SALADIN'S
ENGLISH-KURDISH DICTIONARY
Ferhenga înglîzî-kurdî
By Salah Saadallah
72 000 words (peyv)
Publisher’s Note
The author of this dictionary, Mr. Salah Saadallah, is a Kurdish intellectual from Zakho. The first edition of Saladin’s Dictionary came out in 1998 in Baghdad using Arabic characters. He arranged the transcription into Kurdish Latin characters for the present edition.
Reşo Zîlan and Kendal Nezan have reviewed and corrected the text without altering the author’s dialectical particularities and, to improve understanding, have adapted certain technical and scientific terms to the pronunciations in general use amongst the Kurds of Turkey to whom this edition is intended.
Thus, for example, haydrocîn (H) in the Arabic script edition, that uses the English pronunciation used in Iraq is transcribed hîdrojen, that educated Kurds in Turkey recognise, naytrocîn (N) becomes nîtrojen, and oksîcîn (O) becomes oksîjen etc.…
Agahdariya weşanker
Amadekarê vê ferhengê birêz Salah Saadallah ronakbîrekî kurd ê Zaxoyî ye. Çapa yekem a Ferhenga Selahadîn di 1998an de bi tîpên erebî li Bexdayê çap kiriye. Ewî bi xwe ferhengê kiriye kurdî ya latînî.
Reşo Zîlan û Kendal Nezan li rastnivîsina metna wî nihêrtine û bêî ko dest bidin zaravayê amadeker, ji bo çêtir têgihîştina xwendevanên vê çapê, hin peyvên teknîkî û zanistî li gor bilêvkirina Kurdên Tirkiyê nivisîne.
Bo nimûne haydrocîn (H) a çapa bi tîpên erebî, ku bilêvkirina îngilîzî bingeh girtiye, di vê çapê de wekî hîdrojen hatiye rast kirin ku xwendayên kurd ên Tirkiyê baş têdigihên, naytrocîn (N) bûye nîtrojen, oksîcîn (O) bûye oksîjen, hwd...
Acknowledgement
I wish to acknowledge, with great pleasure, the tremendous efforts exerted by my dear daughter Dilnaz and soninlaw Serge in typing and computerizing the entire manuscript, notwithstanding the demands of my three lovely grandchildren!
Sinamkhan’s contribution towards the completion of this work has been invaluable. Even on holiday in Cannes she carried out proof corrections.
Abbreviations - Kurtî
adj. = ADJECTIVE : rengdêr, awelnaw
adv. = ADVERB : hoker, awelkar
aux. v. = AUXILLIARY VERB : lêker yan kirdêrê harîker, karî yarîder
conj. = CONJUNCTIVE : pêgir
def. = DEFINITE : radedar
indef. = INDEFINITE : nebinavkirî
inf. = INFINITIVE : jêder, çawig
interj. = INTERJECTION : gazî
interrog. = INTERROGATIVE : pirsyarkî yan pirsyarî
n. = NOUN : nav, naw
p. = PAST : borî
pp. = PAST PARTICIPLE : navê lêkerî
pl. = PLURAL : pirînî, gel
pred. = PREDICATIVE : neravedar
pref. = PREFIX : pêşgir
prep. = PREPOSITION : daçek
pron. = PRONOUN : ranav, ranaw
sing. = SINGULAR : yekînî, tak
suff. = SUFFIX : paşgir
symb. = SYMBOL : hêma
vi. = VERB INSTRANSITIVE : lêker yan kirdêrê têneper, karî têneper
vt. = VERB TRANSITIVE : lêker yan kirdêrî têper, karî têper
Preface
To begin with : I am not a lexicographer and when I undertook the task of what has turned out to be Saladin’s English-Kurdish Dictionary, I was also “ plunging into the sea of lexicography without having been first taught to swim ”.
It all started with The Diplomat, James Aldridge’s novel, which I translated in 1984. The translation left me with a list of nearly 4 000 English-Kurdish key words, arranged alphabetically for easy reference. Sensing the acute need for a lexicon, the list was developed first into a concise dictionary of 25 000 syllables, then into what I presume to be a comprehensive one with around 80 000 syllables.
The task was certainly daunting. It is of course an understatement to say that Kurdish, though an ancient (probably pre-Sumerian) language spoken now by close to thirty million people throughout Kurdistan, is not as rich as English in vocabulary, but armed with the fact that both belong to the Indo-European family of languages, I was able to make extensive use of etymology and morphology to form, if necessary, new words. Thus, it sounded natural to coi (heştpê) for (octupus), and respective suffixes for (ion) and (ing), namely (bûn) and (kir(d)in) helped to derive hundreds of nouns and terms from the verbs. The Kurdish suffix (îtî) which is fortunately identical with the English (ity), was particularly helpful.
Furthermore, as I proceeded in my uncharted endeavour, I discovered that quite a few English words were similar to Kurdish, for exemple, brow (biro), cat (kitik), chick (çîçik), curve (kirv), drop (dilop), egg (hêk), eve (êvar), game (geme), gene (cîn), gully (gelî), jungle (cengel), lip (lêv), ma (mother) (mak), moon (mang), navel (nafk), new (nû, nî), no (ne), patch (pate), river (rûbar), road (rê), sending (şandin), spleen (spil), star (stêr), tension (tingijîn), two (du) and type (tîp).
Literarily, Kurdish has developed into a bistandard language, namely Kurmanji and Sorani. Almost all the nouns and terms, adjectives and adverbs are bistandard. The verbs are mainly in Kurmanji, not nearly enough in Sorani, for my inadequate proficiency in the latter.
The marked variation in pronunciation, and consequently in spelling, has often been reflected, albeit reluctantly, making no determined attempt to favour a strict and premature standard, except perhaps in the plural apposition sign (yên).
As this is the first edition, it could not be free of printing errors and other shortcomings, not withstanding strenuous efforts. Corrections and suggestions are welcome in order to minimize them, hopefully, in the next edition.
S.S.
P.S. : An edition of the Dictionary was published in Baghdad in Kurdish Arabic script in 1998.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MAIN ENGLISH AND KURDISH SOURCES AND REFERENCES
1. The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, fourth edition, 1952, and sixth edition, 1976.
2. Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 1983.
3. Ferhenga Kurdî, Mîr Celadet Bedirxan (manuscript).
4. Ferhenga Kurmancî-înglîzî, Berkeley, California, 1992.
5. Ferhenga Kurdî-Erebî Nûjen, Elî Seydo Elî Gewranî, Amman, 1985.
6. Ferhenga Khurdî-Tirkî, Musa Anter, Istanbul, 1967.
7. A Kurdish-English Dictionary, Taufiq Wehbî and C.J. Edmonds (Soranî Kurdish-English) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1966 (179 p.).
8. A Kurdish-English Dictionary of synonymous words and expressions by Shawkat Ismail Hassan, volume one, Baghdad, 1978.
9. The Human Body (Giyanê Mirovî), Eziz Reşid Akreyî, Baghdad, 1978.
10. Ferhengî Kurdî-Farisî, Hejar (Soranî Kurdî-Farisî), Tehran, 1369 (kelk le Kurdî-Kurdî wergîrawe).
11. Ferhengî Mehabad, Ferhengêkî Qotabxaneyî Kurdî-Arewî ye, Gîw Mukiryanî, çapî yekemîn, Hewlêr, çapxaney Kurdistan, 2573 Kurdî.
12. Estêregeşe, Ferhengêkî Kurdî-Erebî ye, Fazil Nîzam El-Dîn, Komarî Iraq, Wezaretî Perwerde, 1990.
13. Ferhengî Xal : Şêx Mehemedî Xal, cizmî yekem 1959, cizmî duwen 1964.
14. Ferhengî Zanyarî, Erebî-Englizî-Kurdî, Dananî Kemal Celal X’erîb, bergî sêyem, çapî yekem, 1983.
15. (a) Zarawey Kurdiyî Zanistekan, lîjney zarawe zanistiyekan, Korî Zanyariy îraqî, destey Kurdî.
(b) Poxtey zarawey hemeçeşne, lîjney zarawe miroviyekan, Korî Zanyariy îraqî, destey Kurdî.
(c) Komelek zarawey hemeçeşne Kurdî, Korî Zanyariy îraqî, destey kurdî.
(d) Lîstey yekemî zarawî kargêrî, kovarî Korî Zanyariy Kurd, 1973.
(e) Lîstey duwemî zarawî kargêrî, kovarî Korî Zanyariy Kurd, 1974.
(f) Lîstey sêyemî zarawî kargêrî, kovarî Korî Zanyariy Kurd, 1975.
