Gorani language
Encyclopedia
Gorani is a Northwestern Iranian language, that includes Hewrami, and is spoken by Kurdish
populations in the southernmost parts of Iranian Kurdistan
and the Iraqi Kurdistan
region. Some linguists classify it as a member of the Zaza–Gorani branch of the Northwestern Iranian languages. Although it shares similarities in vocabulary to Kurmanji
and Sorani
, also spoken by Kurds, Gorani is distinct grammatically from the two and shares similarities with Zazaki
. Gorani is spoken in the southwestern corner of province of Kurdistan
and northwestern corner of province of Kermanshah
in Iran, and in parts of the Halabja
region in Iraqi Kurdistan
and the Hawraman mountains between Iran
and Iraq
.
The oldest literary documents in these related languages, or dialects, are written in Gorani. Hewrami, considered a sub-dialect of Gorani, is a very distinct dialect spoken by Gorani/Hewrami people in a region called Hewraman along the Iran–Iraq border. Many Gorani speakers belong to the religious grouping Yarsanism, with a large number of religious documents written in Gorani.
Gorani was once an important literary language in the southeastern parts of the Kurdistan geographical region but has since been replaced by Sorani
. In the nineteenth century, Gorani as a language of communication was slowly replaced by Sorani
in several cities, both in Iran and Iraq. Today, Sorani is the primary language spoken in cities including Kirkuk
, Meriwan, and Halabja
, which are still considered part of the greater Goran region.
origin. The name may be derived from the old Avestan word, gairi, which means mountain. The word Gorani refers to inhabitants of the mountains or highlanders as the suffix -i means from. The word has been used to describe mountainous regions and the regions' communities in modern Kurdish
literary texts.
The name Horami is believed by some scholars to be derived from God's name in Avestan, Ahura Mazda.
An example:
دیمای حمد ذات جهان آفرین
"After praise of the Being who created the world
یا وام پی تعریف شای خاور زمین
I have reached a description of the King of the Land of the East.
Names of forty classical poets writing in Gurani are known, but the details of the lives and dates are unknown for the most part. Perhaps the earliest writer is Mala Parisha, author of a Mathnawi of 500 lines on the Shi'ite faith who is reported to be alive around 1398–99. Other poets are known from the 17th–19th centuries and include Mahzuni, Shaikh Mostafa Takhti, Khana Qubadi
, Yusuf Zaka, and Ahmab Beg Komashi. One of the last great poets to complete a book of poems (divan) in Gurani is Mala Abd-al Rahm of Tawa-Goz south of Halabja
.
There exists also dozen or more long epic or romantic Mathnawis, mostly translated by anonymous writers from Persian literature
including: Bijan and Manijeh
, Khurshid-i Khawar, Khosrow and Shirin, Lalyi o Majnoon, Shirin and Farhad , Haft Khwan-i Rostam
and Sultan Jumjuma. Manuscripts of these works are currently preserved in the national libraries of Berlin, London, and Paris.
Some Gorani literary works:
(Iranian Kurdistan
) and northeastern Iraq
(Iraqi Kurdistan
). The key cities of this region are Pawe
in Iran and Halabja
in Iraq. Horami is sometimes called Auramani or Horami by people foreign to the region. Horami is very similar to Avestan, the language of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism
http://www.kurdishacademy.org/english/articles/articles-006.html. Prayers are still recited by Horami by using a style called Siya Çeman in Horami, where the one reciting the prayer uses high notes to sing holy verses of Zoroastrian faith. The same style is used for Islamic Sufi hymns in Horaman where Sufism
is also a prevalent religious practice. Today, some Horami speakers use the Siya Çeman style of singing to perform traditional songs and even modern songs in Horami.
Several Zazaish scholars regard Horami as one of the oldest dialects of the Goran–Zaza languages. Some scholars claim that the name Horami has close links to the Zoroastrian
faith and assert that the name actually originated from Ahuraman, (see Horaman).
Generally, the majority of Horami speakers can also speak Sorani
, Arabic, or Persian
in order to communicate with other people in neighboring cities.
Kurdish people
The Kurdish people, or Kurds , are an Iranian people native to the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey...
populations in the southernmost parts of Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of West Azerbaijan province....
and the Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
region. Some linguists classify it as a member of the Zaza–Gorani branch of the Northwestern Iranian languages. Although it shares similarities in vocabulary to Kurmanji
Kurmanji
Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken dialect of the Kurdish language.- Scripts and books :...
and Sorani
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
, also spoken by Kurds, Gorani is distinct grammatically from the two and shares similarities with Zazaki
Zazaki language
Zazaki is an Indo-European language spoken primarily in eastern Turkey. According to Ethnologue, the language is a part of the northwestern group of the Iranian section of the Indo-European family. Zazaki shares many features, structures, and vocabulary with Gorani, Talyshi and other Caspian...
. Gorani is spoken in the southwestern corner of province of Kurdistan
Kurdistan Province (Iran)
Kurdistan Province or Kordestan Province or Kurdestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, not to be confused with the greater geographical area of Iranian Kurdistan. The province of Kurdistan is 28,817 km² in area which encompasses just one-fourth of the Kurdish inhabited areas of Iran or...
and northwestern corner of province of Kermanshah
Kermanshah Province
Kermanshah Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. The province was known from 1969 to 1986 as Kermanshahan and from 1986 to 1995 as Bakhtaran.-Counties:...
in Iran, and in parts of the Halabja
Halabja
Halabja , is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border....
region in Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
and the Hawraman mountains between Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
The oldest literary documents in these related languages, or dialects, are written in Gorani. Hewrami, considered a sub-dialect of Gorani, is a very distinct dialect spoken by Gorani/Hewrami people in a region called Hewraman along the Iran–Iraq border. Many Gorani speakers belong to the religious grouping Yarsanism, with a large number of religious documents written in Gorani.
Gorani was once an important literary language in the southeastern parts of the Kurdistan geographical region but has since been replaced by Sorani
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
. In the nineteenth century, Gorani as a language of communication was slowly replaced by Sorani
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
in several cities, both in Iran and Iraq. Today, Sorani is the primary language spoken in cities including Kirkuk
Kirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
, Meriwan, and Halabja
Halabja
Halabja , is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border....
, which are still considered part of the greater Goran region.
Etymology
The name Goran appears to be of Indo-IranianIndo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...
origin. The name may be derived from the old Avestan word, gairi, which means mountain. The word Gorani refers to inhabitants of the mountains or highlanders as the suffix -i means from. The word has been used to describe mountainous regions and the regions' communities in modern Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
literary texts.
The name Horami is believed by some scholars to be derived from God's name in Avestan, Ahura Mazda.
Literature
Under the independent rulers of Ardalan (9th–14th / 14th–19th cent.), with their capital latterly at Sanandaj, Gorani became the vehicle of a considerable corpus of poetry. Gorani was and remains the first language of the scriptures of the Ahl-e Haqq sect, or Yarsanism, centered around Gahvara. Prose works, in contrast, are hardly known. The structure of Gorani verse is very simple and monotonous. It consists almost entirely of stanzas of two rhyming half-verses of ten syllables each, with no regard to the quantity of syllables.An example:
دیمای حمد ذات جهان آفرین
"After praise of the Being who created the world
یا وام پی تعریف شای خاور زمین
I have reached a description of the King of the Land of the East.
Names of forty classical poets writing in Gurani are known, but the details of the lives and dates are unknown for the most part. Perhaps the earliest writer is Mala Parisha, author of a Mathnawi of 500 lines on the Shi'ite faith who is reported to be alive around 1398–99. Other poets are known from the 17th–19th centuries and include Mahzuni, Shaikh Mostafa Takhti, Khana Qubadi
Khana Qubadi
Khana Qubadi or , , was a Kurdish poet. He wrote his poems in the Hawrami dialect. He belonged to the Hawrami school of poetry in the Ardalan principality.-Works:...
, Yusuf Zaka, and Ahmab Beg Komashi. One of the last great poets to complete a book of poems (divan) in Gurani is Mala Abd-al Rahm of Tawa-Goz south of Halabja
Halabja
Halabja , is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border....
.
There exists also dozen or more long epic or romantic Mathnawis, mostly translated by anonymous writers from Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
including: Bijan and Manijeh
Bijan and Manijeh
Bijan and Manijeh is a love story in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh . Bijan was the son of Giv, a great warrior of Iran during the reign of Kai Khosrow and Banu Goshasp, the heroine daughter of Rostam...
, Khurshid-i Khawar, Khosrow and Shirin, Lalyi o Majnoon, Shirin and Farhad , Haft Khwan-i Rostam
Rostam
Rostam is the national hero of Greater Iran from Zabulistan in Persian mythology and son of Zal and Rudaba. In some ways, the position of Rostam in the historical tradition is parallel to that of Surena, the hero of the Carrhae. His figure was endowed with many features of the historical...
and Sultan Jumjuma. Manuscripts of these works are currently preserved in the national libraries of Berlin, London, and Paris.
Some Gorani literary works:
- Shirin u Xusrew by Khana QubadiKhana QubadiKhana Qubadi or , , was a Kurdish poet. He wrote his poems in the Hawrami dialect. He belonged to the Hawrami school of poetry in the Ardalan principality.-Works:...
(lived 1700–1759), published 1975 in Bagdad. - Diwan des Feqe Qadiri Hemewend, 19th century
- The Koran in Gorani, translated in the 20th century by Haci Nuri Eli Ilahi (Nuri Eli Shah).
Hewrami
Hewrami or Horami refers to a specific variant or dialect of Gorani and is regarded as the most archaic of the Gorani group. It is mostly spoken in Horaman (also Horaman or Horaman) in western IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
(Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan
Iranian Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of West Azerbaijan province....
) and northeastern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
(Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan or Kurdistan Region is an autonomous region of Iraq. It borders Iran to the east, Turkey to the north, Syria to the west and the rest of Iraq to the south. The regional capital is Arbil, known in Kurdish as Hewlêr...
). The key cities of this region are Pawe
Pawe
Pawe or PAWE may mean:* Pawe Special Woreda, a woreda of Ethiopia* Paveh, a city in Iran* Performing Arts Workers' Equity, a trade union in South Africa...
in Iran and Halabja
Halabja
Halabja , is a Kurdish town in Northern Iraq, located about north-east of Baghdad and 8–10 miles from the Iranian border....
in Iraq. Horami is sometimes called Auramani or Horami by people foreign to the region. Horami is very similar to Avestan, the language of the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
http://www.kurdishacademy.org/english/articles/articles-006.html. Prayers are still recited by Horami by using a style called Siya Çeman in Horami, where the one reciting the prayer uses high notes to sing holy verses of Zoroastrian faith. The same style is used for Islamic Sufi hymns in Horaman where Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
is also a prevalent religious practice. Today, some Horami speakers use the Siya Çeman style of singing to perform traditional songs and even modern songs in Horami.
Several Zazaish scholars regard Horami as one of the oldest dialects of the Goran–Zaza languages. Some scholars claim that the name Horami has close links to the Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
faith and assert that the name actually originated from Ahuraman, (see Horaman).
Generally, the majority of Horami speakers can also speak Sorani
Soranî
Soranî is the name of a Kurdish language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq. Soranî is one of the main Kurdish languages, which are a branch of the Iranian languages.- Name :...
, Arabic, or Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
in order to communicate with other people in neighboring cities.
See also
- Kurmanci Kurdish
- Kalhori Kurdish
- Zazaki Kurdish
- Avestan languageAvestan languageAvestan is an East Iranian language known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name...
- Iranian languagesIranian languagesThe Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
External links
- The Dialect of Awroman( Hawraman-i Luhon) by D.N.MacKenzie
- Ethnologue report for Hewrami
- Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing? by Michiel Leezenberg, University of Amsterdam
- Ergativity and Role-Marking in Hawrami by Anders Holmberg, University of Newcastle & CASTL and David Odden, Ohio State University
- The Noun Phrase in Hawrami by Anders Holmberg, University of Newcastle & CASTL and David Odden, Ohio State University