A man who served as the judge of Gorgan is given an odd mix of attributions in a work by Abu Bakr al Ismaili from the tenth century. Abu Bakr al Ismaili claims that the judge's attributions were al Kurdi & al Farisi. Why is this holy mystery occurring? How could a man be Kurdish and Persian at the same time? Was he mixed? Nothing I've looked at suggests that's the answer. The proper response appears to be that these two attributions were employed interchangeably, as we know from other examples. What's more intriguing is that this person was connected to Gorgan. Geographically, the Gorgan region was at the border between the Persian-speaking people of historical Khorasan and the "Pahlavi" speakers. I believe it's a really good hint as to why he was given the Kurd-label too:
...ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Kurdī al-Fārisī, the qāḍī (judge) of Jurjān, Abū al-Ḥasan, narrated to us. He said: Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān narrated to us; he said...
The distinct ethnic boundaries had not yet became as rigid/fixed in the tenth century or later centuries. There were large areas that were without rigid ethnic labels. Inconsistencies in the labeling resulted from their unclear status in relation to a more fixed ethnic identity.
Source on the extinct language of Gorgan: https://www.academia.edu/8074693/_The_Extinct_Language_of_Gurgan_Its_Sources_and_Origins_
No comments:
Post a Comment