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Origin of the Kurds

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Scholars have proposed various theories regarding the origin of the name 'Kurd.' Recent scholarship suggests it may derive from the Cyrtii or Corduene, although this remains uncertain, as does the origin of the Kurds themselves. Since most available historical materials come from non-Kurdish sources, scholars must rely on these accounts to trace Kurdish historical roots, which are often difficult to access or understand, causing no end of controversy.

Name

There are various theories about the origin of the name "Kurd." According to one theory, it might be derived from "Cyrtii" (Kurti), a term first used in the 2nd century BCE to describe slingers who lived in the Zagros Mountains.[1][2] In the 13th century, an Italian monk and preacher who visited Kurdistan also used the term "Curti" to refer to the Kurds.[3] Alternatively, it might be derived from "Guti." According to Safarastian, the "r" was assimilated after the "u" (Guti > Gurti), following a common linguistic rule in Indo-European languages, particularly those of the East, such as Kurdish, Greek, and Armenian.[4][5]

By the time of the Islamic conquests in the 7th century, and possibly earlier, the term 'Kurd' was used with a socio-economic meaning to describe nomadic groups on the western edge of the Iranian plateau and, possibly, tribes aligned with Sassanian authority in Mesopotamia.[6][7]

Early Islamic writings mention the Kurds across a wide geographical area. However, due to the ambiguity of these accounts, scholars have debated the meaning of the term "Kurds," considering whether it referred to a group defined by ethnicity and language, nomadic lifestyle, or a specific environment in which they lived. A recent study by Boris James, the first scholar to carefully analyze and interpret these writings, focusing on the 12th to 14th centuries, concluded that 12th-century sources show the Kurds had become a unified ethnic group, although divided into several tribes.[8] According to David McDowall, after the fall of the Sassanids, the identity of the Kurds was generally a source of confusion among early Arab and Persian writers due to limited direct contact with Kurds and Kurdistan. Some believed the term "Kurd" referred to the nomads of the Zagros Mountains, while others viewed the Kurds as an ethnic group, although they were uncertain about the origin of these people.[9] During this period, Kurds were also already present in eastern Anatolia.[10]

According to The Cambridge History of the Kurds:

Many different interpretations have been made in explaining the origin of the word ‘Kurd’ to this day, but the interpreters often have not dwelled on the word ‘Kırd’, the self-designation the Kırmanj (Zazas) use in certain regions. However, Strabo, the ancient Greek author (64 BC–21 AD), uses the term Kύρτιοι (Kurtioi) for Kurds, which is Kyrtii in Latin; the similarity of these Greek and Latin terms with the word ‘Kırd’ and its plural forms ‘Kırdi’/’Kirdi’ is remarkable (Strabon cited in Islâm Ansiklopedisi, 1977: 1090; Lecoq, 2006: 232). Likewise, in the Armenian language, the plural form ‘Krder’, ‘Krdakan’ is used for the Kurds.[11]

Predecessor groups

The Kurds are of heterogeneous origins.[12] Some scholars believe they are descended from Indo-European tribes that migrated to the region around 2000 BCE.[13][14] Kurdish ethnicity likely developed as a blend of these tribes and the local populations, possibly including the descendants of the Lullubi and the Guti.[15]

The origin of the Kurds remains uncertain, as they are divided among several countries. They are often excluded from official histories and marginalized by state-centered perspectives that dominate academic history. Even within modern European historical scholarship, Kurds are poorly represented, and clear state biases of authors are evident. The available historical records, mostly from non-Kurdish sources, are difficult to access or understand, resulting in various conflicting historical accounts and ongoing controversy. These factors make it challenging to trace their precise origins and early history, particularly before the Arab-Islamic conquests.[16]

Map showing kingdoms of Corduene and Adiabene during the last centuries BC. The blue line shows the expedition and then retreat of the ten thousand through Corduene in 401 BC.

19th-century scholars, such as George Rawlinson, identified Corduene and Carduchi with the modern Kurds, considering that Carduchi was the ancient lexical equivalent of "Kurdistan".[17][18][19] This view is supported by some recent academic sources which have considered Corduene as proto-Kurdish[20] or as equivalent to modern-day Kurdistan.[21] Some modern scholars, however, reject a Kurdish connection to the Carduchi.[22][23][24]

There were numerous forms of this name, partly due to the difficulty of representing kh in Latin. The spelling Karduchoi is itself probably borrowed from Armenian, since the termination -choi represents the Armenian language plural suffix -kh.[25] It is speculated that Carduchi spoke an Old Iranian language.[26] They also seem to have had non Iranic Armenian elements.[27]

A legend recorded by Judaic scholars claimed that the people of Corduene had supernatural origins, when King Solomon arranged the marriage of 500 Jewish women to jinns (genies).[28][29][30][31][32] The same legend was also used by early Islamic authorities, in explaining the origins of the Kurds.

The Median hypothesis was advanced by Vladimir Minorsky.[33] Minorsky's view was subsequently accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the 20th century.[33] I. Gershevitch provided "a piece of linguistic confirmation" of Minorsky's identification and then another "sociolinguistic" argument. Gernot Windfuhr (1975) identified Kurdish dialects as closer to Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum.[34] The hypothesis of having Median ancestors is rejected by Martin van Bruinessen.[33] Bruinessen states: "Though some Kurdish intellectuals claim that their people are descended from the Medes, there is not enough evidence to permit such connection across the considerable gap in time between the political dominance of the Medes, and the first attestation of the Kurds.[33] Garnik Asatrian (2009) stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called Southern Tati) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median ... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median are not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects — Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, etc."[35]

Origin legends

There are multiple legends that detail the origins of the Kurds. In the legend of Newroz, an evil king named Zahak, who had two snakes growing out of his shoulders, had conquered Iran, and terrorized its subjects; demanding daily sacrifices in the form of young men's brains. Unknowingly to Zahak, the cooks of the palace saved one of the men, and mixed the brains of the other with those of a sheep. The men that were saved were told to flee to the mountains. Hereafter, Kaveh the Blacksmith, who had already lost several of his children to Zahak, trained the men in the mountains, and stormed Zahak's palace, severing the heads of the snakes and killing the tyrannical king. Kaveh was instilled as the new king, and his followers formed the beginning of the Kurdish people.[36][37]

In the writings of the 10th-century Arab historian Al-Masudi, the Kurds are described as the offspring of King Solomon’s concubines engendered by the demon Jasad.[38] On learning who they were, Solomon shall have exclaimed "Drive them (ukrudūhunna) in the mountains and valleys" which then suggests a negative connotation such as the "thrown away".[38] Another that they are the descendants of King Solomons's concubines and his angelical servants. These were sent to Europe to bring him five-hundred beautiful maidens, for the king's harem. However, when these had done so and returned to Israel the king had already died. As such, the Djinn settled in the mountains, married the women themselves, and their offspring came to be known as the Kurds.[39][40]

The Mount Judi (Guti) which is located in North Kurdistan is mentioned in the Quran:

And it was said, “O earth! Swallow up your water. And O sky! Withhold ˹your rain˺.” The floodwater receded and the decree was carried out. The Ark rested on Mount Judi, and it was said, “Away with the wrongdoing people!”

— Surah Hud (44)[full citation needed]
Depiction of Noah's ark landing on the mountain top, from the North French Hebrew Miscellany (13th century)

The writings of the Ottoman Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi detail a further legend learned from an Armenian historian labelled only as Mighdisî that ties the story of the Kurds in with their historic proximity to Mount Ararat, which is identified by some religious groups as the resting place of Noah's Ark in the Genesis flood narrative:

According to the chronicler Mighdisî, the first town to be built after Noah's Flood was the town of Judi, followed by the fortresses of Sinjar and Mifariqin. The town of Judi was ruled by Melik Kürdim of the Prophet Noah's community, a man who lived no less than 600 years and who travelled the length and width of Kurdistan. Coming to Mifariqin he liked its climate and settled there, begetting many children and descendants. He invented a language of his own, independent of Hebrew. It is neither Hebrew nor Arabic, Persian, Dari or Pahlavi; they still call it the language of Kürdim. So the Kurdish language, which was invented in Mifariqin and is now used throughout Kurdistan, owes its name to Melik Kürdim of the community of the Prophet Noah. Because Kurdistan is an endless stony stretch of mountains, there are no less than twelve varieties of Kurdish, differing from one another in pronunciation and vocabulary, so that they often have to use interpreters to understand one another's words.[41]

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ McDowall, David (2021). A modern history of the Kurds (Fourth ed.). I.B. Tauris. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7556-0079-3.
  2. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin (2011). Kurdish Ethno-Nationalism versus Nation-Building States. Gorgias Pres. p. 16. ISBN 978-1463229863.
  3. ^ Eppel, Michael (2016). A people without a state: the Kurds from the rise of Islam to the dawn of nationalism. University of Texas Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4773-1107-3.
  4. ^ Safrastian, Arshak (1948). Kurds and Kurdistan. The Harvill Press. p. 16.
  5. ^ "Kurd | History, Culture, & Language | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-01-06.
  6. ^ McDowall, David (2021). A modern history of the Kurds (Fourth ed.). I.B. Tauris. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7556-0079-3.
  7. ^ Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol.13, pp. 23–24, 2009.
  8. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin (2023-03-15). "Boris James, Genèse du Kurdistan. Les Kurdes dans l'Orient mamelouk et mongol (1250-1340)". Bulletin critique des Annales islamologiques (37): 114–116. doi:10.4000/bcai.2919. ISSN 0259-7373.
  9. ^ McDowall, David (2021). A modern history of the Kurds (Fourth ed.). I.B. Tauris. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7556-0079-3.
  10. ^ Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli, eds. (2021). The Cambridge History of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press. pp. 610–611.
  11. ^ Bozarslan, Hamit; Gunes, Cengiz; Yadirgi, Veli, eds. (2021). The Cambridge History of the Kurds. Cambridge University Press. p. 666.
  12. ^ M. Van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State, 373 pp., Zed Books, 1992. p.122.
  13. ^ Gunter, Michael M. (2018). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds (3rd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-5381-1049-2.
  14. ^ McDowall, David (2021). A modern history of the Kurds (Fourth ed.). I.B. Tauris. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-7556-0079-3.
  15. ^ Foltz, Richard (2017). "The "Original" Kurdish Religion? Kurdish Nationalism and the False Conflation of the Yezidi and Zoroastrian Traditions". Journal of Persianate Studies. 10 (1): 98. doi:10.1163/18747167-12341309.
  16. ^ O'Shea, Maria T. (2012). Trapped between the map and reality: geography and perceptions of Kurdistan. Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-415-65290-2.
  17. ^ Rawlinson, George, The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 7, 1871. (copy at Project Gutenberg)
  18. ^ J. G. Th. Grässe (1909) [1861]. "Gordyene". Orbis latinus; oder, Verzeichnis der wichtigsten lateinischen orts- und ländernamen (in German) (2nd ed.). Berlin: Schmidt. OCLC 1301238 – via Columbia University.
  19. ^ Kurds. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07
  20. ^ Revue des études arméniennes, vol.21, 1988-1989, p.281, By Société des études armeniennes, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Published by Imprimerie nationale, P. Geuthner, 1989.
  21. ^ A.D. Lee, The Role of Hostages in Roman Diplomacy with Sasanian Persia, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Vol. 40, No. 3 (1991), pp. 366-374 (see p.371)
  22. ^ Mark Marciak Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West, 2017. [1] pp. 220-221
  23. ^ Victoria Arekelova, Garnik S. Asatryan Prolegomena To The Study Of The Kurds, Iran and The Caucasus, 2009 [2] pp. 82
  24. ^ Ilya Gershevitch, William Bayne Fisher, The Cambridge History of Iran: The Median and Achamenian Periods, 964 pp., Cambridge University Press, 1985, ISBN 0-521-20091-1, ISBN 978-0-521-20091-2, (see footnote of p.257). Dandamaev considers Carduchi (who were from the upper Tigris near the Assyrian and Median borders) less likely than Cyrtians as ancestors of modern Kurds. Encyclopedia Iranica, "Carduchi" by M. Dandamayev
  25. ^ M.Th. Houtsma, E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, ISBN 90-04-08265-4, see p.1133
  26. ^ [3] ref>M. Chahin, Before the Greeks, p. 109, James Clarke & Co., 1996, ISBN 0-7188-2950-6
  27. ^ Marciak, Mark, Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West, 2017. [4] pp. 212-214
  28. ^ Baron Patrick Balfour Kinross, Within the Taurus: a journey in Asiatic Turkey, 1970, 191 pages, see p. 89
  29. ^ George Smith, The Cornhill Magazine, Volume 167, 1954, sp. 228
  30. ^ Peter Schäfer, Catherine Hezser, The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture, Volume 3, Mohr Siebeck, 2002 – 486 pages, s p. 80
  31. ^ Adolf Büchler, Studies in Jewish history, Oxford University Press, 1956, 279 pages, s p. 84
  32. ^ Israel Abrahams, Adolf Büchler, The Foundations of Jewish life: three studies, Arno Press, 1973, 512 pages, s p. 84
  33. ^ a b c d Hakan Özoğlu, Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries, SUNY Press, 2004, p. 25.
  34. ^ Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), “Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes”, Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457–471
  35. ^ G. Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 21 [5])
  36. ^ Masudi. Les Prairies d’Or. Trans. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, 9 vols. Paris: La Société Asiatique, 1861.
  37. ^ Özoglu, H. (2004). Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 30.
  38. ^ a b James, Boris (September 2014). "Arab Ethnonyms ('Ajam, 'Arab, Badū and Turk): The Kurdish Case as a Paradigm for Thinking about Differences in the Middle Ages". Iranian Studies. 47 (5): 685. doi:10.1080/00210862.2014.934149. ISSN 0021-0862. S2CID 143606283.
  39. ^ Kahn, M. (1980). Children of the Jinn: in Search of the Kurds and their Country. Michigan: Seaview Books, pp. xi.
  40. ^ Zorab Aloian. "The Kurds in Ottoman Hungary". Transoxiana: Journal Libre de Estudios Orientales. Buenos Aires: Universidad del Salvador. December 9, 2004
  41. ^ Van Bruinessen, M. (2000). Kurdistan in the 16th and 17th centuries, as reflected in Evliya Çelebi’s Seyahatname. The Journal of Kurdish Studies, 3.1:1-11.
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