The Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form the majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also claims that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century B.C.E., linguistically resembled the Kurds. This view was accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the twentieth century. However, Martin van Bruinessen, a prominent Dutch scholar, argues against the attempt to take the Medes as ancestors of the Kurds.[57]
Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously suggested view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes.[58][59] Gernot Windfuhr (professor of Iranian Studies) identified Kurdish dialects as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum.[60] David Neil MacKenzie, an authority on the Kurdish language, thought that the Medes spoke a northwestern Iranian language, while the Kurdish people speak Kurmanji.[61][page needed][not in citation given][contradictory] The Kurdologist Martin van Bruinessen argues against the attempt to treat Medes as ancestors of the Kurds.[57] Garnik Asatrian stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called Southern Tati) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median ... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median are not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects — Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, etc."[62]
Hakan Özoğlu, Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries, SUNY Press, 2004, p. 25.
Turkey Foreign Policy and Government Guide - USA (PRD) International Business Publications - Google Books
Turkey: A Country Study - Federal Research Division - Google Books
Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), “Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes”, Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457–471
M. Gunter, Michael. Historical dictionary of the Kurds.
G. Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 21 [11])
I have enough of Kurdish nationalists who still pretend that Medes were Kurds
Medes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously suggested view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes.[58][59] Gernot Windfuhr (professor of Iranian Studies) identified Kurdish dialects as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum.[60] David Neil MacKenzie, an authority on the Kurdish language, thought that the Medes spoke a northwestern Iranian language, while the Kurdish people speak Kurmanji.[61][page needed][not in citation given][contradictory] The Kurdologist Martin van Bruinessen argues against the attempt to treat Medes as ancestors of the Kurds.[57] Garnik Asatrian stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called Southern Tati) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median ... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median are not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects — Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, etc."[62]
Hakan Özoğlu, Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries, SUNY Press, 2004, p. 25.
Turkey Foreign Policy and Government Guide - USA (PRD) International Business Publications - Google Books
Turkey: A Country Study - Federal Research Division - Google Books
Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), “Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes”, Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457–471
M. Gunter, Michael. Historical dictionary of the Kurds.
G. Asatrian, Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds, Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 21 [11])
I have enough of Kurdish nationalists who still pretend that Medes were Kurds
Medes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia