It appears to us that religious factors
played a decisive role in ancient times, first in the development
from spoken to written language, and then in its
standardisation.
The Kurds need only to look at their neighbours to see this.
Armenian script, for example, was created in the year 406 by
the Christian missionary Mesrop Mashthotz, in order to
document religious texts in Armenian. The Islamic religion,
respectively the holy book of Islam, the Quran (Koran), which
was revealed in the Quraish dialect, turned this dialect into the
written language of all Arabs.
As previously stated Kurdistan has been throughout history,
and is still today, the land of the most varied religions.
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Research into the already mentioned Kurdo-syncretic religious
communities gives us prolific evidence that in ancient times the
Mazdaistic religion above all other religions was the most
widespread among the Kurds in Kurdistan. As everyone who is
familiar with Zoroastrianism knows, this religion is written in
Avesta. ln my opinion, Avesta is a source of ancient Kurdish. I
know that there are those who disagree with me on this. ln my
opinion they have not studied the Kurdish language with the
intensity and impartiality required, and not in its entirety.
When they do, they will share my conviction that at one time
Avesta must have been spoken in Kurdistan, otherwise they
must find another explanation for the origin of the Kurdish
language and there is absolutely no such explanation. Thus, if
we can agree that the Kurds, in contrast to the assertions of
the early Arabic and Persian 'scholars', cannot be descendants
from spirits, and didn't fall from the sky like angels, we have to
admit that they are the descendants of those people who since
time immemorial lived in the ancient country of the Medes, and
respectively, in the earliest times practised the Mazdaistic
religion, and spoke the Avestan language. Fortunately recent
efforts have been aimed in this direction which support our
long held opinion, notably the researches of Kirmashan, East-
Kurdistan-born scholar, Imadaddin Dolatshahi on unidentified
mountains, the names of which were handed-down in the
Avestan language. This author has shown, with the aid of
philological explanations that these mountains are none other
than those to be identified in today’s Kurdistan. I strongly
recommend a study of this book, which is written in the
Persian language (15).
Only a small part of the Kurdish language has been
researched. ln order to research Kurdish, we need to establish
an Institute for Kurdological Studies. Nowhere in the world is
there any sort of Institute which is really dedicated to
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Kurdology, not even the three Universities of South-Kurdistan
(Dihok, Hawler, and Suleymani), which were established and
are administrated by the Kurdish government in the so called
'Kurdish Zone', contain neither a Kurdological Institute nor a
Department of 'Kurdology'. There, as well as in many
European universities (amongst others, in Paris), Kurdish
language, literature, and, sometimes, history courses are
taught. This is not, however, Kurdology. Kurdology is the study
of the Kurdish language in its historical dimensions, conducted
along scientific principles. Without a thorough and systematic
comparison of Kurdish to Old-Iranian, Middle-Iranian, and
Modern-Iranian languages, there exists no true Kurdology.
It is important to know that Kurdology in Iraq, particularly under
the Baath regime, be forbidden. It was permitted to study the
Kurdish language at the University of Baghdad and Suleymani
(later Hawler), but to consider the Kurdish language an Iranian
language or to compare Kurdish philologically to other Iranian
languages was not allowed and is not allowed to this day. To
do that meant and means 'separatism' and 'Shuoubia' (16) for
lraq. But now there are three universities under the control of
the Kurdish government (in the Kurdish zone) and I am sure
that there are possibilities at least at the Saladin University to
have Kurdology. I would ask the Education Minister of
Kurdistan to do his best to disjoin the Department of Kurdish
Studies from the Faculty of Literature and to establish an
independent Faculty or University for Kurdological Studies
(17). The difference between what "Kurdish Studies" are and
what "Kurdological Studies" must be clear to anyone
concerned.
Let us come back to our subject which is to trace the Kurdish
language from oral tradition to written language. The
movement of the Arab warriors under the banner of Islam,
shortly after the death of the prophet Mohammed, which aimed
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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to overthrow the Sassanid and Byzantine Empires, placed the
Kurds, who lived between these territories, in the centre of this
theatre of war. The resistance of the Kurds against the new
religion lasted centuries, but bit by bit the majority of the
Kurdish people became gradually islamified. As we have
already mentioned, in that era the Kurdish language and
culture had been neglected by Kurdish intellectuals, so much
so that the great Kurdish poet and philosopher Ahmadi Khanie
(1650/51-1706/7), the 'Shakespeare of the Kurds', wrote 300
years ago his novel 'Mam and Zin'. In it he criticized the
educated Kurds and bitterly complained that the Kurds had
become 'orphans', and that the neglected Kurdish language
was 'copper’ (in comparison to 'gold' for the reigning
language).
Those Kurds who did not accept Islam as their religion had a
different view of Kurdish language and culture. The following
fact is worthy of mention: the Islamic Arab rulers who occupied
Kurdistan and recognised Zoroastrianism as a 'Book Religion'
for a short time, rallied against this Mazdaic faith, branding it
as 'heresy'. Those Kurds who remained faithful to their old
religious ideas were forced underground and had to practice
their beliefs in secret. There then came into being in Kurdistan
those Kurdo-syncretic religions already mentioned (Ezidi,
Yarsan, etc.). The Islamic Kurds adopted Arabic as their
religious language while continuing to use Kurdish in their daily
life as the main means of social communication. On the other
hand, the non-Islamic Kurds, who practised their various faiths,
still hung onto the Kurdish language for their religious cults and
traditions. As to the setting-down of a written script, the Ezidi
developed their own secret script in which they wrote their holy
books, the 'Jalwa' (Revelation), and 'Mahaf-Rash' (Black
Book). The other religious communities, such as the Yarsan,
for example used Arabic script in its Persian form when they
transcribed their Kurdish language religious psalms.
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The non-Islamic Kurds were also successful in finding a basis
in which to connect dogmatically both their origins, language
and country. Here are a few examples:
ln the imagination of the Ezidis, they themselves were created
from the seed of Adam, as Adam was androgynous
(simultaneously male and female), while all other peoples are
the product of the marriage between Adam and Eve (18). The
village of 'Lalish', on top of the eponymous mountain (in the
district of Shekhan, Central-Kurdistan) is holy to the Ezidis
because this mountain is believed to be the first dwelling place
of God, after which God tarried three thousand years in a ship
at sea (19). According to Ezidi imagination, God visits their
religious community once a year, in the spring, to correspond
with their New Year's festival 'Sarsal', which is always
celebrated on the first Wednesday ‘of April. He visits them in
order to discuss the fate of the coming year, that is, to give
them the New Year news of the earth and all that dwells upon
it' and to close a ’Customs’ or 'Pay-toll' contract with them. God
speaks to them in Kurdish (20).
The devotees of Yarsan see themselves in a somewhat similar
light. They believe that their religious community is the only
one in possession of the 'unspeakable secret of God'. The
Islamic prophet Mohammed would have withheld this 'secret'
from them, but the angel Pir Binyamen, chief of the 'Seven
Angels' of Yarsan, who functions as an "alter ego" for God,
was given this 'secret' by God himself and He gave it to the
Yarsan devotees in the Kurdish language (21), thus making
Kurdish a holy language. Aside from this, there are many
mythical figures in the Yarsan religious beliefs, such as Baba-
Nawus, Sultan Sahak (both incarnations of the divine being),
and the Kurdistan-born mother of God Dayirak. The mother of
God, who brought Soltan Sahak into the world through
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'immaculate conception', is identified with a Kurdish maiden
belonging to the Jaf-Tribe.
Hannelore Küchler, who has scientifically researched the way
the Kurds view themselves, has shown in her remarkable
analysis conducted for her doctoral dissertation for the Freie
Universität Berlin, that the Ezidis, Yarsan, and similar religious
communities in Kurdistan are 'Kurdish groups with a high
degree of self-centeredness" (22). She contends that the
above-mentioned dogmatic representations depict a possible
'unconscious reaction to the derogative (disparaging)
hypothesis held by Arabs regarding the origins of the Kurds'
(23), who, as already mentioned, employ phantasmagorical
explanations when they ascribe to the Kurds and their
language the status of "second-class citizens" and a "secondclass
language".
The foundation of Islam and its expansion in Kurdistan in the
seventh century after Christ caused a decisive turning point in
Kurdish history. At that time the Kurdish syncretistic religious
communities first seized the initiative, before their Moslem
fellow countrymen, to create a written language out of purely
spoken Kurdish. Hence amongst the Kurds there were many
syncretistic religious communities and no unifying institution,
each religious community transcribed its orally transmitted
religious tradition in its own local dialect and script. Thus,
various written traditions developed. The Gorani dialect
played a special part in this. The oldest Kurdish texts from the
Islamic time are from documents handed-down to us- those
very religious texts which were written in that dialect. They
were, namely, the holy psalms of the Yarsan, such as 'Dawra-i
Bahloul (Bahloul Period), documented approximately eight
hundred years after the death of Christ (24). The writing-down
of the religious texts of the Yarsan started around that time
and continued until the sixteenth century. These texts
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represent independent books, of which the most important is
considered to be 'Daftar-i Pirdivari' (Pirdivari Text), because it
was supposedly written by the above-mentioned Sultan Sohak.
Most of these texts are written in rhyming prose, and all are
gathered in a single book under the title 'Saranjam'. Saranjam
also contains some prose texts which report on the history of
the Creation and the religious cult of the Yarsan. The section
in rhyming prose is known as 'Klam'. The rhyming prose
verses are to be recited to set melodies. Some sections of the
"Saranjam" have been published by the Teheran-based
Kurdish scholar Sadiq Safi-Zadeh Borakayi, who examined
them and partially provided a Persian translation (25).
The Yarsan religion had, over many centuries, a period of
flourishing in Kurdistan, in particular in the principality of
Ardalan. This principality was founded in the fourteenth
century by Bawa Ardalan. The territories of Zardiawa
(Karadagh), Khanaqin, Kirkuk, and Kifri, which were already
the homelands of the Goran-Kurds, all belonged to this
principality. The capital city of the principality was Sharazour,
the population of which today speaks Middle-Kurmanji-Kurdish
(the so-called Sorani). Because the official religion of this great
principality was Yarsan, and because this religion was tied to
the Gorani dialect, Gorani became the official language of the
Kurds throughout a rather large region in Kurdistan. The fact
that Yarsani was a social religion also played a part. As a
result, its devotees consisted of some of the poorest Kurds in
the Kurdish social strata. For this reason some Middle-
Kurmanji speaking Kurds also used this dialect. The abovementioned
Soltan Sahak, God of the Yarsan, is supposed to
hail from the town of Barzinja, the population of which spoke,
and still speaks to this day Middle-Kurmanji (Sorani). Although
the Barzinja population stuck to this dialect, they were an
exception. Via the Yarsan religious teachings, the Gorani
dialect was spread intensively, especially among the poor
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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segments of the population. ln addition, many of the
intellectual Kurds living outside the Gorani dialect territories
adopted Gorani for their written language.
If we treat as an exception the great Sufi poet Baba Tahiri
Hamadani (935-1010), whose well-known (Rubaiyat) poems
are written in a mixture of Laki, Luri, and Gorani, we see that
the most famous poets of the Yarsan down through the
centuries wrote solely in Gorani dialect. These include Bawa
Yadigar (born in Sharazour in the eighth century), Yal-Bagi Jaff
(1493-1554), and Khan Almas Khani Luristani (1662-1728).
The latter two are renowned for their interesting prophecies
concerning the future of Iran, the Orient, and the world (26).
Many other famous Kurdish-Muslim poets have, throughout
the centuries, written in Gorani, such as Mala Pareshani Kurd
(still living in 1398/99). He was a Shiite Muslim who was much
opposed to the Yarsan beliefs and the Dervishes. Other poets
such as Saidi Hawrami (1784-1842), and Mala Abdul-Rahimi
Mawlawi Tavgozi (1806-1882) are also worthy of mention. The
latter two were famous Kurdish poets and Sunni Muslims. It is
worth pointing out that the Sunni Muslims and the Kurdish
Dervishes were deeply hostile to the Yarsan religion.
The existence of a large Sunni population amongst the Kurds -
next to many Dervish sects- couldn't detract from the
flourishing of the Gorani dialect. The blossoming of literature in
the Ardalan principality was accompanied by an intense
cultivation of music. Music is an essential element of the
cultural tradition of the Yarsan religious community. In
connection with this, it is interesting that the Kurds in East and
South Kurdistan, where the Gorani culture spread, call songs
'Gorani'. Naturally, the Gorani induced linguistic and cultural
renaissance filled all Kurdish intellectuals with pride. Thus says
the great Kurdish poet Khanai Qubadi (1700-1759), who was,
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incidentally, a master of Persian language and literature, in a
poem thematising the Kurdish language:
'Although it's said that Persian's sweet as sugar,
For me is Kurdish sweeter still.
Clearly, in this perfidious world,
Everyone is happiest with his own mother tongue.'(27)
Thanks to the mighty Kurdish principality of Ardalan, the
Yarsan religion and its 'holy' language Gorani-Kurdish
advanced in all directions within Kurdistan. Although there
were other powerful Kurdish principalities whose populations
adhered to the Sunni faith, and were opposed to that of the
Yarsan, many Kurds turned to the Yarsan religion.
In the sixteenth century, violent and radical religious and
political upheaval occurred in Kurdistan which decided the fate
of the Yarsan religion, the Kurdish language, and the Kurdish
people. We know that the Ottoman Dynasty, which was
founded at the end of the twelfth century and professed the
Sunni Moslim faith waged war in the name of that faith against
all other faiths, the Christians and Shiite Muslims included. In
the early sixteenth century, the previously mentioned Ismail
Safavi founded a Shiite Dynasty in Iran and raised himself to
the position of chief warrior of this faith. Both Dynasties (the
Ottoman and Safavid) brutally punished the followers of their
opponents. As most of the Kurdish principalities were of the
Sunni faith, and the Safavid Shiites were, in turn their
professed enemies, the Ottomans had little difficulty in making
allies of the Kurds. With military assistance from the Kurds, the
Ottomans attacked the Safavid state and captured and
destroyed its capital Tabriz. The Kurdish-Turkish 'brotherhood
of arms' led to a political alliance. On 9 August 1515 the
Ottomans and the Kurdish princes signed a treaty which
agreed on the union of their regions of influence. Thus was the
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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foundation stone for the later Ottoman Empire laid. The treaty
contained a passage in which the internal independence of the
Kurdish regions was guaranteed, a passage which was not
adhered to by the Ottoman sultans. It is interesting to know
that, despite their religious mutual animosity, the Ottomans
and the Safavids later collaborated in order to destroy the
internal sovereignty of the Kurdish principalities, into which
they (the Ottomans and Safavid) installed their own
representatives to hold positions of power. In 1639, the
Ottomans and Safavid united, and, in accordance with the
Treaty of Zahaw (Zuhab), divided Kurdistan up amongst
themselves. Additionally, both sides made efforts to set the
Kurdish princes off against one another.
The principality of Ardalan, which in view of religion was
neither Sunni nor Shiite, was placed in a very precarious
position. In order to protect itself it had, an the one hand, to
come to an arrangement with the king of 'Iran', then, on the
other, with the Ottoman Sultan. In such a situation, the further
expansion of the Yarsan religion and Gorani Kurdish within
Kurdistan was unthinkable.
It is worth mentioning that Ottoman and Iranian pressure on
the Kurds had other consequences. The intellectual Kurds
within the Kurdish principalities who were now dependent upon
the Ottoman Sultan developed a great sense of nationalism.
That was accompanied by a contribution to Kurdish language
and culture. In the sixteenth century the North-Kurmanji dialect
became a written language. This process started in the
northern principality of Botan, and expanded gradually into the
northern part of Kurdistan. The educated Kurds there then
began to concern themselves with the Kurdish language and
culture, to nurture both, and to spread their national traditions.
This is significant in relation to the work 'Sharafname'
(1596/97), written by the Kurdish prince and scholar
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
17
Sharafaddin Bitlisi (1543--1603) (28). Although he wrote this
work in Persian, it has interesting and novel contents. It deals
with the history of the Kurdish principalities and gives an
insight into Kurdish traditions and customs. In it, many Kurdish
lineages are named, and the mythical heroes of the Kurds -
such as Rostam and Gorgin are mentioned. What is
remarkable is that 'Sharafname' defines the borders of
Kurdistan, and it does so as if it were one united land (29).
When 'Sharafname' discusses Kurdish language, literature,
and lineages of heritage, differences are also reported.
That Bitlisi's work was written in Persian is evidence that, for
the Islamic Kurds at that time, there was no tradition of using
the Kurdish language in writing. Despite that, from the
sixteenth century on there were further efforts: Ali Taramakhi
wrote the first Arabic grammar book in Kurdish in the year
1000 H. (1591/2), in order to allow Kurdish pupils who up to
then had no materials with which to study Arabic, to possess
such a text book (30). This work was later expanded by Male
Younis Halkataini (died 1785). Halkataini wrote three essays in
Kurdish on Arabic syntax (31). The Kurdish Muslim cleric Mele
Jaziri (1570-1640) also carried the torch of the Kurds’
linguistic and literary enlightenment. He considered his Kurdish
poems of the same value as those of the famous Persian poet
Hafizi Shirazi. I cite:
'If thou longest
for the beautifully opened pearl of rhyming prose,
look but at the poems of Male,
wherefore needest thou then Shirazi'?'(32).
The national consciousness of Male Jaziri and his pride in his
belonging to Kurdistan is also evident in the following verses:
'I am a rose in the heavenly garden of Botan,
I am a candle light in the dark nights of Kurdistan' (33).
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
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The poets Faqe Tayran (1590-1660), Male Ahmade Batayi
(1414-1495), and Ali Hariri (1425-1541?) payed a great service
to the Kurdish language through their art. Those efforts
reached their apogee when the Kurdish poet, national thinker
and Gnostic, Ahmadi Khani (1650 / 51-1707) produced his
epic 'Mam and Zin' (a counterpart to 'Romeo and Juliet') in
1694/5 (34). Following the death of Khani, the Kurdish cleric
Mele Mahmoude Bayazidi (born in 1791) continued the
intellectual fight in Northern Kurdistan. Bayazidi is best known
for his work 'Customs and Traditions of Kurdish Tribes and the
Norms of Kurdish Society'.(35)
Thus, two written languages existed in Kurdistan: Gorani in the
east and south, and Kurmanji in the north. Taken as a whole,
the disunity of Kurdistan, and its division into many
principalities, the lack of a unifying state or central power, the
absence of a unifying religion, the politics of the Ottomans and
the Iranian rulers who propagated animosity amongst the
Kurdish princes, prevented the Kurds from forging one official
written language out of one of the two main dialects. Apart
from that fact, a new power walked onto the stage of Kurdistan
in the nineteenth century, which reduced the Gorani dialect
once again to the status of a purely oral language. Towards
the end of the eighteenth century, the principality of Ardalan
allied itself with the Kajar kings in order to free itself from
Ottoman influence. Thereafter, the Ottomans called upon their
ally, the Prince of Baban, to support them against the Ardalani
princes. The Babanis could easily take over the Ardalan
territory and enlarge their own principality. Because the
Babanis spoke Central-Kurmanji-Kurdish (Sorani), this dialect
now received the opportunity to expand, particularly after the
Babani Prince Ibrahim Pasha built the city of Suleymani in
1784 and made it his capital. The eighteenth century saw the
rise of the Sulaimani-variation of the Central-Kurmanji dialect.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
19
Of the greatest poets and writers who worked in this form of
Kurdish, which had been newly--elevated to the status of a
written language, the following are notable: Mahwee (1830-
1904); Kurdi (1812-1851); Salim (1800-1869); Nali (1800-
1857/58); Sheikh Raza Talabani (1837-1909); Wafayi (1844-
1914); Koyi (1817-1896/96); and Salmi Sina (1845-1909)
(36).
Although the Sulaimani-variation of the Central-Kurmanji
dialect became a multi-regional written language, the
conclusion can clearly be drawn that the 'Mother Dialect' of
most of the great Kurdish poets was in fact the Gorani dialect.
Important regions of the Gorani Kurds, such as Kirkuk, Kifri,
the Sirvan River region, Khanakin, Zardiawa (Karadagh), and
various Goran tribes such as the Jabari, Talabani and
Zangana have also abandoned their original Gorani dialect. Of
the Gorani dialect, only a few poets remain. Among them,
however, there is an outstanding exception: Mawlawi Tawgozi
(1806-1882). With the absorption of the Arladan principality
into the Kajar dynasty in 1867, no great sphere of activity in
Gorani dialect remained. Thus , this beautiful and rich dialect
lost its place as a literary language in East and Central
Kurdistan, and became the 'language of old women in the
corners and alleyways of Sanandaj', as the Kurdish academic
and researcher Said Khani Kurdistani reported (37).
The new Sulaimani variation of the dialect was created as a
consequence of the mixture of the Sharazour dialect, which
was the dialect of the Ardalani Kurds, with the Kalatshwalan
dialect. Kalatshwalan was the early capital of the Babani
princes.The Sulaimani Kurds' tendency to expand continued.
Nowadays, the best writers and poets of the Goran region
write in the Sulaimani dialect; amongst them, the famous
Muslim cleric Mala Abdulkarim Mudarris and both his sons,
Mohammed and Fatih. It is further worth noting that the
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
20
greatest innovator of Kurdish poetry, the greatest poet of the
Kurdish modern times, Abdulla Goran (1904/5? -18 November
1962) wrote in the Sulaimani dialect.
As a consequence of the suppression of the Kurdish national
uprisings against the centralist power of the Ottoman Empire in
the middle of the nineteenth century and the dissolution of all
of the Kurdish principalities such as the mighty principality of
Botan, the North-Kurmanji dialect could not assert itself in
either East or South Kurdistan. The above-mentioned dialect
remained the written language of the North Kurmanji-speaking
Kurds, and was promoted by the Kurdish intellectuals and
those cultural institutions which, at the end of the nineteenth
century, were founded by 'North-Kurmanji-speaking Kurds',
including the first Kurdish newspaper 'Kurdistan' which first
appeared in 1898 (38).
After the violent division of Kurdistan following the First World
War, the Kurdish language was confronted with the new
colonial circumstances and conditions. The Kurds were
prevented by the allies (Great Britain, France and Italy) from
establishing their own state. Kurdistan was divided amongst
five new colonial states created, or consented to, by superpowers
in accordance with their strategic and economic
interests: Turkey, Iran, lraq, Syria, and the USSR/ Azerbaijan.
The new national states in the hands of the Turks, the Arabs
and the Persians, artificially set up with the help of the
European `victors´ have attempted to assimilate the Kurds
culturally, where they have not been able to eradicate them
militarily. Since language is one of the strongest factors in
national identity, all these states which had and still have,
without exception, military or other forms of un-democratic
governments, have either completely banned spoken or written
Kurdish, or have only barely tolerated its usage under stringent
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
21
controls. Turkey has from the outset, as part of its so called
'Turkification-Politics', consequently forbidden the use of the
Kurdish language, and punished its usage vigorously. The
seventy years of constant, burdensome oppression have
rather empowered the national conscience of the Kurds but
have impaired the cultivation and development of the Kurdish
language. The North Kumanji dialect (Jazira dialect), which
despite all these difficult circumstances is used as the written
language of the northern Kurds, has encountered and still
encounters, many internal-linguistic problems.
ln Syria intellectual Kurds, particularly the members of the
Bedirkhani family, took advantage of the presence of the
French mandate of power in Syria and Lebanon to serve the
Kurdish language. ln addition to the publication of some
magazines in Kurdish, such as Hawar, Stér, Roja Nu, and
Ronahi, Celadet Bedir Khan (1897-1951) developed a sort of
Latin script for the Kurdish language (North-Kurmanji dialect),
which is still used amongst the North-Kurmanji speaking
Kurds. This alphabet shows various flaws, particularly
regarding certain sounds that exist in other dialects, but which
have no written counterpart in the alphabet of Bedir Khan. So,
for example, the rolled 'r' and the 'e', in order to be able to
differentiate 'Ker' (donkey) from 'Ker' (deaf), and 'Gel' (people)
from 'Gel' (distance between the legs). ln any case, all these
publications and activities were forbidden when the French left
the territory. The French left Southwest Kurdistan without
providing any particular guarantees for the Kurds in the newlyfounded
Arab national state of Syria.
ln lraq, the Kurds were more active regarding the cultivation of
their language than their fellow countrymen in their neighbour
states. They had a better chance and position. After the First
World War the Kurds of South Kurdistan were able to found a
kingdom under Sheikh Mahmoud Barzinji (1882-9 October
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
22
1956). At first Sheikh Mahmoud was recognised as the
governor of South Kurdistan by the British occupation powers
in Baghdad. When the Kurdish people elected Sheikh
Mahmoud King of Kurdistan, it led to clashes between the
British and Kurdish forces, and South-Kurdistan was annexed
with British military power into one of the newly-founded Arab
national states, lraq. During the approximately five years that
the Kurdish state existed under Sheikh Mahmoud, the
educated Kurds served the Kurdish language. The Kurdish
government published some Kurdish newspapers (39), and
established some Kurdish schools for boys and girls. The
occupying British power published their own Kurdish-language
newspapers: 'Tegeyishtini Rasti' (The Comprehension of
Truth) and 'Peshkawtin' (Progress) (40). Two Englishmen,
Major Soane and Major Noel, who were members of the British
occupation forces, contributed to the cultivation of the Kurdish
language. Major Soane wrote a Kurdish grammar book (41) as
well as a text book in Kurdish (42). He even gave 'reward
money' to any person amongst the Kurds who could write an
article for the newspaper 'Peshkawtin' in Kurdish that was
equally understandable to all its readers, whilst using proper
Kurdish vocabulary. The official Kurdish was the Suleymani
dialect.
Following the establishment of the 'Kingdom of Iraq', the 'Law
of Local Languages of 1931' allowed the population of the
annexed South Kurdistan some cultural rights which, however,
were not completely practised. Despite this, Kurdish
intellectuals attempted to nurture and further develop the
Kurdish language. The first step was the modification of the
so-called Arab-Persian alphabet, with the aim of producing a
modern phonetic alphabet system for the Kurdish language
which could express in writing all the language's sounds. ln
order to do this it was necessary to add to the Arabic lettering
certain accents and diacritics in order to take into account
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
23
certain Kurdish sounds that don't exist in the Arabic language.
The champion of this cause was the Kurdish philologist and
army officer, Colonel Tofiq Wahby (1891-1984). His scientific
and highly remarkable efforts soon met with opposition when
confronted with the Arab rule and the nationalist oriented lraqi
Ministry of Culture. The reason given was that no ’foreign
accents’ or Kurdish "caps" could be placed on the 'holy Arabic
letters', the letters in which the Qur'an (Koran) is written. It is
worth mentioning that the so-called Arabic letters were
originally neither Arabic nor Islamic. They already existed in
pre-Islamic times, and were derived from the Old Aramaic
script, i.e. from the ancient language of the Jews. Despite the
fact that the Kurdish press, and the schoolbooks which were
printed for Kurdish primary schools by the lraqi government
could not employ this alphabet until the end of the 1950's, this
alphabet, which was modernised and adapted for the Kurdish
language, was nevertheless known amongst the Kurds.
There was something else the above mentioned Wahby during
his time endeavoured to do. In the early 1920’s he employed
the Latin alphabet for writing Kurdish in a form that leaned
heavily an English linguistic usage. His efforts then were also
unsuccessful, because the lraqi government, again using
Islamic religious arguments, forbade the dissemination of a
"European-Christian" script in Muslim Iraq. ln connection with
this, it should be pointed out that Wahby held eight ministerial
posts in the lraqi government. It should be noted that Wahby's
Latin alphabet, like that of Bedir Khan (whose alphabet relied
less on English linguistic use than on that of the French and
Turkish alphabets), displayed several flaws. Had these two
scholars collaborated, the Kurdish people today would in all
probability have a better Latin alphabet.
In Iraq, all Kurdish press, radio, and publications were, until the
collapse of the monarchy on 14 July 1958, solely in Sulaimani
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
24
dialect, which is called, erroneously, "Sorani Kurdish". As a
consequence of the carelessness of the "Sorani Kurds" with
regard to the North Kurmanji dialect (called 'Badinani' in lraq),
the North Kurmanji-speaking Kurds remained well isolated
from the teaching of the Kurdish language and the Kurdish
press. The lraqi government had, for its part, supported this
unhappy circumstance, in order to divide the Kurds, and, thus
tighten its reign over them.
It should be mentioned at this point that the Kurds in Iran were
influenced by the development of the Kurdish language in lraq.
The cause of this lies in the fact that, from the beginning, the
Kurds in Iran had a strong political relationship with their lraqi
Kurdish brethren. Apart from that fact, there is a very close
relationship between the dialects spoken in Iranian Kurdistan
(Mukri, Ardalani, Laki and Kirmashani) and the "Sorani dialect"
of Iraq. In addition, the Iranian Kurds use the same alphabet,
as the lraqi Kurds. As to the modified Kurdish-Oriental
alphabet, it was first brought into print in the year 1345 H.
(1966/67 A.D) (43), when an anthology of poetry was printed
using these modified letters. It did not happen earlier because
political pressure against it was too great, and also because
the economic costs were too high. Because the Iraqi Kurds,
who write in the so-called Sorani Kurdish, make much use of
the vocabulary, idioms, and terminology of the Iranian Kurds,
and especially those of the Mukriyani dialect, some kind of
standardised written language has come into being in Iran and
lraq, which one may refer to as "Middle Kurmanji".
The situation regarding the Kurdish language at the time of the
Soviet Union must not, in addition, be overlooked. Under
Lenin, and until the end of the 1920’s, the area of Kurdish
settlement had the status of an autonomous region, and was
known as "Red Kurdistan". For writing in this region, the
Armenian script was used at first, and then it was followed by
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
25
the Latin script. Afterwards the autonomous status of "Red
Kurdistan" was revoked, and it was annexed to Azarbaijan,
and the Stalin regime and the power-brokers of Azarbaijan
persecuted the Kurds. The very word "Kurd", and,
correspondingly, the speaking of the Kurdish language was
banned in Azarbaijan. Among the eight Soviet republics in
which Kurds lived at that time, only Russia and Armenia
allowed the Kurdish language to be cultivated. Educated Kurds
in both these republics tried to promote the Kurdish language,
although in both republics they were forced to use the Cyrillic
script when writing in Kurdish. None the less, one can say that
Kurdish written both in Latin and Oriental script was not alien
to them. Through their contacts with Kurds from Iran, lraq, and
Syria, as well as from neighbouring Turkey, the 'Red Kurds'
were able to bring into being a beautiful written language
based on North Kurmanji dialect, but also containing many
traits of the Middle Kurmanji dialect.
In order to share ideas and conclusions I have arrived at
during my life, at this point l would like to expound several
ideas and practices derived from personal experience.
When I studied physics, mathematics, and pedagogy at the
University of Baghdad in the first half of the 1950's, I already
knew that, in all probability, one day I would teach in
secondary schools in Kurdistan. I correspondingly wanted to
create possibilities to help Kurdish pupils who, in regard to the
teaching of their mother tongue were completely
disadvantaged. I already had some qualifications for this
purpose. I came into this world as the son of a Muslim scholar
who raised me in many languages and who put me on intimate
terms with the cultures of the neighbouring peoples. I had the
opportunity to study Islamic law, philosophy and theology with
him and other scholars of the country. This study demanded a
very good knowledge of the Arabic and Persian languages and
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
26
their respective literature. While still a student, very soon I
noticed that the Kurdish language is very problematic, and has
remained so to this day:
1. There is no single, unified alphabet for Kurdish. Instead,
there are three varying alphabets, namely, the Oriental
(modified Arabic-Persian) alphabet, the Latin alphabet, and the
Cyrillic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet suits the Kurdish
language the least, and today, after the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, is no longer relevant for Kurdish and can
accordingly be ignored. On the other hand, the Oriental script
is relevant and alive, but it is old-fashioned, uneconomical,
very difficult to learn and only of limited suitability for Kurdish.
The Latin alphabet is best suited for the writing of Kurdish, but
there are political and religious hindrances which stand in the
way of its unrestricted set-up. Aside from that, the Latin
alphabet of Bedirkhan is in need of reform. Because the Kurds
write in various scripts this causes an obstacle for the
exchange of their linguistic products. As a student, I was
already of the conviction - which I have held to this day - that
the lack of a single, unified alphabet constitutes a great
calamity for the Kurdish people. The introduction of a common
alphabet would lead to better communication amongst Kurds
and contribute to a convergence of the various dialects and
modes of expression. I am talking here of convergence and
not of absolute unification. A unified Ianguage needs a unified
grammar of which there is none today. So, much more
important is the matter of a single, unified alphabet. I was, and
still am, of the opinion that the Latin alphabet must be
reformed and promoted. The promotion of the writing of the
Kurdish language in the Latin alphabet does not mean that its
writing in the Oriental script should be completely ignored. ln
any case, the political and religious situation will not allow this.
Saddam Hussein's regime executed our colleague Dilshad
Marivani because he taught his pupils in Latin rather than
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
27
Arabic script. Apart from that fact, a volatile change is not
recommended. Far from it if you think of the great treasure of
written and, respectively, printed culture in the Kurdish
language which the lraqi and Iranian Kurds have accomplished
in the last seventy years.
2. There is no one written language, but rather, two, of which
neither is completely standardised. This was the case in the
1950's and remains so today. I will return to this theme shortly.
3. When I was a student in Baghdad, Kurdish had no scientific
and technical specialist terms. Without such terminology it is
impossible to write scientific books in Kurdish. For one single
person it is possible to make a start to create such
terminology, but the specialists from various disciplines must
work together and come to agreement. Therefore - and l saw
and promoted this idea while l was also still a student - the
establishment of an 'Academy of Kurdish Language' is
necessary. Together with some friends who were also
university students in other academic fields, we founded a
'Committee for the Promotion of the Kurdish Language' (44). I
would like to mention that my presentation of points 1 to 3 was
expounded in an essay in the Kurdish language bearing the
title, 'Education in the Kurdish Language,' which appeared in
Baghdad in 1957 (45).
In October 1955 I was a teacher of physics and maths in two
secondary schools in Kirkuk (South Kurdistan). From the
beginning I tried to help my Kurdish pupils by teaching them in
their mother tongue. Since at this time the Kurdish language
was banned in Kurdistan's secondary schools, measures were
taken against me both politically, and within the schools’
disciplinary system, culminating in my being sent into exile in
Basrah southern-Iraq. During the two years I taught in Kirkuk,
I created the basis for the first physics and mathematics book
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
28
in the Kurdish language. ln 1960, I was able to publish the first
physics book in Kurdish under the title, 'Introduction to the
Mechanics and the Properties of Matter' (46).
In the summer of 1956, l travelled to Syria and Lebanon,
where l met many Kurdish intellectuals; poets and writers who
worked in North Kurmanji dialect. Amongst them were Osman
Sebri (7 January 1905-11 October 1993), Qadrijan (1916-
1972), Madame Rawshan Bedirkhan (11 July 1909-1 June
1992), Ahmad Nami, and others. We talked about the
establishment of an 'Academy of Kurdish Language' and the
work for, and introduction of a unified alphabet for the Kurdish
language. One protocol of our meeting, in the handwriting of
Osman Sebri, who has since died, was printed in my book,
'Kurdish in Latin Script`, which was published in Baghdad in
1957. I undertook a similar journey in the Summer of 1957 to
East Kurdistan and Teheran. ln Kirmashan I met among
others, the Kurdish writer, Fath Ali Haidari Zebajoui and in
Sanandaj I met the famous Kurdish cleric and writer, Ayatollah
Mohammed Mardokh-i Kurdistani (1885-1975). Both wished to
lend their services to the Kurdish language.
As already stated, because the teaching of the Kurdish
language was forbidden in secondary schools in lraqi
Kurdistan, I had to pursue my work in private. Through private
lessons, I was able to bring numerous pupils, teachers, and
others, closer to Kurdish in Latin script with the aid of my
above-mentioned text book ('Kurdish in Latin Script'). After
many years of hard work - in Kirkuk, as weIl as my place of
exile in Basrah, and later in Baghdad - I was able to create
expressions in Kurdish for numerous technical words in the
fields of physics, mathematics, and some other sciences.
These technical words have been collected in two dictionaries
of which I published the first one in 1960 in Sulaimani, and the
second one in Hawler in 1961, while I was teaching Kurdish
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
29
language and literature at the Pedagogic Technical College
there (47). This was only possible because of the coup d'état
of General Qassem on 14 July 1958 and the foundation of the
Republic of lraq, which allowed the use of the Kurdish
language in pedagogic establishments in Kurdistan and lraq.
Since the end of the 1960's, my colleague the Kurdish chemist
Kamal Jalal Gharib, who regretfully is not among us today,
continued this work with great success (48).
As far as a unified written Kurdish language is concerned, and
I already knew this in Kurdistan, - there can be no unified
language without first conducting a thorough study and
comparison of the grammar of the various dialects and modes
of expression. To this end, I have studied Oriental Studies and,
respectively, Oriental Philology in Europe, including a
sequence of ancient, Middle, and New Iranian languages. The
result of my research concerning the comparison of Kurdish
dialects (North and Middle Kurmanji and the possibilities of
their approachment) are published in two works: 1.'The Written
Language of the Kurds' in Acta Iranica, 1975 (49), and
2.'Towards a Unified Kurdish Language', 1976 (50). In this
book I have made suggestions in order to help the speakers of
both dialects to come to a better understanding of each other.
These suggestions were in the meantime complied with by
many writers and authors. The methodology of my work was
also taken into account with regard to the problematics of the
standardisation of the Belochi language, i.e. by Belochologist
Mrs. Carina Johani, in her dissertation 'Standardisation and
Orthography in the Belochi Language', Uppsala, 1989.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
30
What is to be done?
I hereby propose:
1. The creation of a comprehensive 'Kurdish-Kurdish'
dictionary, which catalogues all words used in Kurdish,
including foreign words and relevant neologisms, in all dialects
and idiomatic expressions. Given today's electro-technological
possibilities this can be achieved, even under the present
circumstances.
2. This international conference should be repeated every
year, or at the very least, every second year.
3. Institutes of Kurdology should be established, and they
should concentrate on Kurdish dialectological researches, in
tandem with a rearranged Kurdo-Iranian philology. Until now
the case has been that the study of the Kurdish language,
when done professionally, has always been carried out as a
part of the larger framework of Iranian studies. Kurdish
philologists must now bring the Kurdish language to the centre
of the stage, and relegate Iranian studies to be the larger
scheme of Kurdology. The relationship of Iranian studies and
Kurdology is like that of maths and physics. In the study of
physics, mathematics is only used as an adjunct aid. ln this
case, mathematics cannot subordinate physics, and yet, that
does not devalue mathematics. A similar situation applies to
Kurdology and Iranian studies. If Kurdology is the aim of our
knowledge, Iranian studies are an adjunct. If Iranian studies
are the centre of our interest, Kurdology plays a servant's role.
Kurdology, however, will not materialise in this manner.
Kurdology can only develop from and for itself. It is part of the
task of Kurdology to research intensively the disadvantaged
Kurdish dialects, such as Zaza, Gorani, Faili, Laki, Luri,
Kalhuri, etc. ln addition, the dialects similar to the Kurdish
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
31
dialects, such as the as yet-unresearched Iranian dialects like
Mazandarani, Naini, etc; must be examined thoroughly. I am of
the opinion that the 'frequency range' of the Kurdish language
is larger than is assumed today.
4. A project for the creation of an 'Etymological Dictionary of
the Kurdish Language' is long overdue.
5. There should be a scientific co-opration with the Kurdish
Academy of Science and Art, founded in Stockholm in 1985, to
give Kurdological research an extra push.
6. In the foreseeable future there will be no sovereign country
for the Kurdish people which itself could fully deal with the
problematics of the Kurdish language and its further
development. In view of this, there is only one solution - a
foundation for the promotion of the Kurdish language must be
created. This foundation could, for example, create academic
posts for Kurdology in many universities. Probably, under
these circumstances there would be more interest in
Kurdology not only in Kurdistan and among the Kurds, but also
in Europe, America, Canada, Israel and Australia.
How does the Kurdish proverb go? 'When the money starts to
glitter and clink, even a Mullah (Islamic cleric) will leave the
mosque.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
32
Footnotes
(1) For a fundamental knowledge of the early history of the Kurds, the
following works are recommended:
i. Minorsky, V. : The Kurds, in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 1927.
ii. Driver, G.K.: The Dispersion of the Kurds in Ancient Times, Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (JRAS), 1921, Part
Four, pp. 563-572.
iii. Driver, G.K.: The Name Kurd and its Philological Connections; JRAS,
1923.
iv. Ahmad, Jemal Rashid: Tarikh el-Kurd el-Qadim (`The Ancient History of
the Kurds') -- in Arabic - publication of the Saladin University, Hawler, 1990.
v. Ahmad, J. R. : Dirasat Kurdiyah fi bilad Subartu ('Kurdish Studies in the
Country of Subartu') -- in Arabic - Baghdad, 1984.
vi. Nikitine, Basil: Les Kurdes, Paris, 1956.
(2) Koran (The Holy Scripture of Islam), Chapter 'HUD' No. 11, Verse 44.
There it states: 'The ark came to rest upon AI-Judi.'
(3) Syncretism is the coalescence of several religions into a new one. Here
a differentiation must be drawn between a syncretistic religion and a mixed
religion. I would like to compare a syncretistic religion to a musical
ensemble in which every musician plays a different instrument and sounds
notes which are individually distinct, but which, taken as a whole, produce a
unified musical piece.
(4) Abdul Karim Mohammad el-Modarris: Ulamauna fi Khidmat el-‘lim wa-l
din ('Our Scholars in the Service of Science and Religion') -- in Arabic --
edited by Mohammad Ali el-Qaradaghi, Baghdad, 1983.
(5) The three Kurdish scholars were: Dinawari, Sha(h)razouri, Amedi
(Imadi), c.f. Morteza Motahari: Khadamat-e motaghabel Islam o Iran ('The
Mutual Service between Islam and Iran') -- in Persian.
(6) Shamsaddin Sami: Qamus ul-Aalam ('Index of Proper Names') in
Turkish-Osmanian - Volume 5, Istanbul 1314, p. 3842.
(7) Sheikh Mohammad Khal: el-Sheikh Maaruf el-Nudahi el-Barzinji
('Sheikh Maaruf Nudahi el-Barzinji') --in Arabic - Baghdad, 1961.
(8) Sheikh Marifi Node: Ahmadi , 2nd edition, Sulaimani, Jiyan Printing
Press, 1935.
(9) Mohammad Amin Zaki: Tarikh el-Duwal wa-l imarat el-Kurdiyyah
('History of the Kurdish States and Principalities') -- Arabic translation by
Mohammad Ali Awni, Cairo 1367h. 1948.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
33
(10) Abdulraqib Youssuf: Hidarat el-Dawlah el-Dostakiyah fi Kurdistan el-
Wusta ('The Civilisation of the Dostaki State in Middle Kurdistan) in Arabic
volume 2.
(11) El-Masudi, Abu el-Hasan: Muruj el Dahab wa ma'adin el-jawahar, Les
Prairies d'Or. Edition: Barbier de Meynard et Pavet de Caurteille, révue et
corrigée par Charles Pallet, Töme Sécond, Beyrouth, 166, p. 249.
(12) Firdosi, Abolqasem: Shahname. Edition by Joannes Augustus Vullers,
1st Volume, Leiden, 1873, p. 36, Verses 37-38.
(13) Khuja Sadaddin: Taj ül-Tawarikh (The Crown of the History). Istanbul,
1279/80 h. (1862/3), p. 26, c.f. also: Salnama-i Vilayat-i Djyarbekir
(Yearbook of the Province of Diyarbekir) - in Turkish-Osmanian - 1301 h.
(1884), p. 138.
(14) E. G. Brown: Material for the Study of the Bahai Religion Canbridge,
1961.
(15) Emadaddin Dolatshahi: Joghrafiya-ye Gharb-e Iran (the Geography of
West Iran) - in Persian -Teheran 1363 h. (1984).
(16) El-Shuoubia: An Arabic word that literally means 'people-ism', a term
which the Arabs created in the early Islamic time to signify any person or
group who were not Arab, whose homelands were conquered by Arab-
Moslem warriors, but who nevertheless had equal rights with the Arabs.
This term is still used by usurpers and nationalists today for Kurds who
want their own identity and do not want to become Arabs.
(17) The Kurdish writer Ibrahim Ahmad (1914-2000) was at the conference,
as was the Minister for Education in the 'Kurdish Zone', Dr. Naseh Ghafour.
They both suggested that the foundation of a Kurdological Faculty at an
existing University in Kurdistan or the foundation of a University for
Kurdological Studies be supervised by Jemal Nebez.
(18) Theodor Menzel: 'Yazidi' in the Handwörterbuch des Islam, Leiden,
1941, S.808.
(19) Die Heiligen Bücher der Jeziden oder Teufelsanbeter (Kurdisch und
Arabisch), Hrsg. von Maximilian Bittner, Wien 1913,S.26.
(20) Carl Brockelmann: Das Neujahrsfest der Jezidis, in der Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 1901, Bd., 55, S. 388-89.
(21) Häji Nématollah Mojrem Mokri: Shah-Nama-ye Haqiqat. Le Livre des
Rois de Vérité, publié par Mohammad Mokri, Tome ler, Paris 1988, p. 202,
vers 3841.
(22) Hannelore Küchler: Öffentliche Meinung. Eine Theoretisch-
Methodolgische Betrachtung und eine Exemplarische Untersuchung zum
Selbstverständnis der Kurden. Inaugural Dissertation der FU-Berlin, 1978,
S. 116-146.
(23) Ibid.
(24) Sadiq Safizade Borakayi: Dawra-i Bahloul, Teheran 1363h. (1984/5).
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
34
(25) Sadiq Safizade Borakayi: Dawra-i Haftwana - in Persian -- Teheran,
1982.
(26) Sadiq Safizade Borakayi: Pishgouyiha-ye lI-Begi Jaff ('The Prophecies
of Il-Begi Jaff') -- in Persian--, Teheran, Summer 1369h. (1991). Sadiq
Safizade Borakayi:Pishgouyiha-ye Khan Almas Khan ('The Prophecies of
Khan Almas Khan') - in Persian, Teheran, Spring 1369h. (1990).
(27) Jemal Nebez: Pêwendarêtî Kurdî ('Kurdish Affiliation') in Kurdish,
Stockholm 1986, p. 78; Translated into German by the author, Publication
of the Kurdish Academy of Science and Art, Stockholm, 1987.
(28) Sheref-Nameh ou Histoire des Kurdes par Sheref, Prince des Bidlis --
publié par V. Veliaminof-Zernov, Texte Persan, Vol. I-II (1860:1862), St.
Petersbourg,1860~1862.
(29) Ibid.
(30) Jemal Nebez: Die Schriftsprache der Kurden, Acta Iranica,
Memorandum H.S. Nyberg, Leiden, 1975, pp. 97-122. p. 99.
(31) Ibid.
(32) EI-Mulla Ahmad bin el-Mulla Muhammad eI-Buhti el-Zivinki: EI-'Iqd el-
Jawhari fi Sharh diwan el-Sheikh el-Jizri ('The Interpretation of the Poetry
Book of Jaziri'),VoI.2 Kamishli, 1959,
(33) Ibid., P. 824.
(34) The artwork 'Mam and Zin' has been translated into numerous
European and non-European languages. The only German translation of
the drama is the abridged version made by myself and published in 1969
by the National Union of Kurdish Students in Europe (NUKSE). A second
edition of this translation will appear this year in connection with the
tricentenary of 'Mam and Zin'. This new edition of the text will include a
lecture I gave on 'Mam and Zin' and its author Ahmad-i Khani in October
1993 in the Vienna Literaturhaus.
(35) Male Mahmoude Bayazidi: Nravi i obicay Kurdov ('Customs and
Traditions of the Kurds´), edited by Margarette B. Rudenko, Moscow, 1963.
(36) Ala-addin Sajadi: Meju-i Adeb-i Kurdi ('History of Kurdish Literature')
Baghdad, 1952.
(37) Said Khani Kurdistani: Nizani/Mizgani (Glad Tidings) Teheran 1309h.
(1930/31).
(38) Hannelore KüchIer: Ibid., Footnote 21, P. 417.
(39) These newspapers are: Umed-i lstiqlal (Hope far Independence); Roji
Kurdistan (Kurdistan Appeal); and Bang-i Heq (Appeal for Justice). c.f.
Hannelare Küchler, ibid., p. 418.
(40) Ibid.
(41) Major E. B. Soane,CBE: Elementary Kurmanji Grammar Baghdad,
1919.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
35
(42) E.B. Soane: Kitabi Awalamin Qiraati Kurdi ('The Elementary Kurdish
Reading Book'), Baghdad, 1920.
(43) Hasan Salah Soran: Chap-i Yakamin Kiteb-i Kurdi la Eran ('The
Publication of the First Kurdish Book in Iran'), in the Kurdish magazine
'Sirwe', Wurmé, May 1993, p.62.
(44) Jemal Nebez: Ziman-i Yekgirtû-i Kurdi ('Towards a Unified Kurdish
Language), publication of NUKSE, in Kurdish, Bamberg, 1976, pp.15-18.
(45) Jemal Nebez'. Xwéndewari be Ziman-i Kurdi ('Education in the Kurdish
language'), in Kurdish, Baghdad 1957.
(46) Jemal Nebez: Sereta-i Mikanik u Khomalekni-Madde (Introduction to
the Mechanics and Properties of Matter'), Baghdad. 1960.
(47) Jemal Nebez: Farhangok-i Zanisti ('A Small Scientific Dctionary`), in
Kurdish, Hawler,1961. Jemal Nebez: Handek Zarawa-i Zanisti ('Some
Scientific Terms') Sulaymani,1960.
(48) Kamal Jalal Gharib: El~Qamus eI-Ilmi (The Scientific Dictionary')
Kurdish Arabic, EngIish,1 st Volume 1975, 2nd Volume 1979, 3rd Volume
1983.
(49) Jemal Nebez: Die Schriftsprache der Kurden. Ibid.
(50) Jemal Nebez: See footnote 44.
Jemal Nebez, The Kurdish Language
36
Map of Kurdistan
produced
by Khoyboun Party 1945