Kurmanji, also termed Northern Kurdish, is the northernmost of the Kurdish languages, spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey, northwest and northeast Iran, northern Iraq, northern Syria and the Caucasus and Khorasan regions, and it is the most widely spoken form of Kurdish. It is also the common and ceremonial language of the Yazidis, whose sacred book, the Mishefa Res, and all their prayers are written and spoken in Kurmanji. Ethnologue reports that the use of Kurmanji is declining in Turkey and that the language is threatened because it is losing speakers. In this atlas the entry names the language of scripture and prayer recorded in Kurmanji.
Facts
Liturgical role (class) Connections
Attested in Region
Spoken predominantly in southeast Turkey.
Source Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Spoken in the Caucasus.
Source Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Spoken in northern Iraq and northern Syria.
Source Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Spoken in northwest and northeast Iran.
Source Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Language Of
Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.
Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.
Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.
Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.
Named or Composed in This Language
Source Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual TraditionPhilip G. Kreyenbroek
Source Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual TraditionPhilip G. Kreyenbroek
Source Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual TraditionPhilip G. Kreyenbroek
Source Wikipedia, "Yazidis"Wikipedia contributors
Uses This Script
The lead gives the name of the language in the Latin script as Kurmanci.
Source Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Kurmanji (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationKurmanji, lead paragraph
Kurmanji is also the common and ceremonial language of Yazidis.
Kurmanji, Yazidi use, liturgical role
Kurmanji is also the common and ceremonial language of Yazidis. Their sacred book Mishefa Reş and all prayers are written and spoken in Kurmanji.
View the Source Wikipedia, "Yazidis"
Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia, 2026Named or Composed in This Language: Yazidism Prayer and Invocation Tradition, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: kurmanji-kurdishView the Source Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition
Philip G. Kreyenbroek, Edwin Mellen Press, 1995- Named or Composed in This Language: Yazidi Qewls, Stored language-detail property on this entity, cited to this source: Kurmanji Kurdish
- Named or Composed in This Language: Mishefa Res, Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: kurmanji-kurdish
- Named or Composed in This Language: Kiteba Cilwe (Book of Revelation), Stored language property on this entity, cited to this source: kurmanji-kurdish
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