Kurmanji

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Kurmanji

For the Southern Kurmanji Dialect see: Sorani

Kurmanji: (Kurdish: Kurmancî) is the commonly spoken dialect of Kurdish language and it is spoken in Turkey and Kurdistan of Syria and Iran, as well as Kurds in Former Soviet countries and by Kurds in Lebanon. It is the language of the national Kurdish Yezidi religion.

In Kurdistan of Iraq, Kurmanji is spoken in the north parts , and northern parts of the Iranian Kurdistan in the cities of Urmia, Maku, Xoy as well as exile Kurds living in Khorasan province of Iran and Middle Anatolia of Turkey, in cities like Ankara, Konya, Kirsehir and some others. Kurmanji is also spoken by 200,000 Kurdophones settled around Kabul, in Afghanistan and some in Pakistan.

Kurmanji is mistakenly called as Bahdini in Iraq due to Kurmanji Kurds living in Bahdinan region and Shikaki in Iran due to major Kurmanji tribe Shikak which is the tribe of legendary Kurdish leader Ismail Aghaye Shikak.

Script
Etymology

The Magi Theory

References
See also
External links

Script

Kurmanji dialect, also referred to as [Northern Kurdish], uses the Latin script^[1]. The Latin script in which Kurdish is written in Turkey and Syria as well as in exile communities in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia is based on Jaladet Bedirkhan?s (Celadet Bedirxan?s) alphabet.

Kurds have also used the term Kurmanji as an identity for Kurds that speak the dialects of the Kurmanji mentioned above. This term is in contrast to Gorani or Dimili (also Zaza), which have been used to describe other people in the region who speak Zaza-Gorani languages.^[2]

Etymology

The main theory about the etymology of Kurmanji is that the term Kurmanji, according to Prince Jaladet Bedirkhan, the great Kurish intellectual who prepared the Latin Kurdish alphabet, comes from Kurd+man+cî which means, those Kurds who remained in their places (not moved like others). In earler publicatons of this century, the term Kurmanji was sometimes spelled with a "d" like "Kurdmanji" but the standard spelling of the term is Kurmanji in English and Kurmancî in Kurdish.

One other theory is that the term Kurmanji is believed by some scholars to mean Median Kurd.^[3] Some scholars say the older form of this word is Khormenj (also possibly Hormenj, which means ?place of Khormens? or ?land of Khormens? in Kurdish). Kurds historically lived in the area Greek sources defined as Armenia; thus Greek Armen could be a rendering of local Khormen. Note that modern Armenians' name for themselves has historically been Haiq.

The Magi Theory

Other scholars dismiss the above theories as false. These scholars claim the term Kurmanji originates from the two distinct words, kur (?boy? or ?child?) and magi. Magi refers to one of the ancient tribes of the Median Empire whose priests are referenced in the Bible and are commonly known as the Three Wise Men from Medya.^[4] The direct translation applied to the term Kurên Magî is ?Children of Magi?. Scholars say that Manji is simply a distorted form of the original term. These scholars also claim that the Magi tribe, or followers of the priests that were referred to as ?Magi of the people?, may have been the original speakers of Proto-Kurdish.^[5] Indeed pre-modern documents write the name Kurmanj as Kurmaj; For instance Masture Ardalan writes: ... the third group of Kurmaj are Baban... Also there is a desire in Kurdish to add a n before j. (ex. Iranian taj in Kurdish becomes tanj.)