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The Origins and Appearance of the Kurds in Pre-Islamic Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

John Limbert
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Extract

At present the Kurds occupy parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the USSR. As the map shows, the area in which the Kurds predominate is a long are extending roughly northwest to southeast in a band of varying width from central Turkey to western Iran in the Kermanshah and Shāhābād regions. In these last areas, the historic road from Baghdad to Hamadān and beyond divides the Kurds from their Iranian cousins, the Lurs.

Within this extensive, mountainous area the Kurds speak an Iranian language divided into two groups of dialects--northern Kurdish, or Kurmandji, and southern Kurdish, called Kurdi. The dividing line between these two groups of dialects run roughly from the southwest corner of Lake Rezaiyeh to the town of Rowanduz in northern Iraq. Linguists consider Kurdish to be a northwestern Iranian language and therefore quite distinct from Persian, a southwestern language.

Type
Research Article
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , Spring 1968 , pp. 41 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 1968

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References

Bibliography

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MacKenzie, D.N. “The Language of the Medians.” BSOAS, XXII (1959), pp. 354-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minorsky, V., “The Guran.” BSOAS, II, pt. 1 (1943), pp. 75–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minorsky, V., “Kurds” in The Encyclopedia of Islam. A concise, but excellent account.Google Scholar
Minorsky, V., “Tribes of Western Iran.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXXV (1945). pp. 73–80.Google Scholar
Nikitine, Basil. Les Kurdes. Paris, 1956.Google Scholar
Safrastian, Arshak. Kurds and Kurdistan. London, 1948. The author holds the theory that the Kurds were the original inhabitants of modern Kurdestan and as such the direct descents of the Guti, the Kassites, and others.Google Scholar
UNESCO, Iranshahr (The Land of Iran). 2 volumes. Teheran, 1963. In Persian.Google Scholar
Vilchevski, O. Kurdi (Kurds). Leningrad: Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R., 1961. In Russian.Google Scholar
Yasami, Rashid, Kord. Peivastegi-ye-Nezhadi va Tarikhi-ye-u. (Kurds. Their Historical and Racial Connections) Teheran, n.d. In Persian. This book, written by an Iranian Kurd, is a fascinating, well-reasoned account of Kurdish origins and history.Google Scholar
Herodotus, The Persian WarsGoogle Scholar
Livy, History of RomeGoogle Scholar
Polybius, HistoriesGoogle Scholar
Strabo, GeographyGoogle Scholar
Xenophon, AnabasisGoogle Scholar
Hedayat, Sadeq, editor and translator, Kārnāmak-e-Ardashir-e-Pāpakān. (Book of the deeds of Ardashir, son of Pāpak), translated from Pahlavi into modern Persian. 3rd edition, Teheran, 1963.Google Scholar
Herodotus, The Persian WarsGoogle Scholar
Livy, History of RomeGoogle Scholar
Polybius, HistoriesGoogle Scholar
Strabo, GeographyGoogle Scholar
Xenophon, AnabasisGoogle Scholar
Hedayat, Sadeq, editor and translator, Kārnāmak-e-Ardashir-e-Pāpakān. (Book of the deeds of Ardashir, son of Pāpak), translated from Pahlavi into modern Persian. 3rd edition, Teheran, 1963.Google Scholar
Arfa, Hassan, The Kurds. London: Oxford Press, 1966.Google Scholar
Army of Iran, Farhang-e-Geographia-ye-Iran, Vol. 7. Fārs (Dictionary of Iranian Geography) Teheran: Army Geographical Division, 1951. In Persian.Google Scholar
Bidlisi, Amir Sharaf Khan, Sharafnameh. Tarikh-e-Mofassale-Kurdestan. ( Complete History of Kurdestan). Teheran: Elmi, n.d.Google Scholar
Driver, G.R., “Dispersion of the Kurds in Ancient Times.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Oct., 1921, pp. 563–572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, G.R., “The Name Kurd and its Philological Associations.” JRAS, 1923, pp. 393–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Driver, G.R., “Studies in Kurdish History.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. XI, 3 (1922), pp. 491–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edmonds, C.J., Kurds, Turks, and Arabs. London: OUP, 1957.Google Scholar
Edmonds, C.J., “The Place of the Kurds in the Middle Eastern Scene.” Royal Central Asian Society Journal XLV (April, 1958), pp. 141-53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, D. Austin “Hajji Mirza Hasan-e-Shirazi on the Nomad Tribes of Fars in the Fars-Nameh-e-Nasiri.” (A translation of the Farsnameh, lith. Teheran, 1895-6). JRAS, April, 1923, pp. 209–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeStrange, G. Lands of the Eastern Caliphate. Cambridge: University Press, 1930. (First published, 1905.)Google Scholar
LeStrange, G., translator. “Description of the Province of Fars in Persia at the Beginning of the 12th Century A.D.” Translated from a manuscript of Ibn-al-Balkhi. JRAS. 1912. pp. 1–30; 311-340; 865-90.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, D.N. “The Language of the Medians.” BSOAS, XXII (1959), pp. 354-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minorsky, V., “The Guran.” BSOAS, II, pt. 1 (1943), pp. 75–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minorsky, V., “Kurds” in The Encyclopedia of Islam. A concise, but excellent account.Google Scholar
Minorsky, V., “Tribes of Western Iran.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXXV (1945). pp. 73–80.Google Scholar
Nikitine, Basil. Les Kurdes. Paris, 1956.Google Scholar
Safrastian, Arshak. Kurds and Kurdistan. London, 1948. The author holds the theory that the Kurds were the original inhabitants of modern Kurdestan and as such the direct descents of the Guti, the Kassites, and others.Google Scholar
UNESCO, Iranshahr (The Land of Iran). 2 volumes. Teheran, 1963. In Persian.Google Scholar
Vilchevski, O. Kurdi (Kurds). Leningrad: Academy of Sciences, U.S.S.R., 1961. In Russian.Google Scholar
Yasami, Rashid, Kord. Peivastegi-ye-Nezhadi va Tarikhi-ye-u. (Kurds. Their Historical and Racial Connections) Teheran, n.d. In Persian. This book, written by an Iranian Kurd, is a fascinating, well-reasoned account of Kurdish origins and history.Google Scholar