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Kurdish Version of the Scriptures

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Kurdistan or Koordistan

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The Kurdish is in all probability a remnant of the old Farsi or Parsi language, and bears much resemblance to modern Persian. Like most dialects used merely for oral communication through a large extent of territory, the language of the Kurds, having no literature or written standard of appeal, undergoes very considerable alterations and modifications in different places, by intermixture with the language of neighboring nations. Thus the Kurds dwelling in the Ottoman empire have adopted many Turkish words, while corrupted Syriac words have crept into the dialects of the tribes who live in the vicinity, or have embraced the religion, of the Nestorian Christians. In 1822 the Reverend H. Leeves proposed to the British and Foreign Bible Society to have a version in Kurdish made. The preparation of the version was intrusted to bishop Schevris, at Tabreez. In 1827 Mr. Leeves forwarded-to the committee the portions of the New Test. which had been translated. But this translation was not intelligible to the Kurds. In 1856 the above society published in Armeno-Kurdish the gospel of Matthew, which was followed by the other gospels. In the Armeno-Kurdish dialect the entire New Test. is now extant. See Bible of Every Land, page 82. (B.P.).