Origins of the Kurds
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Although Kurds have inhabited their highlands for several millennia BC, their prehistory is not very well known.[1] The earliest known evidence of a unified and distinct culture in the Kurdish mountains dates back to the Halaf culture of 8,000-7,400 years ago. This was followed by the Hurrian period (in Mesopotamia and Zagros-Taurus mountains) which lasted from 6,300 to about 2,600 years ago. The Hurrians spoke a language which was possibly part of the Northeast Caucasian (or the proposed Alarodian) family of languages, akin to modern Chechen and Lezgian. The Hurrians spread out and eventually dominated significant territories outside their Zagros-Taurus mountainous base. However, like the Kurds, they did not expand very far from the mountains. As they settled, the Hurrians divided into a number of clans and subgroups, founding city-states, kingdoms and empires with eponymous clan names. These included the Gutis, Kurti, Khaldi, Nairi, Mushku, Mannaeans (Mannai), Mitanni, Urartu, Lullubi and the Kassites among others. All these tribes were part of the larger group of Hurrians (Khurrites), and together helped to shape the Hurrian phase of Kurdish history. [2] These groups, except the Mitanni leadership, are thought to have been non-Indo-Europeans.
Among important Indo-European tribes who settled in Kurdish mountains are Medes, Scythians and Sagarthians whose names are still preserved in some place names throughout Kurdistan.
As a general and common designation, there are numerous historical records referring to the above mentioned peoples as a whole. One of the first mentions in historical records, appears in cuneiform writings from the Sumerians 3,000 BC, who referred to the "land of the Karda"[3] in Taurus-Zagros mountains of the northern and northeastern parts of Mesopotamia, The area was referred to as the land of the "Karda" or "Qarduchi" and the land of the "Guti" or "Gutium". These are described as being the same people only differing in tribal name. The Babylonians called these people "Gardu" and "Qarda". In neighbouring area of Assyria, they were "Qurti" or "Guti". When the Greeks entered the territory, they referred to these people as either "Kardukh", "Carduchi", "Gordukh", Kyrti(oi), Romans as Cyrti. The Armenians called the Kurds "Gortukh" or "Gortai-kh" and the Persians knew them as "Gord" or "Kord". In the Syriac, Hebrew and Chaldean languages they were, respectively, "Qardu", "Kurdaye" and "Qurdaye". In Aramaic and Nestorian they were "Qadu".[4]
It is assumed that this people's original language was influenced and/or gradually replaced by the northwest Iranic, with the arrival of the Medes to Kurdistan.[5]
Kurds are considered Indo-European as well as descendants of the groups mentioned above. However primarily from which stock they are, is discussed among scholars; for instance according to Minorsky Kurds are direct descendant of Medes and even he suggests that the endonym of 'Kurmanj' is translated to descendants of Medes (Kur+ manda), while Others such as Mehrdad Izady think the Aryan infleunce on Kurds has been superficial.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s.v. "Kurd," (accessed 4 August 2006); "Kurds in Iraq," in Eurolegal Services,http://www.eurolegal.org/neoconwars/kurdsiraq.htm.
- ^ The Encyclopedia of Kurdistan, s.v. "Origin," (by Mehrdad A. Izady), (accessed 4 August 2006).
- ^ "Iraqi Kurds — Their History And Culture," in Cultural Orientation Website, Refugee Factsheet no. 13 (Washington, DC: Cultural Orientation Project, Center for Applied Linguistics, 2004. http://www.culturalorientation.net/kurds/khist.html
- ^ Hennerbichler 2004: "Die Kurden," by Ferdinand Hennerbichler, ISBN 963-214-575-5, pubd by the author, Dr. Ferdinand Hennerbichler, Edition fhe, Albert es Hennerbichler Bt., H-9200 Mosonmagyarovar, Slovakia, 2004;
- ^ A. Arnaiz-Villena, J. Martiez-Lasoa and J. Alonso-Garcia, "The correlation Between Languages and Genes: The Usko-Mediterranean Peoples," Human Immunology 62 (2001) No. 9:1057.
