Standard Kurdish: "Sea" & "Lake"

[Emanoelkurdistani]

Standard Kurdish: "Sea" & "Lake"

There are many words of Kurdish and foreigner origin meaning "sea" in Kurdish speeches: behr, dengiz, delya, derya, zerye, zê, zî, zirê, zirî, zirye. Kurds in the north (Kurmancî and Kirmanckî speaking areas) mainly use "behr", "dengiz", "derya", "zerye" and "zirye". The central Kurds (Soranî speaking Kurds) mainly say "derya", "zê", "zî", "zirê", "zirî" and "zirye". And eventually most of southern Kurds (from Goranî-Gerrûsî, Feylî, Kelhûrî, Lekî and Hewramî speaking areas) use "delya", "derya", "zirê", and "zirî". So we may get the below table:

Goranî : delya, derya, zirê, zirî
Hewramî : derya, zirê, zirî
Kurmancî : behr, dengiz, zerye, zirye
Kirmanckî (Zazakî) : behr, dengiz, derya
Soranî : derya, zê, zî, zirê, zirî, zirye

We totally face four major varieties: 1.behr 2.delya, derya 3.dengiz 4.zerye, zê, zî, zirê, zirî, zirye. The first one, "behr", is obviously of Arabic origin. The second one is Persianfied kind of Avestan "zireyeh-" > (Avestan "z" > Old Persian "d") Old Persian "direyeh-" and obviously a Persian loanword (Modern Persian "derya"). The third one, "dengiz", is of Turkish origin (Modern Turkish "deniz"). So the only one remained is the purest one: (Proto Indo-European "*greios-" >) Avestan "zireyeh-" > Modern Kurdish "zerye", "zê", "zî", "zirê", "zirî", and "zirye". The most original varieties are "zirye" and "zerye". The final "-ye" turns into "-ê"/"-î" (same as "tenya" > "tenê"/"tenî"): "zirê" and "zirî". And eventually in some sub-dialects the middle "-r-" disappears and we get the varieties of which seem to be so close to the Germanic equivalents: "zê" and "zî" (I don’t claim etymological closeness).

From the above pure words I suggest to use "zirye" (since preserved the purest shape) and "zê" and "zirê" (since their easy pronunciation).

sea : zirye, zirê, zê


"Lake"

The main words I ever faced in the Kurdish in meaning of "lake" are: "gom", "gol", "lîç", "zêbar", "zêwar", "zirêbar", "zirêwar". The first one, "gom" is used in meaning of both "lake", "lagoon" and "pool". By my point of view it's more likely derived from Hebrew "agam" ~ "lake" during the expansion of Judaism in Kurdistan (or maybe sharing the same root with second part (?) of European "la-goon", "la-gune", la-guna", etc. since I don’t know the etymology of this European word the further researches is required in order to certain declaration). The second one "gol" is of Turkish origin (Modern Turkish "göl" < "köl") and unfortunately Kurdish medias (in both Kurmancî and Soranî) use this word in a wide extent while omitting the pure Kurdish words such as "lîç" (Kurmancî) and "zirêbar", "zêbar", etc. (Goranî/Soranî) so cause pity. Another word, "lîç", is an interesting Kurdish word that extremely seems to share the same root with its European equivalents: English "lake", France "lac", Italian, Portuguese and Spanish "lago",etc. And eventually we face southern "zêbar", "zêwar", "zirêbar" or "zirêwar" composed of "zê/zirê " and "bar/war". The first part in meaning of "sea" (as we talked about in above) and the second part is a Kurdish suffix to refer the resemblance (zirê-bar/war > what that looks alike sea). A beautiful lake in southeastern Kurdistan, Merîwan city south of Sine, is called "zirêwar" (official name "zarivar").

So among the above mentioned words in meaning of "lake" my suggestion is to use "gom", "lîç" and "zêwar"/"zirêwar". Also "gom" might be used in meaning of "pool" or "lagoon" rather than "lake".

lake : lîç, zirêwar, zêwar, gom


ZIMANÊ ME NAMÛS, ŞEREF, NASNAME û HOYÊ HEBÛNA ME YE. BERÊ HERTIŞTEK PÊWÎST E WÎ BIPARÊZIN û HETA DIKARIN PÊŞ BIXIN.

JI WE RE DIRÛD û SILAV û JI XEBATKARÊN AX, ÇAND û ZIMANÊ KURDAN RE SIPAS

Zarokê Sine
Emanoel

[Johny Bravo]

yes, "d" is southwest iranian. also "dest" is from southwest branch. the pure nortwest must be "zest" (in avesta was it "zesta"). but nobody of the today northwestiranian languages do use it so far i know.