VersionsMem û Zîn [Kurdî, İstanbul, 1968]
Mem et Zîn [Français, Paris, 2001]
Mem û Zîn, a Kurdish romance - I [English, Michigan - USA, 1991]
Mem û Zîn, a Kurdish romance - II [English, Michigan - USA, 1991]
Mem and Zîn [English, İstanbul, 2008]
Ehmedê Xanî, Mem û Zîn [Kurdî, İstanbul, 2010]
Studies on "Mem û Zîn", a Kurdish romance - II
Michael Lewisohn Chyet
UMI
Collected by gym and Socin in May 1869 in Damascus, Syria, from Jano (" Dschano-), a Jacobite Christian who had migrated to Damascus three months earlier with a group of his compatriots from the town of Midyat ("Midhjat") in the region of Tûr `Abdin, in what is today in the province of Mardin in Kurdistan of Turkey. A plague of locusts which befell Midyat for six consecutive years forced Jano's people to leave their homes. Although in Midyat he worked his own piece of land, in Damascus Jano was reduced to being a simple handyman. He could neither read nor write, but was endowed with the wonderful memory peculiar to the illiterate; he also had good common sense and was a quick learner.
.....
Mem û Zîn: Table of Contents
Volume II Appendix
Texts
1. illustrations / 1
Translations
2. PN 11869) Eugen Prym and Albert Socin, from "Dschano" / 9
3. PS (1870) Eugen Prym and Albert Socin, [from unknown raw! in Zakho] / 19
4. HM (1896) Hugo Makas from Mohammed Emîn bin Shemdîn et-Mendîlkanî / 44
5. LC-I (1901) Albert von Le Coq from Jafar Oğlu Seidi Bīyā / 53
6. OM (1903) Oskar Mann, from Rafîmanî Bekir / 86
7. SHa-1 (1904) S Haykuni, from Oskar Ohanian / 176
8. SHa-2 (1904) S. Haykuni, from Onbashi Mehon / 185
9. GNa (1904) G. Nzhdehian, [from unknown informant in Eleşkirt – Alashkerd] / 199
10. FK-2 (1926) E. Evdal, from Fekoê Mraz / 216
11. FK-1 (-1936) E. E'vdal, from Xudoê Qaşo / 233
12. EP-2 (C. 1938) O. L. ViI'chevskiī, [informantinknown] / 283
13. EP-1 (1955) Hajie Jndi, from E'tarê Şêro / 300
14. ZK-3 (1959) Ordikhan & Dzhalil Dzhalilov?, from Hovhannîsyan Karapêt / 350
15. HR-1 (1960) Besim B. Akdemir (for Hellmut Ritter), from Yûsuf Malke Asmar / 391
16. HR-2 (1961) Hellmut Ritter, from Slêman Manna Maskobi / 416
17. ZK-1 (1963) Ordikhan & Dzhalil Dzhalilov?, from E'gîtê Têcir / 428
18. ZK-2 (1970) Ordikhan & Dzhalil Dzhalilov?, from Ohanyan Israêl / 460
Text and translation
19. MC-1 (c.1988) [tape acquired by Michael L. Chyet], (name withheld) / 506
Illustrations
Translations
M.L Chyet / Mem û Zîn: PN (1869)
Prym, Eugen & Albert Socin. Der Neu-Aramagische Dialekt des Tûr 'Abdîn; a. Die Texte; b. Obersetzung. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1881), v. 1, pp. 1-5; v. 2, pp. 1-8, [375] [Neo-Aramaic (Tūroyyo) text in phonetic transcription (v. 1) + German translation (v. 2)] (PN)
PN. Collected by gym and Socin in May 1869 in Damascus, Syria, from Jano (" Dschano-), a Jacobite Christian who had migrated to Damascus three months earlier with a group of his compatriots from the town of Midyat ("Midhjat") in the region of Tûr `Abdin, in what is today in the province of Mardin in Kurdistan of Turkey. A plague of locusts which befell Midyat for six consecutive years forced Jano's people to leave their homes. Although in Midyat he worked his own piece of land, in Damascus Jano was reduced to being a simple handyman. He could neither read nor write, but was endowed with the wonderful memory peculiar to the illiterate; he also had good common sense and was a quick learner. As a result of the ethnic mix of his homeland, Jano spoke Kurdish and (Northern Mesopotamian) Arabic in addition to his native Syriac (or Turoyo , a Neo-Aramaic dialect), and had also picked up some Turkish during a brief stay in Adana. Jano apparently was uniquely suited to the task of being a native informant, and Prym describes him as "der berufene Erzäler seines Heimatortes» (=the appointed taleteller of his native place). The following text, dictated in the variety of Aramaic called Turoyo, is the first one in Prym and Socin's collection. They call it a romantic legend, which Jano told as a true story.
(PM)
[1] There was once an agha1 Yusif Agha, who lived near the land of India. He had a cousin2 whose sister he was in love with. He went to her in secret, while she was still a girl, land) she became pregnant at home3.
“From whom are you pregnant?' asked her brother.
She said, "I'm pregnant from Yusif Agha."
1 - Village mayor.
2 - Paternal lateral male (first) cousin, i.e, the son of his father's brother.
3 - Without having been married off, which would automatically have meant leaving her parent's home.
Michael L. Chyet
“And a thornbush sprang up between them”:
Studies on “Mem û Zîn”, a Kurdish romance
U.M.I
U.M.I UMI Dissertation information Service
“And a thornbush sprang up between them”:
Studies on “Mem û Zîn”, a Kurdish romance
Michael L. Chyet
Vol. 2
1991
This is an authorized facsimile, made from the microfilm
master copy of the original dissertation or masters thesis
published by UMI.
The bibliographic information for this thesis is contained in
UMI's Dissertation Abstracts database, the only central
source for accessing almost every doctoral dissertation
accepted in North America since 1861.
UMI Dissertation Information Service
University Microfilms International
A Bell & Howell Information Company
300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
800-521-0600 OR 313/761-4700
Printed in 1993 by xerographic process
on acid-free paper
1416
| 
