The Studies of Peter J. A. Lerch on Kurdology

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine Peter J. A. Lerch’s work on Kurdish language. Peter J. A. Lerch is a Russian linguist who worked at Petersburg Royal Academy, Department of History and Languages in 1850. He is the first linguist who worked in the field of Kurdology. Ottoman Empire and Russian Empire had war called ‘Kırım war’ between 1853 and 1856. During that war, some innocent Kurds were captured in Roslow city. Petersburg Royal Academy appointed Peter J. A. Lerch to the camp where the captive Kurds as well as the other captives were kept so that he could study the languages spoken by the captives. Peter J. A. Lerch went to the camp and met the captive Kurds. He learnt Kurdish and collected language material related to Kirdkî /Zazakî and Kurmanji Kurdish as well as their folklore. Following this, he prepared a report on his work related to Kurdish language and folklore and gave it to Petersburg Royal Academy, Department of History and Languages. Afterwards, he studied on the Kurdish materials he collected. Later, he wrote his book on Kurdish language and folklore. He published his work in Petersburg in 1857. His book is titled “About Kurds and Chaldeans in Northern Iran”. The book was later published in German with the title of “Forschungen und die über die curing İranischen Nordchaldäer” in Amsterdam. There are seven Kurdish texts in the book. The texts are written by Lepsisus alphabet. It is a special alphabet that prepared by Peter J. A. Lerch. They are later transcribed to Latin alphabet. The focus of this research is the contents of Peter J. A. Lerch’s book which are on Kurdish language (i.e. the texts written in Kirdkî Kurdish dialect as well as Kurmanji Kurdish dialect)