Arabic Loanwords in Kurdish

[Johny Bravo]

Evidenced Arabic Loanwords in Kurdish:

fehm kirdin -> of Arabic: fehm فهم < to understand
qise kirdin -> of Arabic: qiṣṣe قصّ <to speak
zêde -> of Arabic: ziyâde < more
mam < of Arabic: mâm < uncle
mamoste < Arabic: mam + Kurdish: oste, ostad, ûste < teacher
xal < of Arabic: xâl < uncle
qal < of Arabic: qâl < mention
zewicîn < of Arabic: izdiwāc < to marry
fikir kirdin, fikirîn < of Arabic: fikir < to think
hez kirdin < of Arabic: ḥeẓẓ حظ < to love
lê belê < of Arabic: lek- + bei- (right transcription is necessary) < but
belê < of Arabic: bele (right transcription is necessary) < yes
areq < of Arabic: ereq < sweat
behr < of Arabic: behr < ocean
sêr kirdin < of Arabic: seyr < to watch
qaf < of Arabic: qefe < skull
silav < of Arabic: selâm (m -> v as in Avesta: çeşm- > Kurdish: çav) < hello
civat > of Arabic: cemâet (m -> v again) < community
xêr < of Arabic: xeyr < grace, luck
sûk < of Arabic: sûq سوق" < downtown, city
xirab < of Arabic: xerāb < bust, dickey
xelq < of Arabic: xelq < people
wext < of Arabic: weqt < time
welat < of Arabic: : wilāyet < homeland
memnun < of Arabic: memnûn < thanks
erd < : of Arabic: erz أرض* < earth
xerîb < of Arabic: ğerīb < foreign
sibe < of Arabic:sebâh < morning
zaten < of Arabic: zâten < anyway
bes < of Arabic: bes (right transcription is necessary) < enough
şixulîn < of Arabic: şoğol < to work
îd < of Arabic: îd (right transcription is necessary) < holiday, festal

* has no relation to english "earth" or german "erde", its an accident, according to linguists is the kurdish variant from Arabic


Words, where I am not sure:

lîstin (-lez-) < of Arabic: leyj-? < to play
reqisîn < of Arabic: qjmear- ? < to play
met < of Arabic: ??m??e (a right transcription is necessary) < aunt
het, xet < of Arabic: ??x?t (right transcription is necessary) < big sister
sekinîn < of Arabic: s'eane? ( (right transcription is necessary) < to stay
heval < of Arabic: xeljil ? (right transcription is necessary) < friend

Edit:
- added "bes" to the Evidenced-list.
- added heval to the "not sure"-list
- added "şixulîn" to the Evidenced-list.
- added "îd" to the Evidenced-list.

[Ram]

erd < : of Arabic: erz أرض* < earth

I have my doubts that Kurdish/Persian "erd" is derived from Arabic "ardh".

When the letter ض enters Persian/Kurdish from Arabic, it is changed to a "z" sound, not "d".

So it may have an IE root. But who knows.

[alan131210]

erd < : of Arabic: erz أرض* < earth

I have my doubts that Kurdish/Persian "erd" is derived from Arabic "ardh".

When the letter ض enters Persian/Kurdish from Arabic, it is changed to a "z" sound, not "d".

So it may have an IE root. But who knows.

We say "khak" for Earth not erd lol.

[hevalo27]

we say erd,
i am sure it has indo european roots

kurmanci erd
german erde
netherland aarde
england erth
sweden jorden

[Cewlik]

Yep in Kurmanci it is erd, and also other indo european languages use it. Even In in german they say erde, so I also think that this word has indo european roots.

[hevalo27]

otherwise we say "ax" for sand.
maybe ax is the real indoeuropean link to earth

i think this letters who comes from throat are all arabic; "q" in Qelb (hearth), "ah" in bahr (share) and "he" in hez (love), "eh" in behr (occean) and "ha" in hal (situation), "ih" in rih (soul) .
in turn, many or most words with these letter are not kurdish,


hal (state)
rih (soul)
hez (love)
herd, (earth)
qelb (hearth)
qahb
qellem (pin)
qahr (hate, rage)
qul (hole)
jahr (poisen)
bahr (share)
behr (occean)

[hevalo27]

met < of Arabic: ??m??e (a right transcription is necessary) < aunt

we use xal (mothers brother), xaltig (mother sister), am (fathers brother) metig (fathers sister).

xal to xaltig and am to metig.
originally it was probably amtig and changed to metig ??

if the kurdish word for fathers brother "am" is arabic, then metig is also arabic.
does am comes from mam ?

[hevalo27]

i think this louds from throat are not kurdish, because most words with these louds has arabic roots.
can someone confirm ?

gh (xelet = false, xerib =foreign) spoken like german r
q (qelb = heart, qellem = pin )
ha (hal = state, mahalm = teacher)
ah (jahr = poisen, bahr = share)
he (hez = love)
eh (behr = occean)
ih (rih = soul)
hi (?)

[Ram]

i think this louds from throat are not kurdish, because most words with these louds has arabic roots.
can someone confirm ?

gh (xelet = false, xerib =foreign) spoken like german r
q (qelb = heart, qellem = pin )
ha (hal = state, mahalm = teacher)
ah (jahr = poisen, bahr = share)
he (hez = love)
eh (behr = occean)
ih (rih = soul)
hi (?)

most of these are from Arabic, yes.

[alan131210]

hevalo27

most of these arabic loan words you guys use we in SK have a Kurdish word for

herd, (earth) xak
qelb (hearth) dill
qellem (pen) pênûs
qahr (hate, rage) tûrre , rriq
qul (hole) kûn
jahr (poisen) zehir
bahr (share) pişk
behr (occean) zerya
xelet = (false) helle
xerib = (foreign) namo
mahalm = (teacher) mamosta

[Kurdistano]

hevalo27

most of these arabic loan words you guys use we in SK have a Kurdish word for

herd, (earth) xak
qelb (hearth) dill
qellem (pen) pênûs
qahr (hate, rage) tûrre , rriq
qul (hole) kûn
jahr (poisen) zehir
bahr (share) pişk
behr (occean) zerya
xelet = (false) helle
xerib = (foreign) namo
mahalm = (teacher) mamosta

herd (or erd what most Kurds use) is not Arabic loan. Qelb is not even used by the majority just Kurds close to Turkish areas which they have derived from them since turks use kalb, the ataTürkified version of the arabic qalb.

Penus is also used in North. Zerya is also used in North. and Mamosta is also partly arabic which is used in North too.

[hevalo27]

hevalo27

most of these arabic loan words you guys use we in SK have a Kurdish word for

what do you say for:

ferq = difference
qerk = throat
qewet = strong
qebul = accept
feqiir = humble, poor
haqq = trueth,
baq = frog
fistiq = nut

i think those words are also arabic

[Kurdistano]

hevalo27

most of these arabic loan words you guys use we in SK have a Kurdish word for

what do you say for:

ferq = difference
qerk = throat
qewet = strong
qebul = accept
feqiir = humble, poor
haqq = trueth,
baq = frog
fistiq = nut

i think those words are also arabic

qirk is not arabic. It just that Kurdish accent made them spell it in an arabic way. Its Kirk and is related to german Gurgel. Which Kurd uses Haqq for truth? Truth in our region is Rastî. baq is also not Arabic as far as I know and similar to qirk is pronounced with an Arabic accent. Bak would be right. Fistiq the same and their is another name for nut its "guis". ferq is Arabic/Turkish Kurds use Cuda. Qewet or Turkified Kuwet is also arabic, Kurdish is hêz.

The difference between Persian and Kurdish is, that Kurdish has preserved its Iranic roots better and has less foreign loanwords yet Kurdish (especially the people in rural regions) have adopted an Arabic like accent while Persian has a whole bunch of Arabic loanwords but persified into their own accent just like Turks have done it too. In other words we are speaking one of the purest non Arabic languages in the Middle East yet act with our accent like Arabs while Turks and Persian which have adopted a whole bunch of Arabic loanwords act by accent as if they havent received any sort of arabic influence while they have strongly.

[hevalo27]

Which Kurd uses Haqq for truth? Truth in our region is Rastî.

jes, by us too. i dont know the english word for haq, i think it is "deserve".

another name for nut its "guis"

we use both words, fistiq for pistachio and similar nuts.

is pronounced with an Arabic accent.

jes, that was my first thought, probably "k" and "g" shiftet to a "q" by many kurdish words.
the louds deep from throut comes from arabic influence and probably doesnt existed bevore the 7th century (arab conquest)

[Kurdistano]

jes, that was my first thought, probably "k" and "g" shiftet to a "q" by many kurdish words.

right, as I said this is a general "problem" about the Kurdish accent. They have adopted a loud level which automatically shifts Ks into Qs from throat. There are tons of examples for this. Even while the words Kamera, Kanal etc are not even of Arabic, Turkish or Iranic origin and almost everywhere in the outside world pronounced as Kamera, I know of some Kurds who pronounce it as Qamara/Qamera and Qanal/Qenal though this word was introduced to Kurds with K. So not every word with a q from throat is automatically arabic. Some are also simply changed by Kurds into their rustic accent.