Kurds Origin

Who is Kurds ancestors, Kurds origin.

Their ancestors were Medes!  The original word was Kara-mady-siyan (people+Media+holy land -> Holy Land of Median people), in the Sassanid period it was simplified to the reduced word "Karmasin" (Qarmasin in the early Arbaic sources) but then in the Islamic period it was thought to be related to "Kerman/Kurman" and it was said that this land was named after Bahram IV, the Sassanid king who was called "Kermanshah" (King of Kerman), so the region in the western Iran, Eastern Turkey and northern Iraq was called "Kermanshah/Kurmanja".

Didn't Kurmanji as a language group just replace the older Iranian languages of SE turkey? i am talking Zaza which is in the same family as Gilani - a old NW Iranian group so to speak.

Originally posted by MythTR I am a Turk, I know something about Kurds as I heard because something happen in our country about kurds.. This nation is a combination from mesopotamia. Pers and Arabic combination. But some written sources say The Tuks and Pers were combinated.   If I say wrong, please correct it.   Thank you!

Hi MythTR, that is not true. They are a type of Iranian speaker and have pretty much been around as long as any other. I would also say they pre-date any significant Turkish presence into Anatolia, so they are not a product of mixing. But they are not one group but a collection of groups, so it gets more complicated than just one label.



Edited by Leonidas - 21-Feb-2009 at 02:34

Kurds have different origins if you want to go back far enough into history.  To be very brief:  In my area their most recent Ancestors are Sassanid Persians (who formed from ancient Persians, Parthians and Medeans), to the North it is more definitively Medes, in North Iraq it is a mix of Karduci, Mitani, Assyrian and Chaldean but mostly Medean too, In Turkey there is Hurrian heritage.  All of these can be traced in the language.  For example the pronunciation of words in Kurdish is very close to Sassanid Persian - where as Persian has simplified many words Kurdish retains the archaic form for many words.

As for other parts of the culture - there is commonality and in my opinion that comes from the original mountain people, the Karduci (where the name Kurd comes from).  I think also that the term Kurd at some point was used to describe people who live in the mountains because in Gilan the name is used too.

Hello to you all

Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri Their ancestors were Medes!  The original word was Kara-mady-siyan (people+Media+holy land -> Holy Land of Median people), in the Sassanid period it was simplified to the reduced word "Karmasin" (Qarmasin in the early Arbaic sources) but then in the Islamic period it was thought to be related to "Kerman/Kurman" and it was said that this land was named after Bahram IV, the Sassanid king who was called "Kermanshah" (King of Kerman), so the region in the western Iran, Eastern Turkey and northern Iraq was called "Kermanshah/Kurmanja".

I heard this before but I do not know much about the Kurds other than meeting a number of Turks with Kurdish ancestry. So if this is so then they would have been there when Alexander the Great marched through that region.

Originally posted by MarcoPolo What about the Kurds in Pakistan? I have heard and read they where shifted/migrated there as recently as the 16th century? during the Safavid empire?  Is this true? They have entire areas in Pakistan Balochistan province.  Plus many Baloch tribes also show a strong affinity with the Kurds as well?(and vice versa) Is there any correlation between the two?

Baloch, the story goes seem related to Caspian/NW Iranian groups, even if IIRC, they say they come from Syria. i could be wrong as i write from the top og my head. They came from neighbouring area to the Kurds, i dont think the language is related

Originally posted by Kermanji Kurds descendents of Medes. Kermanji Kurds direct descendents from Medes. Media Land Today " Kurdistan " Medes words today in Kurdish language

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Kurds in Turkey?