Maybe we’ll call this DDK for short. There are many Kurdish dictionaries out there. My aim is to add some key terms that have not been adequately covered in other Kurdish dictionaries. Although I am a huge advocate for the Kurdish Wiktionary, the rules of Wikipedia and its cousin sites discount most original research. This has meant that we need a new medium in which to publish original research into the Kurdish language and especially the variant of Northern Kurdish spoken in the Duhok Province.
English-Kurdish
| English term | Kurdish Term(s) & Comments |
| adoption | A common term is xudankirina zarokan. More precise would be wergirtina zarokan. Longer but also accurate is xudan li zarokan derketin; a strange phrase to Anglophones, but lit. it means ‘to appear as guardian (xudan) to children’. Tebennî kirin is very widely understood and used, but is a loan from Arabic. It is doubtful how much edapşin kirin is used in Behdini, but it is somewhat used in Duhok; Wikiferheng has not to date provided any sources for this English loan word, and it does sound somewhat clumsy: why not edapt kirin? (the noun part gets doubled up, first in the English -ion, then in the Kurdish kirin, but loan words do strange things and one mustn’t be pedantic). As for the verb form to adopt, BHD in Galatians 4:5 uses kirin zarokên xwe (or there, kurrên xwe). The noun form is a little more difficult: note Romans 9:4 where adoption -Gk huiothesia– is rendered mafên kurrên Xudê- the rights of (being?) the children of God. Where we need to think some more is when we say something like ‘today we’re discussing the issue of adoption’. What will become the shorthand term for this vital ethical practice? In English obviously we take a general verb ‘to adopt’ – we adopt others’ clothes, mannerisms etc – and make it refer particularly to the adoption of children. A kurdiya petî noun form has perhaps not yet gained currency, so for myself, when I want a placeholder word I use tebennî kirin or edapşin kirin depending on who I’m speaking to. |
| boarding school | A term for this is not widely known. But boarding at university is a familiar provision. A dormitory is known as a qism. So boarding school is best called qotabxane li gel qismî |
| carer | sad that this word is not in WF at all! peristgar is sometimes used for a nurse, but how can the sense of carer be communicated? Maybe harîkar. |
| the character of God | This is a difficult term to render in Kurdish. FR suggests saloxetên Xudê; a friend from Dêrik suggests şexsiyeta Xudê; both are loan words from Arabic. Karaktera Xudê has in its favour inherent familiarity points for those schooled in either English or Turkish (Tanrının karakteri) – the phrase is commonplace in English theological discourse. Those with a unitarian worldview will likely be uncomfortable with many of the options we could choose, especially perhaps the kesayetî of God, because to their mind he is not a person as we are persons, whereas the Judaeo-Christian doctrine of God is that we are persons because we are made in the image of the personal God and we do not think it inappropriate to use the same word of humans as we use of God. However, since kes can mean ‘guy’ – do you see that kes over there?, etc – maybe it might have an irreverent ring to it in describing God’s nature. Other options that are yet to be tested are xisleta Xudê, xusûsiyeta Xudê, xûya Xudê, or taybetmendiya Xudê. Purists may prefer these words since, although some words like taybetmendî do have roots in Arabic, they may sound more authentically Kurdish. |
| conquest | This word is important in Biblical Studies because of the Conquest of Canaan under Joshua. The best word I can find is dagîrkirin, which is a generally negative term meaning invasion. Girtina Kena’anê might be more neutral. Conquest is fairly neutral in English; it’s mildly positive but not as gung-ho as ‘liberation’. Interestingly, no entry has been made on WF for ‘conquest’ as of 06.2021. |
| crutch | gult or gulte. This doesn’t seem to be very widely known in Behdini. |
| earphone (cf headphones) | êrpod (ji inglîzî Airpod); hetfon bêwayr. |
| exile | This is a key term in the Bible. derbiderkirin is the noun form. WF lists other options: biyanistan, xerîbî, xurbet, sirgûn. Sirgûn seems to be little known in Behdini. BHD uses raguhastin. Note that veguhastin means transportation, but raguhastin has the sense of forcible deportation. My sense is that Matt 1:17 wisely opted for raguhastin rather than derbiderkirin; maybe that is the more recognised term for the Kurdish experience of exile, for example in 1975, when Mulla Mustafa and many others were exiled to Iran. |
| headphones | hetfon هەتفۆن. semaeyên guhî. (see semae) |
| just a matter of time | meseleka demiya, meseleka wextiya. It’s just a matter of time before there is a war over water in the Middle East. |
| mission | raspardin; erk also works but is less precise |
| modified Arabic script | elfabeya erebî ya guherandî. This is often referred to as Kurdish script, as opposed to Latin script. This is a more accurate designation of this script- also called the Perso-Arabic script. |
| nutrient | This has proved a difficult word to translate into Kurdish. ITS suggests tuxum, although that word seems to also mean seed, so how we communicate the importance of eating food full of nutrients, I don’t know |
| nutritious | Probably best just to say healthy food, ie xwarinên sehî. |
| own goal | xediî (ẍediî) (غەدعی), (ji erebî خدعة) |
| pain in the neck / butt etc | zikdirînik (cf zikêş). Lit a tearer of the stomach; cf ‘thorn in my side’ |
| relational | As in ‘we need to develop a more relational culture in our workplace’. Difficult to translate into Kurdish; têkildarî works best. (peywendîdar tends to mean he has friends in high places; wasta) See task-oriented |
| seashell | Still not entered on Wiktionary (Jan 2022), but sedef or sedefa deryayê seems right. |
| shark | qirş (an Arabic word) |
| symbolism | hêmayetî; sîmbolîzm is the preferred term (ZA). |
| task-oriented | (as opposed to people-oriented) task is erk; but this dichotomy can be expressed as kiriyarî and kesî |
Kurdish-English
| Kurdish term | English |
| cejna bûn | Commonly used in Duhok for birthday. rojbûn, îdmîlad, roja jidayîkbûn, roja ku lê hatine dinyayê. Not sure if it should be one word or two. |
| çem bê çeqel nabê | There is no waterfront without a jackal. I suggest these near equivalent proverbs in English: the grass is always greener on the other side, all that glitters is not gold. Difficulties editing this on WF. A Kurmanji form would be çem bê çeqel tune. |
| fesil bûn? | to be fired |
| qupiya kirin | To cheat in exams. Syn: ẍişe kirin, which refers to cheating more generally. Qupiya is a loan word from Sorani and doesn’t seem to be etymologically related to English ‘copy’; but for learning vocab it’s a happy coincidence! |
| semae | microphone, speaker. This seems confusing to us, but context usually determines the meaning. If people are pushed they would say for microphone semaeya laqîte and for speaker semaeya dengî |
| Destnexoş | Irksome, wearisome, unbearable; used of a task that is difficult, time-consuming or irritating. Lit. ‘unpleasant to the hand’. Interestingly, it is used in Matt 23:4 to describe the Pharisees’ heavy loads that are hard to carry |
| serbarî | Despite. |
| teknefer | alone; single-handed. We used this in GBP to describe how David killed Goliath ‘singlehandedly’ |
| tirs û birs | lit fear and hunger. Somewhat parallel to ‘in dire straits’; ‘up the creek without a paddle’ etc |
KEY: ITS= Ismail Taha Shahin from Simel; a respected lexicographer in the Duhok Province.
ZA=Zinar Adnan, a schoolteacher, translator and writer in Duhok.
Bold: means that the entry should be imported into Wikiferheng in some form.
Bold:Underlined Entry has been added to Wikiferheng.
Kurdology 