Laks, Kurds and Ancient Persians

Lady Mary Sheil (1825–1869) encountered an interesting philosophical chestnut during her travels in Iran.

Before turning to her observations, it is worth asking why some Kurds identified themselves as "ancient Persians" and were described as such by outsiders. One plausible explanation lies in the historical significance of the term Pahlavi. Furthermore, the meaning of "Persian" in many older sources, including Arabic and Persian literature, often differed from the modern understanding of Persian as a distinct ethnic identity. In numerous contexts, "Persian" functioned as a broad label for Iranian-speaking populations.

Lady Mary was puzzled by the fact that the Kurds and Laks she encountered did not regard themselves as belonging to the same group. This confusion stems from an essentialist understanding of identity labels, a common but often misleading way of approaching the subject. Historically, communities did not come to identify as x, y, or z primarily because of language or ancestry. This is not to say that such labels bore no relationship to lineage or language, or that they contained no historical truth. Rather, the decisive factors behind collective self-identification were often social, political, and historical.

Had historical circumstances unfolded differently, the Laks might just as easily have identified as Kurds. The distinction was not inevitable. The historical contingencies that would have produced a different outcome were neither unimaginable nor particularly difficult to envision; they simply did not occur.

Lady Mary Sheil writes:

Who are the Leks, and who are the Koords? This inquiry I cannot solve. I never met any one in Persia, either eel or moolla, who could give the least elucidation of this question. All they could say was, that both these races were Foors e kadeem,—old Persians. They both speak dialects, the greater part of which is Persian, bearing a strong resemblance to the colloquial language of the present day, divested of its large Arabic mixture. These dialects are not perfectly alike, though it is said that Leks and Koords are able to comprehend each other. One would be disposed to consider them as belonging to the same stock, did they not both disavow the connection. A Lek will admit that a Koord, like himself, is an 'old Persian,' but he denies that the families are identical, and a Koord views the question in the same light.