NEO-ARAMAIC DIALECT OF KURDISTAN 1982
ISBN 0-940490-64-1 by Goerg Kroknoff

Introduction, Text and Translations Pages 1,2 &69

To a people whose age long suffering has rarely come to the attention of the world.

To a people whose frugal habitat did not ensure their freedom from oppression.

To a people whose spiritual leaders have upheld the love of learning in the face of all adversity.

This book is dedicated.

INTRODUCTION

1.1.       GENERAL. INFORMATION. The presentation of new materials in a linguistic field in which all publications to date still it very easily on the top of a single desk hardly needs an elaborate justification. Especially in the case of the Neo-Aramaic (henceforward NA) dialects, however, the preservation of all authentic recorded texts is imperative a view of the many factors which, in the course of this century, have decimated and dispersed these communities and endangered their very existence. Just as is the case with so many material remains from antiquity, the past hundred years have seen more destruction of minority societies than the preceding millennium— a millennium during which these societies managed to preserve their religious and linguistic identity in spite of the vicissitudes of Near Eastern history.

The texts contained in this hook were recorded during the first ha If of 1959 in Baghdad from the mouth of a twenty-live year old Chaldean by the name of Shabo, a native of the village Aradhin in Iraqi Kurdistan. The village is situated some ten miles west of Amadia, and in 1959 its southern end could be reached by a partially paved road which branched north from the highway connecting Dohuk and Amadia. It appears as Aradhina on the map of Asia I 1.000.000 published by the British War Office in 1942 (3rd edition 1943), sheet North j 38 (Tabriz), where it is located at approximately 317’ latitude, 43’ 20’ longitude. From the words of. Shabo (6. I 03! 4.), we may gather that Aradhin was of greater importance in I he past than its condition at the time of my visit in 1959 and the very rare occurrence of its name in the relevant literature suggest. Unfortunately. I have no information about its present state, arid I can only hope that reports in recent years of the total destruction of Kurdish and Chaldean villages in connect ion with the Iraqi—Kurdish conflict have been exaggerated.

Shabo had spent the first eighteen years of his life in the village, where his albinism complexion and poor eyesight caused him more than the usual hardship while working in the fields. Like so many other Chaldean villagers, he sought to improve his lot by moving to Baghdad where he found employment as a servant in a private home. Endowed with an intelligent and inquisitive mind, he tried to improve whatever meager education the village school had been able to offer him. Thus, by the time we met, he was fluent in a rather refined Arabic and had even taught himself some English As to his native tongue, he maintained its fluency by frequenting relatives in Baghdad and by occasionally visiting the village. He also had a knowledge of Kurdish, hut I am unable to assess the degree of his proficiency.

Having found in Shabo a willing and capable informant. I refrained from prejudicing myself by reference to any published information. After a few pre­liminary sessions, during which we went over the basic notions of the language and translated short sentences, the following method evolved Shabo would speak on a given subject for about half an hour. Then we would play hack his speech from the magnetic tape ii short portions, and I would repeat every word as often as necessary to obtain Shabo’s approval and then write it down in phonetic script. For every sentence the translation was also noted immediately and additional vocabulary was recorded on the margin.

My instruction to Shabo was to speak naturally as he would to his relatives and friends in his village. Yet, characteristically for such recording situations, nm informant first had to overcome the artificiality of the situation, his self—consciousness, and the awareness that he was speaking ‘‘for the record.” At our first session I asked him to tell a story. He gave a version of ‘The treasure of the Hanging Man’ (Stith Thompson, No. 910 D)) which he had heard from his grandfather. It is full of slips into the literary idiom. of Arabic words and of other infelicities. and is, therefore, given last in this hook (6.11 5ff) as an example of a contaminated text. Since, after this first trial, I had doubts as to Shabo's talents as a story teller, I decided to have him tell everything he knew about his village and the life of its people. This task Shabo performed systematically and conscientiously. His initial inhibitions meanwhile disappeared and his speech flowed naturally.

My peregrinations, other more pressing tasks, and the vague hope of being able one day to go hack to collect more material have kept me. or so many years. from publishing this study. But I do not think that I should wait any longer. To he sure, only texts covering every possible life situation would give the assurance that no grammatical category has been missed, but after having completed my analysis of the corpus. I feel that it provides the basis for a virtually complete description of this particular dialect of NA. May this publication also serve as a monument to Shabo and his people.

1.2. INFO—ARAMAIC AND THE DIALECT OF ARADHIN. The NA dialects are the surviving remains of the once widespread Aramaic language of antiquity. They are spoken by religious minorities in mountainous retreat areas and are divided into three main groups: The westernmost Ma. lula group spoken in a few villages in Syria north of Damascus, the Suroyo group spoken in the area of Tur Abdin in eastern Turkey, and the easternmost group which is mostly identified with its main literary representative, the dialect of Urmia (present name Rezaieh) in northwestern Iran. In the publications dealing with this third group the language may be labeled Modern Syriac (Stoddard), Vernacular Syriac (Maclean). Modern Assyrian (Tsereteli), Modern Chaldean (Sara). or Fellihi (Sachau); the last designation is limited to the dialects of the plain of Mosul. There are considerable phonetic and even structural differences within this group. The isoglosses which characterize the subdivisions differ according to geographical location and religious affiliation, since the dialects of the Jews are at variance with those of the Christians even if they are geographically close. 1he Christian dialects seem to he. on the whole, mutually understandable despite the fact that they gave rise to two different literary forms—one developed by the missionaries in Urmia, and the other used in the publications of the Dominican press in Mosul.

The texts, as dictated by Shabo after his initial inhibitions were overcome, exhibit such structural consistency that there is no doubt that they do indeed represent his native dialect. As many be expected for purely geographical reasons, it is more closely related to the Fellihi than to other recorded dialects of eastern NA. In particular, a comparison of the vocabulary with MacLean's dictionary shows that the phonetics, and especially the vocalization, coincide with the variants marked Al. (for Alqosh, the main representative of Fellihi). Occasionally, however, the coincide may be with K. (Kurdistan) of Ash. (Ashitha) to the exclusion of Alqosh. Note the coincidence of the non-spirantized 

The Village Araden (page 69)

I.   The name (lit, word) Aradhin is applied to both parts of a village which lies in the valley [on the side] of a mountain called Chamatin. The name Chamatin is adopted into Syriac from Kurdish.

2.  The village Aradhin is situated in the valley. On its higher side is a mountain. One does not see anything except the valley in which [the village] lies. In the east, a few hills, separated from the mountain, are [aligned in] descending [order]. The same [is the case] in the west, but in the west there are fewer hills adjoining the mountain than those which adjoin the same mountain in the east. Below [the village] lies the plain, and very far away is a mountain which is called Oara.

3.  Opposite the village there is a hill called Rawma. In spring this hill has such a beautiful appearance. because all the vineyards which cover it become green, [so that] someone who looks at it experiences great joy, such as is felt only in the spring.

[Agriculture]

4.  There are non irrigated and irrigated lands in the [neighborhood of the] village. The irrigated orchards are around the village, while the non irrigated [fields] are somewhat farther away from it and occupy the entire lower part of the village [property]. Previously, this property had been very large. hut now a large part of it has been occupied by the Kurds who are settled there.

5.  On the non irrigated land of Aradhin wheat, barley, lentils, and chickpeas are planted. On the irrigated land the crops are tobacco and sesame, while in the past they used to be Italian millet and panic millet. Now, tomatoes, eggplants, okra, various squashes, rice, and other things are [also] being planted.

 6.  The fruits which [grow] there are grapes, those which are planted in vineyards. There are also garden grapes, and there are figs, plums, apricots, yellow plums. and apples. In the past. the people of Aradhin produced silk, and up to this day there are mulberry trees on the lands of Aradhin. There are various trees, like gall-oak. oak, terabits, walnut, and various other trees.

7.  The agricultural tools. The peasants use a plow [whose parts are] the beam, the handle, the yoke, and the share. The beam is a long pole which is attached to the plow with two bolts, and at its front end is a small piece of wood called a bar. This bar is put into a piece of wood which is placed on the necks of the oxen and is called the yoke. The opening (lit, place) through which the neck of the ox goes is [formed by] two pieces of wood called kat Ira. And the handle is a thing which the plowman takes into his hand when he plows. And the [above] beam is a long pole so that it corresponds to the length of the ox.

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