Peter Lerch's Zaza-Related Sections

After I had entered into contact with various Kurdish individuals in Roslavl, I directed my main attention, as stated above, to learning their mother tongue. I soon learned that two dialects, differing considerably from one another, were represented among them: one they called Kurmanji or Kermanji, the other Zaza. I believe I must indicate here how far my knowledge of the Kurdish language extended at my departure for Roslavl.

The aids that I could use at that time consisted chiefly of collections of Kurdish words, which, however, were transcribed in a mostly vague, deficient, and at times erroneous manner, so that even a researcher very familiar with the history of the Iranian languages could derive only a relatively small benefit from them. In order to gain any secure understanding of the grammar, the sources were entirely lacking. Above all, we possessed no connected Kurdish texts, which are absolutely necessary for such insight; little could be gained for this purpose from the few conversations communicated to us by Father Garzoni and Professor Berezin. Furthermore, what those men communicate to us about grammatical forms in Kurdish is not sufficient for even a makeshift understanding with Kurds themselves in their mother tongue, even if one had already been clear about its phonetics, which, as is known, was not yet the case. In addition, much that those two authors communicate remained unclear and unreliable, while other parts contained contradictions.

At first I made efforts, with the help of Turkish, to learn individual words from both dialects, especially those by means of which I could hope to begin a conversation with them in their dialect itself in the shortest time. To some degree this collection was made easier for me by the fact that I had already earlier made for myself a small glossary of Kurdish words according to European reporters, which I had especially resolved to verify. In these collections I had principally Kurmanji in view as the more widespread dialect. Next I paid close attention to the individual sounds of the Kurdish language and tried to fix them by writing. The choice of a suitable alphabet was made easier for me by the late Academician Sjögren's Ossetic grammar, with which I had tried to familiarize myself before my journey. Apart from this, acquaintance with this work was also very useful to me: not only because it likewise treats an Iranian language, but because it also gave me some guidance on how one should proceed when learning, from the mouth of the people who speak it, a language that has not yet been worked on at all. I chose the Ossetic alphabet set up by Sjögren on the basis of the Russian alphabet, because the Arabic-Persian written signs used among the Kurds are by no means sufficient for designating the individual Kurdish sounds, especially the vowels. I could waver all the less in the choice of this alphabet because Russia counts 10,000 Kurdish subjects in Transcaucasia, some of whom already know the Russian alphabet. Since the correct laws of a language can be recognized only by means of an orthography as exact as possible, I proceeded from the principle that a simple written sign should be set for each simple sound. Sjögren's alphabet left nothing to be desired for me in this respect.

After I had learned a certain number of Kurdish words and had tried to determine the most important grammatical forms as far as possible, I went on to translating the well-known grammatical language samples of Bacmeister. For this purpose I first translated them into Turkish and then presented them individually to the Kurds for transfer into the two dialects Kurmanji and Zaza. This work, which I repeatedly undertook with the most intelligent Kurds and with those who spoke their respective dialect most purely, brought me closer to understanding the language. Only now could I attempt, from time to time, to conduct the conversation in Kurdish and to begin composing larger texts. For this I chose first the seven jokes of Khoja Nasreddin printed in Fr. Dieterici, Chrestomathie Ottomane, Berlin 1854, pp. 31-38, which I translated into the Kurmanji dialect with the aforementioned Hussein. With him I also translated eighteen Turkish fables from A. V. Letellier, Choix de Fables, traduites en Turk. Paris, 1826. In addition, the same Kurd communicated to me a humorous fable of the eagle, fox, and wolf; a legend concerning the king of the birds, Suleiman; and a long tale in which very many persons appear. I did not omit to write down these narratives.

Other prose texts in the same dialect I drew from the mouth of the likewise mentioned Hassan. He was a true Zaza, from the Sivän tribe, born in the village of Kassau (in Kiepert: Kaschan), near Palu; he also knew Kurmanji and possessed a treasure of songs. According to his words I wrote down in the Kurmanji dialect a detailed narrative of the disagreements between the above-named Mir of Palu, Awdullah-Baeg, and the Pasha of Charput, and of the former's banishment to Rumelia, as well as the narrative of the romantic-tragic fortunes of the chieftain's daughter from the Römi tribe.

For knowledge of the Zaza dialect, this Hassan was my main source. The texts borrowed from him in this dialect contain three detailed narratives of Kurdish feuds in which he took part, two tales, and the legend of the bird go'in (eagle-owl). In addition, I also recorded some conversations and idiomatic expressions in both dialects.

My sources for folk songs were three Kurds. First, the often-named Hassan, according to whose assertion there are no songs in Zaza proper; nevertheless the songs communicated to me by him, eight in number, contain peculiarities of this dialect. Another rich source for songs for me was the good-natured Mehemmed from Semsât, who sang and dictated fifteen songs to me. I owe two songs to the Kurd Ali from the Dêmi tribe.

According to the inquiries I made, Zaza is spread in the regions around Musch and Palu, among the numerous Tužik tribes, and among the Dúmbeli tribe. Usually every Zaza also knows Kurmanji. This latter seems to be spread throughout all western Kurdistan, that is, from Mosul to Asia Minor. I have found that the Kurmanji I learned offers a great deal in common with the Kurdish dialects made known through Father Garzoni and Professor Berezin, and perhaps one may assume that the Kurdish language divides into five branches, namely into the language varieties of the four branches of the Kurdish people listed by Sheref-Khan and into Zaza. This latter offers some analogies with Ossetic, which caused me to continue in the study of Sjögren's grammar even in Roslavl.¹

Among the Kurds speaking Kurmanji by birth, I noticed in the named city differences in the pronunciation of individual words as well as in individual forms. This difference appeared especially among individuals who came from north and south of the upper course of the Tigris. Yet this difference was not so great that the representatives of the different Kurmanji tribes could not have understood one another. Only Zaza remained unintelligible to the Kurmanji, apart from individual words.