Was the meaning of "Kurd" = Shepherd in the 12th-century?

In a 12th-century Persian Sufi hagiography, the Kurd-label is credited to a shepherd in 11th-century Khorasan. The Kurd-label, applied to "average" individuals, in this case a shepherd, appeared in historical Khorasan before the Safavid period: 

Hasan-e Mo'addeb, God have mercy on him, has related:

"For several days I had not brought any meat to the kanaqah, for I had no way to pay for it. Meanwhile, the darvishes were de-manding meat.

One day while our Shaikh Abu Sa'id, God sanctify his awe-some soul, was speaking before an assembly, he said to me: 'Oh Hasan, rise and go before that young man.'

And the Shaikh pointed with his finger.

I went to the young man and the Shaikh said: 'Oh young fellow, give him the gold coin you have fastened on your belt which is worth one dinar and a habba.

The youth took hold of his belt and gave me the coin. When I brought the coin to the Shaikh, he said: 'Go to the neighborhood of Aspris. You will find a young butcher there, holding in his hands a fattened lamb that he's taken much trouble over. Buy it for a dinar and then go with him to the dunghill and throw the lamb into the rubbish pit there, so that the beasts of that pit may grease their jaws with it.'

I set out and all along the way I was harboring disapproval within myself, thinking: 'For several days there's been no meat in the kanaqah and the Shaikh is throwing a specially raised, fattened lamb to the dogs!'

When I arrived at Aspris, it was just as the Shaikh had said. I asked about buying the lamb and the butcher said: Though I'm offered five and a half dangs, I won't sell it for less then one dinar!'

I gave him the coin I had and bought the lamb. Then taking the young butcher with me, I threw the lamb to the dogs. A crowd stood there, watching what I was doing. Then the young man broke into tears and said: Take me to the Shaikh.' 

When I brought him before the Shaikh, he fell at the Shaikh's feet and said: 'Oh Shaikh, I have repented.'

I was standing in the Shaikh's presence and the Shaikh said to me: 'Oh Hasan, for four months now this young man has taken a lot of trouble over that lamb. Last night the lamb died but the young man refused to throw it away. I could not allow this carcass to reach the mouth of a Muslim.

This man has attained his goal. Moreover, those dogs have greased their bellies. Why then should you harbor disapproval? These darvishes are pure and eat nothing but what is pure. What is meant for them shall arrive.' The young man who had given the gold coin, was still sitting there. He was a Kurd and a shepherd. He rose to his feet and said: 'Oh Shaikh, I possess licit sheep. I will give twenty castrated sheep on behalf of the Sufis.' The Shaikh said: 'All this was necessary, so that first the dogs could grease their jaws and this man could attain his goal, and then you could have licit meat."

Kadkani, the text's editor, believe that "Kurd" means shepherd in this work. The evidence relies on the association in many texts between "the Kurd" and being a shepherd. This text provides good evidence against such an assumption. The text itself is evidence against Kadkani's view. The text states that the individual was both a Kurd AND a shepherd, which clearly suggests that each word had two different meanings. It is unnatural to suggest that the meanings are interchangeable, because it is equivalent to saying in everyday speech: "BMW is a car and an automobile". Although technically viable, the premise is spiritually blind. 

However, there is a subtle point to be made about the historical Kurd-label. Although the meaning was not shepherd/nomad in any interesting instances, this does not imply that the Kurd-label was limited to what is now recognized as Kurdish linguistically in the twenty-first century. In certain cases, the term was broader than this, and I use the broadest premodern application of the label in my reflections on premodern historical works. 

    

The work: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asrar-al-tawhid-fi-maqamat-al-sayk-abi-said-principal-source-for-the-life-and-teachings-of-the-well-known-mystic/