Shamdinani Stories I: Kurdish Writings on the History and Culture of Central Kurdistan by Mullah Saʼid Shamdinani
David N. MacKenzie · Ergin Öpengin
Jun 2026 · BRILL
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During the First World War, the Russian consul Basile Nikitine recruited the Kurdish Mullah Sa’id of Shamdinan to assist him in the study of the Kurdish language and history in the city of Urmia in northwest Iran. Their collaboration resulted in a rich corpus of cultural and historical texts, which Nikitine subsequently intended to publish in cooperation with the British scholar David N. MacKenzie. The plan, however, was never brought to fruition, and MacKenzie’s copious unpublished material remained undiscovered until after his death. This volume presents facsimiles of the original Kurdish texts, a normalized transliteration with parallel English translations, an introduction sketching the life of Mullah Sa’id Shamdinani and the historical and literary context, as well as a Kurdish-English glossary and a map of locations. The result is a unique compilation of primary sources in Kurdish that document the cultural and political life of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Kurdistan, and significantly contribute to the study of the Kurdish language and history.
Funded by the European Union (ERC, ALHOME, 101021183).
Funded by the European Union (ERC, ALHOME, 101021183).
During the First World War, the Russian consul Basile Nikitine recruited the Kurdish Mullah Sa’id of Shamdinan to assist him in the study of the Kurdish language and history in the city of Urmia in northwest Iran. Their collaboration resulted in a rich corpus of cultural and historical texts, whi...
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About the author
David Neil MacKenzie (1926-2001) was a philologist of Iranian languages. He obtained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 1957 and worked in the same university as a Lecturer of Kurdish and Iranian languages. In 1975 he was appointed as the chair of Oriental Philology at the University of Göttingen in Germany where he worked until his retirement in 1994. He was elected as a fellow of British Academy. MacKenzie published extensively on Middle Iranian languages as well as the Kurdish and Pashto. He is best known for his two volume Kurdish Dialect Studies (Oxford University Press, 1961, 1962) and Concise Pahlavi Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1971).
Ergin Öpengin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language at the University of Kurdistan-Hewlêr and Affiliated Researcher in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the structural and sociolinguistic dimensions of Kurdish and Iranian languages. He is the author of The Mukri Variety of Central Kurdish: Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon (Reichert, 2016) and co-editor of Structural and Typological Variation in the Dialects of Kurdish (Palgrave, 2022). He serves as Associate Editor of Kurdish Studies Journal.
Ergin Öpengin is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language at the University of Kurdistan-Hewlêr and Affiliated Researcher in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the structural and sociolinguistic dimensions of Kurdish and Iranian languages. He is the author of The Mukri Variety of Central Kurdish: Grammar, Texts, and Lexicon (Reichert, 2016) and co-editor of Structural and Typological Variation in the Dialects of Kurdish (Palgrave, 2022). He serves as Associate Editor of Kurdish Studies Journal.
David Neil MacKenzie (1926-2001) was a philologist of Iranian languages. He obtained his PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in 1957 and worked in the same university as a Lecturer of Kurdish and Iranian languages. In 1975 he was appointed as the chair ...
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