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Shamdinani Stories I
Kurdish Writings on the History and Culture of Central Kurdistan by Mullah Saʼid Shamdinani
Reihe: - Brill Kurdish Studies, Band: 3
During the First World War, the Russian consul Basile Nikitine recruited the Kurdish Mullah Saâid of Shamdinan to assist him in the study of the Kurdish language and history in the city of Urmia in northwest Iran. Their collaboration resulted in a rich corpus of cultural and historical texts, which Nikitine subsequently intended to publish in cooperation with the British scholar David N. MacKenzie. The plan, however, was never brought to fruition, and MacKenzieâs copious unpublished material remained undiscovered until after his death. This volume presents facsimiles of the original Kurdish texts, a normalized transliteration with parallel English translations, an introduction sketching the life of Mullah Saâid Shamdinani and the historical and literary context, as well as a Kurdish-English glossary and a map of locations. The result is a unique compilation of primary sources in Kurdish that document the cultural and political life of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Kurdistan, and significantly contribute to the study of the Kurdish language and history.
Funded by the European Union (ERC, ALHOME, 101021183).
Funded by the European Union (ERC, ALHOME, 101021183).
David Neil MacKenzie (1926-2001) was a philologist of Iranian languages. He obtained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 1957 and worked in the same university as a Lecturer of Kurdish and Iranian languages. In 1975 he was appointed as the chair of Oriental Philology at the University of Göttingen in Germany where he worked until his retirement in 1994. He was elected as a fellow of British Academy. MacKenzie published extensively on Middle Iranian languages as well as the Kurdish and Pashto. He is best known for his two volume Kurdish Dialect Studies (Oxford University Press, 1961, 1962) and Concise Pahlavi Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1971).
Ergin Ãpengin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language at the University of Kurdistan-Hewlêr and Aï¬liated Researcher in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the structural and sociolinguistic dimensions of Kurdish and Iranian languages. He is the author of The Mukri Variety of Central Kurdish: Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon (Reichert, 2016) and co-editor of Structural and Typological Variation in the Dialects of Kurdish (Palgrave, 2022). He serves as Associate Editor of Kurdish Studies Journal.
Ergin Ãpengin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language at the University of Kurdistan-Hewlêr and Aï¬liated Researcher in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the structural and sociolinguistic dimensions of Kurdish and Iranian languages. He is the author of The Mukri Variety of Central Kurdish: Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon (Reichert, 2016) and co-editor of Structural and Typological Variation in the Dialects of Kurdish (Palgrave, 2022). He serves as Associate Editor of Kurdish Studies Journal.
Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Illustrations
Part I
Introduction:
Mullah Saâid Shamdinani and a century of Kurdological work on his texts
Mullah Saâid Shamdinaniâs trajectory
Mullah Saâid and Basile Nikitine cooperation
20th century Kurdological work on Mullah Saâidâs texts
Re-discovering Mullah Saâidâs texts
Manuscripts and texts
David N. MacKenzieâs edition
The present updated edition: The Shamdinan dialect and the principles of transcription Arabic and Persian quotations Symbols and punctuation Transcription of proper names
Arabic and Persian quotations: transcription and translation
Annotations and commentary
Thematic organization of the texts
Part II: Texts and Translations
I. The mouse, the snake, the scorpion, the magpie and the kite
II. The snake and the fox
III. The pigeon and the fox
IV. A fox who went one night to eat chickens
V. The wolf and the lamb
VI. A lion and a wolf and a fox
VII. How the lion killed a wolf and the fox learnt sense
VIII. The gardener and the owners of a horse, a mule and a donkey
IX. (How) the trickster stole the foolâs donkey
X. The huntsman and the bear
XI. The people of Begalta detest donkeys
XII. Sofi Shaikh of the settled Harki
XIII. The Story of Ali âBrawlerâ
XIV. The muezzin of Akre
XV. The man from Akre and the woman of Kalet
XVI. Mam Bapir and the village imam
XVII. Sofi Badin of Hasnakan
XVIII. Shaikh Sulaiman âTinkle-toesâ
XIX. A story of the strange stupidity of the Telis in former times, which has come down to us, generation by generation, from our ancestors
XX. Another story of the Telis
XXI. The tale of Sile Shamfata
XXII. Muhammad Agha Barwari and the travelling minstrel
XXIII. Mam Tal the Barwari
XXIV. Ismail Pasha and Isa Dalani
XXV. Ismail Pashaâs henchmen and Isa Dalani
XXVI. Ismail Pasha said to Isa Dalani, âWhich kind of woman is best?â
XXVII. The Mir of the Hakaris and the good news of the bird of spring
XXVIII. The story of Darwesh Beg of Albak
XXIX. The story of Kamo the honey-stealer
XXX. Ismail the Ox-eater
XXXI. The Artushi nomad and the merchant of Mosul
XXXII. The Prophet of the donkeys
XXXIII. The story of Pawa
XXXIV. The blind Koran-reciter from Pawa
XXXV.The blind man and the two students
XXXVI. The tale of a man of the Motki tribe
XXXVII. Razgin the highwayman, the cowardly youth and the brave old man
XXXVIII. The story of the muezzin of Karbala
XXXIX. The Kurd and the Mujtahid of Karbala
XL. Ali Beg Dasini, the mullahs of the âHusainisâ and the kochaks of the Dasinis
XLI. The story of Sadiq Beg and the Jews of Amadiya
XLII. A Mizuri will not eat a kidâs tail
XLIII. Abdi and Aziz
XLIV. âPossession follows the sword.â
XLV. The Story of Abdal Beg, the Mir of Shamdinan, and his wife Pari Khan
XLVI. Oso, son of Haji Qaso, and Jindi Agha
XLVII. The Walnut of the Caps
XLVIII. The Story of Muhammad Pasha of Rawandiz
XLIX. The Story of Maulana Khalid
L. Shaikh Nabi Mawili
LI. Shaikh Abdussalam I
LII. Shaikh Muhammad Barzani
LIII. Shaikh Abdussalam II
LIV. The Story of Shaikh Muhammad of Bijil
LV. The Tale of Suto and Tato
LVI. Simko says, âI am the first Emperor, Wilhelm the second.â
LVII. The Story of Mirza Hasan Sinai and Musayyib Beg Ilyasof Ganjei
LVIII. The Story of the killing of Rizvan Pasha at the hands of Ali Shamil Pashaâs men
LIX. The story of the abolition of the journal âHatawi Kurdâ (Kurdish Sun)
LX. A Statement of the Kurdsâ distress on account of the Turks
LXIa. Well-meaning advice for the whole Kurdish nation
LXIb. Well-meaning advice for all Kurds
Part III: Kurdish-English Glossary
Appendices
Appendix 1: Map of locations mentioned in the texts
Appendix 2: Figures
Appendix 3: Sample manuscripts
Index of places, people and person names
List of Tables and Illustrations
Part I
Introduction:
Mullah Saâid Shamdinani and a century of Kurdological work on his texts
Mullah Saâid Shamdinaniâs trajectory
Mullah Saâid and Basile Nikitine cooperation
20th century Kurdological work on Mullah Saâidâs texts
Re-discovering Mullah Saâidâs texts
Manuscripts and texts
David N. MacKenzieâs edition
The present updated edition: The Shamdinan dialect and the principles of transcription Arabic and Persian quotations Symbols and punctuation Transcription of proper names
Arabic and Persian quotations: transcription and translation
Annotations and commentary
Thematic organization of the texts
Part II: Texts and Translations
I. The mouse, the snake, the scorpion, the magpie and the kite
II. The snake and the fox
III. The pigeon and the fox
IV. A fox who went one night to eat chickens
V. The wolf and the lamb
VI. A lion and a wolf and a fox
VII. How the lion killed a wolf and the fox learnt sense
VIII. The gardener and the owners of a horse, a mule and a donkey
IX. (How) the trickster stole the foolâs donkey
X. The huntsman and the bear
XI. The people of Begalta detest donkeys
XII. Sofi Shaikh of the settled Harki
XIII. The Story of Ali âBrawlerâ
XIV. The muezzin of Akre
XV. The man from Akre and the woman of Kalet
XVI. Mam Bapir and the village imam
XVII. Sofi Badin of Hasnakan
XVIII. Shaikh Sulaiman âTinkle-toesâ
XIX. A story of the strange stupidity of the Telis in former times, which has come down to us, generation by generation, from our ancestors
XX. Another story of the Telis
XXI. The tale of Sile Shamfata
XXII. Muhammad Agha Barwari and the travelling minstrel
XXIII. Mam Tal the Barwari
XXIV. Ismail Pasha and Isa Dalani
XXV. Ismail Pashaâs henchmen and Isa Dalani
XXVI. Ismail Pasha said to Isa Dalani, âWhich kind of woman is best?â
XXVII. The Mir of the Hakaris and the good news of the bird of spring
XXVIII. The story of Darwesh Beg of Albak
XXIX. The story of Kamo the honey-stealer
XXX. Ismail the Ox-eater
XXXI. The Artushi nomad and the merchant of Mosul
XXXII. The Prophet of the donkeys
XXXIII. The story of Pawa
XXXIV. The blind Koran-reciter from Pawa
XXXV.The blind man and the two students
XXXVI. The tale of a man of the Motki tribe
XXXVII. Razgin the highwayman, the cowardly youth and the brave old man
XXXVIII. The story of the muezzin of Karbala
XXXIX. The Kurd and the Mujtahid of Karbala
XL. Ali Beg Dasini, the mullahs of the âHusainisâ and the kochaks of the Dasinis
XLI. The story of Sadiq Beg and the Jews of Amadiya
XLII. A Mizuri will not eat a kidâs tail
XLIII. Abdi and Aziz
XLIV. âPossession follows the sword.â
XLV. The Story of Abdal Beg, the Mir of Shamdinan, and his wife Pari Khan
XLVI. Oso, son of Haji Qaso, and Jindi Agha
XLVII. The Walnut of the Caps
XLVIII. The Story of Muhammad Pasha of Rawandiz
XLIX. The Story of Maulana Khalid
L. Shaikh Nabi Mawili
LI. Shaikh Abdussalam I
LII. Shaikh Muhammad Barzani
LIII. Shaikh Abdussalam II
LIV. The Story of Shaikh Muhammad of Bijil
LV. The Tale of Suto and Tato
LVI. Simko says, âI am the first Emperor, Wilhelm the second.â
LVII. The Story of Mirza Hasan Sinai and Musayyib Beg Ilyasof Ganjei
LVIII. The Story of the killing of Rizvan Pasha at the hands of Ali Shamil Pashaâs men
LIX. The story of the abolition of the journal âHatawi Kurdâ (Kurdish Sun)
LX. A Statement of the Kurdsâ distress on account of the Turks
LXIa. Well-meaning advice for the whole Kurdish nation
LXIb. Well-meaning advice for all Kurds
Part III: Kurdish-English Glossary
Appendices
Appendix 1: Map of locations mentioned in the texts
Appendix 2: Figures
Appendix 3: Sample manuscripts
Index of places, people and person names
Kurdish Studies community, Middle Eastern Studies departments, Iranian studies, historians working on WWI as well as late Ottoman and Iranian history, students and Researchers interested in folklore, oral history, WWI, Oriental/Assyrian Christians and Jews.