êzdî

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

From an unattested *êzd ("god") (akin to Persian ایزد (izad)) in medieval Kurdish, which can be found in names like Êzdîn also. Yazidis are the only group of Kurdish speakers today who refer to god as "Êzdan" (the final -n- usually not pronounced) alongside xwedê, which is akin to Persian یزدان (yazdān) and was the dominant word for "god(s)" in Iranic languages before the New Iranic period.

Some derive from the name of Yazid I instead. Even if that is the case, the influence of the native word would be evident.

Folk etymology and many Yazidis themselves falsely explain it as ez da (lit. "I" + "gave", although not in a coherent grammatical structure), supposedly in comparison to xwe da (lit. "self" + "gave" > xweda).

Noun

êzdî ?

  1. Yazidi

References

  • Siabandov, S.; Čʻačʻan, A. (1957), “եզդի”, in Hay-kʻrderen baṙaran [Armenian–Kurdish Dictionary], Yerevan: State Press of Armenia (HayPetHrat), page 101a
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