Section 1 of 5
B. von Dorn's Roslavl Report
Read on 20 June / 2 July 1856.1
It is with special pleasure that I address the Class this time. I believe I can express the confident hope that, through the work of local Orientalists, we are on the way to setting in bright light once again an important branch of Oriental linguistic and historical scholarship, which, despite the repeated efforts and reminders of scholars, and especially of Fraehn here in our own country, has until now still lain far too much in darkness. I mean the language and history of the Kurdish people.
Mr. P. Lerch, candidate of St. Petersburg University, has returned from his journey to Roslavl, where the Academy, with the approval of His Excellency the President, had sent him for the purpose of learning the Kurdish language and conducting other research concerning the mentioned people.2 In his detailed report submitted to the Class, for which these lines are intended only as an introduction, he has given sufficient account of his successful dealings with the Kurdish prisoners of war, and he has additionally presented to me the following language samples and texts.
I. Prose
a) In the Kurmanji Dialect
- Translations of seven narratives from Dieterici, Chrestomathie Ottomane. Berlin, 1854, octavo, pp. 31-38.
- Translation of eighteen fables in Turkish from Letellier, Choix des Fables Turques. Paris, 1826, octavo.
- Two tales and one fable.
- A detailed narrative of the fortunes of the Mir of Palu, Awdullah-Baeg.
- A narrative of the unhappy love of the chieftain's daughter from the Römi tribe.
- A translation of the Finnish rune provisionally published by Zetterquist in six languages.
b) In the Zaza Dialect
- Three more detailed narratives of feuds of Kurdish tribes.
- Two tales.
- A legend of the bird gö’in (eagle-owl).
In addition, Mr. Lerch wrote down individual conversations, as well as translating Bacmeister's language samples into both dialects.
II. Poetry
Twenty-five folk songs, of which some are twenty and forty verses long. They are mostly in the Kurmanji dialect, but some have peculiarities of Zaza. The content is erotic and heroic.
Closer insight into and examination of these language samples and texts has produced in me the conviction that their conscientious, careful working-up will truly put Mr. Lerch in a position to provide an outline of Kurdish grammar and a small chrestomathy together with a glossary, which will serve as a foundation and occasion for further, more detailed work in this field.
I therefore take the liberty of proposing to the Class that Mr. Lerch be put in a position to work up the scholarly materials he brought with him from Roslavl and prepare them for print, so that, elevated and encouraged by such support, he may also keep firmly in view the completion of his other works concerning the Kurdish people.