It is a pleasure to express my sincere thanks to the Iran National Science Foundation
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| * It is a pleasure to express my sincere thanks to the Iran National Science Foundation for sponsoring this research. 1 For some useful discussions of Christian textual material in Kurdistan, see A. Grant, ‘Die nestorianische Republik in Kurdistan’, Das Ausland, 15 (1842), pp. 268-271; M. Chevalier, Les montagnards chrétiens du Hakkari et du Kurdistan septentrional (Paris: Departement de Géographie de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1985); H. Anschütz, Die syrischen Christen im Tur {Abdin: eine altchristliche Bevölkerungsgruppe zwischen Beharrung, Stagnation und Auflösung, Das östliche Christentum, N.F. 34 (Würzburg, 1985); and P. G. Kreyenbroek, ‘The Lawij of Mor Basilios Shim{un: A Kurdish Christian Text in Syriac Script’, The Journal of Kurdish Studies, 1 (1995), pp. 29-35. 2 On the history of Christianity in Kurdistan and the basic lines of this subject, see J. F. von Zwiedinek-Südenhorst, ‘Historisch-geographische Notizen über den Nestorianer- District Hakkari; gesammelt auf einer Reise durch Kurdistan im Jahre 1872’, Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft Wien, 19 NF 9 (1872), pp. 82-87 and R. Blincoe, Ethnic Realities and the Church: Lessons from Kurdistan, a History of Mission World, 1668-1990 (Pasadena, CA: Presbyterian Center for Mission Studies, 1998). 3 On the Kirma≥anî or Kirman≥ahî dialect of Kurdish, as the most important dialect of southern Kurdish, see I. K. Fattah, Dialectes kurdes du sud: éude linguistique du dialecte kırmânshâhî-faylî (PhD Thesis, University of Paris VII, 1988). A KIRMAS¸ANÎ TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN M ustafa D ehqan
* In the area of sources for Eastern Christianity there are many excellent and available depositories for textual material in Kurdistan. 1 A single paper can- not do justice to such a comprehensive subject, 2 but it is possible to indicate only a newly-found source, so I shall attempt to do this without treating any one part of the subject in detail. The paper deals first with the Kurdish trans- lations of the Bible, as this is the natural starting point. Next comes a brief account of the manuscript of Inj il-a Kirma≥anî or Kirman≥ahî 3 translation of the Gospel of John. The purpose of this paper is to present and describe rather than to criticize. I. K urDIsh
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the B IBle The earliest known translations of the Bible into Kurdish language and its several dialects were made in the early 19 th century. The earliest Kurdish Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 61(1-2), 207-211. doi: 10.2143/JECS.61.1.??????? © 2009 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 207 1/09/09 09:53 208 M ustafa
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4 See Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society (London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1805-1961) Report XXI, 1825, p. 62; Report XXIII, 1827, p. xliv. 5 On the Kurmancî dialect which belongs to the northern group of Kurdish language, see J. Bedir Khan and R. Lescot, Grammaire kurde (dialecte kurmandji) (Paris: A. Maison- neuve, 1970). 6 See Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Report LIII, 1857, p.cxli. 7 For the accounts regarding the Gospel in Armenian characters and Kurdish language, see B. W. Stead, ‘Kurdistan for Christ’, The Moslem World, 10,3 (1920), p. 247. 8 See K. J. Thomas, ‘[Translations of the Bible into] Kurdish’, Encyclopaedia Iranica IV (1990), p. 214. Cf. also Mizgînî. Peymana Nû (Încîl) (Stockholm-Moscow: The British and Foreign Bible Society, 2000). 9 See Stead, ‘Kurdistan for Christ’, pp. 247-248. 10 See Thomas, ‘Kurdish’, p. 214. 11 Mukrî is a dialect of Sôranî which belongs to the central group of Kurdish language. See I. Kalbasi, G uyish-i Kurdi-yi Mahabad (Tehran: Pazhuhishgah-i {Ulum-i Insani, 1983). 12 See J. N. Wright, ‘Scriptures in Kurdish’, The Moslem World, 10,4 (1920), pp. 402- 403. translation of the Gospel was based on an Arabic original. This translation sponsored by a Chaldean Catholic bishop, Shevriz, and revised by local Kurdish scholars, but it was never published. 4 A Kurmancî 5 Gospel version had been prepared in 1830 by Stepan, an Armenian preacher in Haineh, in Turkey.
6 Beginning in 1865, the British and Foreign Bible Society sponsored the translation and publication of the Gospel of Matthew in Armenian char- acters, reportedly the first book ever published in the Kurdish language. 7 The
other parts of the New Testament were translated by Tamo, an Armenian Kurdish deacon, and published by the American Bible Society in 1872. The Armenian pastors, Bedros Affendi, Bedros Amirkhanian, and Kavine Aflaka- dian, translated the New Testament and Psalms into Kurmancî, which were published in 1891. 8
M irza YaÌya Khan-i Kirmanshahi translated the Gospel of John into Kirma≥anî dialect of Kurdish from a Persian translation in 1894. 9 Some years later W.St.Clair Tisdall of the Church Missionary Society in I Òfah
an revised M irza YaÌya’s translation of the Gospel of John and translated the other Gospels into Kirma≥anî. 10 A few years later another translation project was begun in Kurdistan by P.von Oertzen of the German Orient Mission who translated the New Testament into Mukrî dialect of Kurdish, 11 but only the Gospel of Mark was published in Arabic characters. 12 Subsequently a group in Sablax, the center of Iranian Mukrî Kurdistan, led by L.O. Fossum of the 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 208 1/09/09 09:53
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209 13 Ibid., p.402. 14 See Stead, ‘Kurdistan for Christ’, p. 247ff. 15 See M. Yusif, Inj il (Ankara: Cemiyet, 1943). 16 See Incîla Luqa (Bonn: Kurdisch Institut, 1984). Inter-Synodical Evangelical Lutheran Orient Mission Society in America, translated the Gospels into Mukrî. 13 The American Bible Society published a new Kurdish translation of the Gospel of Matthew in Armenian characters in the same year. 14 The Gospel of Matthew and Mark were translated in 1922 and Luke in 1923 in general direction of A.N. Andrus of Mardin and H.H. Riggs of Constantinople, both employed by American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. 15
A translation of the Gospel of Luke into Kurmancî dialect of Kurdish was begun in Beirut by Kamran Ali Bedir Khan, a Kurdish intellectual, and Thomas Bois, a Dominican priest. They published also a Kurmancî version of Proverbs. 16
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In K IrMas ¸ anî 1. Manuscript To my knowledge the Kirma≥anî version of the Gospel of John has survived in one codex only, the Hamad an. To date there is no description of the manuscript, and the oral information of its owner, Hesen Mirad, a Kurdish peasant of Hamad an, in Iran, is our only source. He is a great lover of rare and artistically executed objects, particularly of fine and old manuscripts of the famous Kurdish, Persian and Arabic authors. Unfortunately, Hesen Mirad does not have any detailed descriptions of these manuscripts. This information about the special position of Kirma≥anî Inj
conclusions I have drawn after having investigated all the items of the col- lection and after meeting and talking with Hesen Mirad’s grandson who is an educated person. Although the provenance of the manuscript of Kirma≥anî Gospel is not obvious, yet Hesen Mirad’s grandson mentions that Hesen Mirad had bought the manuscript of a Assyrian priest, in Ur umiyah. Since, in some of the extracts from his correspondence, kept in the family archives, there is mention of Hesen Mirad’s travel to the Assyrian region of Ur umiyah, 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 209 1/09/09 09:53
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17 Ahl-i Haqq is a Kurdish sect in Iranian and Iraqi Kurdistan. For details, see V. Minor- sky, ‘Notes sur la secte des Ahle-Haqq’, Revue du Monde Musulman, 40 (1920), pp. 19- 97.
it is probably acceptable to assume that the original depository of the man- uscript is the collections of the Iranian north-western Christian commu- nity. My conclusions and assumptions, however, are mainly based on oral information. The manuscript contains of two sections, completely different in type of script and in content, which have been bound together with two blank leaves between, in order to form a new codex. The second part of the codex is incomplete with a number of leaves missing from the beginning and the end of the text, most likely lost during binding. The first part contains translation of the Gospel of John (fols. 2r.-41v.). Unquestionably this part does not date from the tenth century, as has been observed by the owner of the manu- script. In fact, it must have been written much later, at the middle of the seventeenth century. The paper of the manuscript is of European manufac- ture (Amsterdam) which has a watermark. The watermark reads “H.F. Grunen” and the date of its manufacture is “1642” (watermark). The second part of the codex opens with the Kurdish poem entitled Bah ariyyah, which covers nine folios (fols. 44r.-53r.). It continues with religious poems of Ahl-i Haqq 17
a result of the incompleteness of this part of codex, some verses of the poems are missing. The text of Kirma≥anî version of the Gospel of John probably grew through different redactions, but it is impossible to say at what date the first compilation was made. There are several references to the Safavid kings, suggesting a medieval-Islamic date, but it is not certain whether they are original or have been added to the work at some later stage. Neither the first colophon of the codex not the second attempted to attribute the texts (both the Gospel of John and the Kurdish miscellaneous) to any particular author of the seventeenth century, but the second colophon cites the date 1075 of the Hijra (1654). In fact the reference of the second part of the codex is the only secure testimony we have concerning the date of this Kurdish version of the Gospel. 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 210 1/09/09 09:53
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211 2. Contents The Kirma≥anî Gospel of John was estimated by the owner of the manu- script, very approximately, to contains 15 main chapters, and these in a somewhat confused order, but the main body of the Kirma≥anî Gospel of John, as I considered, comprises two sections: the public ministry of Jesus (2,1-11,54) and the parting discourses and the passion (11,55-19,42). The first section contains with some defective translated dialogues: the wedding at Cana, the interview with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman (4,1-42), the healing of the official’s son (4,43-54), the healing at the pool, the feeding and the storm, the healing of the blind man, and the raising of Lazarus. Some stories, such as the Good Shepherd and the story of the woman taken in adultery (7,53-8:11), are missing. The passion story begins with the anointing at Bethany and the entry into Jerusalem (12,1-19). It ends with the arrest, crucifixion, and burial (18-19). Many sections of this translation seem to be worked out with great care, whereas others seem to put together materials of different kinds. Chapters and passages sometime appear to be in the wrong place. Probably the text was not translated all at once but over a longer period of time; he expounded the original sayings material and turned it into Kirma≥anî dialogues and speeches. 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 211 1/09/09 09:53 2334-09_JECS09_07_Dehqan 212 1/09/09 09:53 Yüklə 50,64 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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