Mahmud Bayazidi (, 1797 Doğubeyazıt – 1859

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

), was an Ottoman Kurdish

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

from Bayazid.

Early life

He was born in Bayazid (present-day Doğubeyazıt in

Ağrı Province Ağrı Province () is located in eastern Turkey, bordering Iran to the east and the Provinces of Turkey, provinces of Kars Province, Kars to the north, Erzurum Province, Erzurum to the northwest, Muş Province, Muş and Bitlis Province, Bitlis to ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) in 1797. He started his studies by reading the

Koran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

, and then

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, Ottoman and

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

. He then moved to

Tabriz Tabriz (; ) is a city in the Central District (Tabriz County), Central District of Tabriz County, in the East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province of northwestern Iran. It serves as capital of the province, the county, and the distric ...

in north-western

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

to continue his studies. After finishing his studies, he went back to his hometown and became a teacher. After the fall of Kurdish emirates in Bayazid, he moved to

Works

In 1856, the Russian academic ''A. Dorne'', asked ''A.D. Jaba'', the newly appointed

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n consulate in Erzurum, for assistance in analyzing documents in the

Kurdish language Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian languages, Northwestern Iranian language or dialect continuum, group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkish Kurdistan, Turkey, northern Iraqi Kurdistan, Ira ...

. Jaba, in turn, employed Mahmud Bayazidi in the field of Kurdish language, history and Culture. With the assistance of Bayazidi, a number of Kurdish documents were sent to the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, including some of Bayazidi's own writings. In 1858–1859, Bayazidi, edited the

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

book by ''Ali Taramokhi'' (Kurdish writer of 15-16th century). He also wrote a book containing 3,000 phrases in Kurdish, which shed light on the life of

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

in the 19th century. This book was translated into

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

by ''A.D. Jaba'' in 1880. Bayazidi, wrote another book called ''Habits and Customs of Kurds'', which has been published in 1963 by the famous Russian Kurdologist Margarita Rudenko. From the correspondences of ''A.D. Jaba'' with

, it is evident that Bayazidi had written a book about the modern history of the Kurds, covering the period 1785–1858, although this book appears to have been lost, except for the

translation of its preface. Bayazidi and Jaba also played an instrumental role in preserving old Kurdish literature by collecting more than 50 volumes of old hand written Kurdish classic texts and sending them to the Library of

. These texts which have been preserved until now, include the epics of well known classical poets such as

Feqiyê Teyran Feqiyê Teyran (born Mir Mihemed, "Novice of Fowls", 1590–1660) was a Kurds, Kurdish poet who wrote in Kurmanji. He is best known for his work Zembîlfiroş, and is also credited for writing the first literary account of the Battle of Dimdim wh ...

, Melayê Bateyî, Melayê Cizîrî and ''Mem û Zîn'' (Mam and Zin) by

Ehmedê Xanî Ehmedê Xanî (also Ahmad-e Khani, ) was a Kurdish intellectual, scholar, mystic and poet who is viewed by some as the founder of Kurdish nationalism. He was born in the Hakkâri region in 1650 and died in Bayazid in 1707. Xanî's most impor ...

. This collection was finally published in 1961 by ''M.B. Rudenko'', titled ''About the hand-written Kurdish texts in Leningrad''. During the period 1858–1859, Mahmud Bayazidi and ''A.D. Jaba'', wrote the first

and

dictionary, published in 1879. During the same period, Mahmud Bayazidi, translated the ''Sharafnama'' (history of the Kurdish nation) from

into

. This is considered to be the first

history book in modern times. Its hand-written version is preserved in the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, , ''РНБ''), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked among the world's major libraries. It has the second biggest libr ...

. It was published for the first time in 1986.

Published books

#Bayazidi, Mahmud, Mem û Zîn (Mem and Zin), an abstract of Ahmad Khani's poem, Kurmanji version with French translation by Alexandre Jaba, introduced by Hakem, Helkewt, Debireh, no 5, Paris, 1989. #Bayazidi, Mela Mahmud, 'Adat u rasumatname-ye Akradiye, ("Habits and customs of Kurds"), original manuscript (Kurmandjî in Ottoman characters), published by M. B. Rudenko, with an introduction and Russian translation : Nravy i Obycaj Kurdov, Moscow, 1963. #Mela Mahmud Bayazidi, Tawarikh-i Qadim-i Kurdistan; perevod Saraf-Khana Bidlisi s persidskogo âzyka na kurdskij âzyk; izdanie teksta, predislovie, ukazateli i oglavlenie K. K. Kurdoeva i Z. S. Musaélân Megjelenés: Moskva : Nauka, 1986. (Kurdish translation of Sharafnama by Sharaf al-Din Khan Bidlisi)

References

Mela Mehmûdê Bazîdî, Classical Kurdish Literature (in Kurdish)
#J. Musaelian. On the First Kurdish Edition of the Sharaf nama by Mullâ (Mela) Mahmud Bayazidi, International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research, Vol.5, No. 4 December 1999. #J. S. Musaelyan. Mela Mahmud Bayazidi and His First Translation of Sharaf-name by Sharaf-khan Bidlisi into the Kurdish Language, {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayazidi, Mahmud Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire People from Doğubayazıt Kurdish-language writers 1797 births 1859 deaths Kurdish historians Kurdish scholars Kurdish philosophers 19th-century writers 19th-century Kurdish people 19th-century scholars from the Ottoman Empire