KURDISH LANGUAGE

[s. 402] : Belongs to the 384 Iranic branch of the Aryan family of languages. Its immediate relations seem to be still unsettled, altho there is reason to connect it with the Pehlevi. It is found in two distinct dialects the Kurmanj and the Gurani, which are Western Kurdish, and the Lur and Wend, which are Eastern. These two groups are broken into many smaller dialects to the formation of which there seems to be no limit, such as is found in the exist- — ence of a literary cla . Nothing in Kurdish has ever been printed except by strangers. The Kurds have a vast collection of materials for a literature, but they have not even an alphabet as yet, making use of the Arabic alphabet for correspondence, etc. Certain Armenians who speak Kurdish use the Armenian alphabet, and mi ionaries have printed some books for their use in Kurdish written with Armenian letters. KURNOOL. See Karnul. KURSEONG. See Karsiung. 402