Kilit language
Encyclopedia
The Kilit language belongs to the northern Tatic
family of Northwestern Iranian branch, once spoken in the villages around Kilit, located 12 kilometers southwest from the city of Ordubad in a district with the same name of Nakhjavan in Azerbaijan
. It is most probably extinct or less likely moribund and is considered to have been the westernmost and northwersternmost Tatic language. The more exact classification of Kiliti and its composition must wait for more research.
Kilit is an “extinct” language according to the UNESCO
Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
historians and travelers since the middle of nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The historian Chopin, first mentioned it back in 1852. He states the inhabitants of the village as amounting to 104. Zelinsky researched on the language in 1880 afterwards. In the 1950s a few speakers was reported who used the language probably only as a trade lingo or secret language. In 1966, A. G. Gasanov collected a few words and phrases. Although the possibility of a migration cannot be ruled out, however it is more likely, given more data about Tatic languages and proto-Tatic, that this group extended at least as far as the areas in which the remanent languages are spoken today.
from Cyrillic
:
Comparative list of numbers and some words mentioned by Zelinsky and Gasanov:
origin or more likely Talyshi
, Tat
, Tajik
or Zoroastrian. Zelinsky considered it as a mixture of Kurdish, Persian and Arabic. Gasanov called it with a certain affinity towards Iranian languages. But only Zelinsky's materials are enough to understand that kiliti is not an argot, possesses an independent grammatical structure and have the main base of the root words and all the typical features of the Iranian languages. The existing materials also provide a sufficient basis to determine it as belonging to the northwestern Iranian group of languages. That language had no written tradition. According to Zelinsky, dozens of villages had spoken the language before, but it was just understandable to the villagers afterwards and then the Azerbaijani language
(known as Tatar at the time) has been replaced it.
Tati (Iran)
Tati is a group of northwestern Iranian dialects which are closely related to the Talysh language.Some sources use the term old Azari/Azeri to refer to the Tati language which was spoken in the region before the spread of Turkic languages , and is now only spoken by different rural communities in...
family of Northwestern Iranian branch, once spoken in the villages around Kilit, located 12 kilometers southwest from the city of Ordubad in a district with the same name of Nakhjavan in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. It is most probably extinct or less likely moribund and is considered to have been the westernmost and northwersternmost Tatic language. The more exact classification of Kiliti and its composition must wait for more research.
Kilit is an “extinct” language according to the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.
History
The language has been long known to the RussianRussians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
historians and travelers since the middle of nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. The historian Chopin, first mentioned it back in 1852. He states the inhabitants of the village as amounting to 104. Zelinsky researched on the language in 1880 afterwards. In the 1950s a few speakers was reported who used the language probably only as a trade lingo or secret language. In 1966, A. G. Gasanov collected a few words and phrases. Although the possibility of a migration cannot be ruled out, however it is more likely, given more data about Tatic languages and proto-Tatic, that this group extended at least as far as the areas in which the remanent languages are spoken today.
Some available Materials
The following is a kiliti text reported by Zelinsky: TransliteratedISO 9
The international standard ISO 9 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin characters of Cyrillic characters constituting the alphabets of many Slavic and some non-Slavic languages....
from Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
:
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
Kiliti | Talyshi (Taleshdulaei) Talysh language The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Historically, the language and its people can be traced through the middle Iranian period back to the ancient... |
Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... |
|---|---|---|---|
| When Duke General came, | vahti knâz' aslnda eranali èmiabia, | vaqti sardăr ăma, | väqti duk ženeral amäd, |
| he asked me: | manè èštaša: | ba mәnkăš xăsta: | az män xast: |
| "Speak in your language so I see what is your language". | "bi šema zun kasaka man vinèm ki, šema zun kalang zuna". | "ba әštan zәvon gaf bәžan bәvinom šәma zәvon kamila" | "be zäbane xodetan soxän begu bebinäm ke, zäbane šoma kodam zäban äst" |
| Whatever he asked me (got information from me), I said then. | ha či ki, èšman haba èškata, mandže votma. | ba mәnka harčә kәn dafarsәsta mәnin văta. | här če ke, äz män porsid (xäbär gereft), män häm goftäm. |
| He asked me how we counted. | èšman haba èškata ki, ki kalang ašmardia. | ba mәnkă dafarsәst čәntarin bašmard. | äz män xäbär gereft ke, čegune mišemarid. |
| Then I counted up to hundred. | mandže ašmar dema desta sa. | mәnin әšmarda dă sad. | män häm šemordäm ta be säd. |
| That General wanted me to come to him. | o eranal manè èštaša kûsèš. | a sardări ba mәnkă xăsta bәšom čai var. | an ženeral äz män xast pišäš beräväm. |
| He asked me: "Where do you stay?" | èšman haba èškata: "kèing mandaniš?" | ba mәnka dafarsa: "kiyă bamandiš?" | äz män xäbär gereft: "koja mimani?" |
| Then I said that "dismiss me, I will go to my home". | mandže votma ki, "manu murahast kai, manèm kaim". | mәnin văta kәn, "ama bәrăxәn bašimon әštan ka". | män häm goftäm ke, "mära moräxäs kon, miräväm xaneäm". |
| He said: "No, you should stay here". | votma: "na, pista na haingu muni". | vătәš: "ne , pi hiyă bәmona". | goft: "nä, bayäd häminja bemani". |
| I said then: "That is your will, | mandže votma: "ihtio hesta, | mәnin văta: "әm әštә xăstaya, | män häm goftäm: "in xaste to äst, |
| you tell me to stay, | votim manem, | bătiš bәmonәm, | miguyi bemanäm, |
| so I (will stay) for the night." | šav mandže". | azni šav (bamandim)" | män häm šäb (mimanäm)". |
| Whatever he asked me, I said then. | ha či oj èščaman haba èškata, mandže votma. | harči ba mәnka dafarsәst mәnin văta. | här če ke äz män xäbär gereft, män häm goftäm. |
Comparative list of numbers and some words mentioned by Zelinsky and Gasanov:
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
Kiliti | Talyshi Talysh language The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Historically, the language and its people can be traced through the middle Iranian period back to the ancient... |
Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... |
|---|---|---|---|
| mouth | gav | gäv | dähan |
| brother | bole | bәră, boli | bäradär |
| nut | zuz | viz, voz, yuz | gerdu (jowz) |
| where | henda | kiya, ku | koja |
| bring | bija | bәjär | bijar |
| braised meat | gail | gäylä, kavab | gušte beryan |
| said | gäji | vateš | goft |
| wild | èšivin | ašyă, èšivo (bear) | vahši, dädmäneš |
| 1 | ivi | i | jek |
| 2 | dèv | dy, de | do |
| 3 | he | se | se |
| 4 | čoj | čo, ču, čar | čähar |
| 5 | pindž | pendž, penj | pändž |
| 6 | šaš | šäš | šeš |
| 7 | haft | haft | häft |
| 8 | hašt | häšt | häšt |
| 9 | nav | näv, nä | noh |
| 10 | dah | da | däh |
| 11 | dahai jonzä | davy-i, yănza | jazdäh |
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
Kiliti | Talyshi Talysh language The Talyshi language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in the northern regions of the Iranian provinces of Gilan and Ardabil and the southern regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Historically, the language and its people can be traced through the middle Iranian period back to the ancient... |
Persian Persian language Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | dahadèv donzä | davy-dy, dave-de, danza | dävazdäh |
| 13 | dahahe senzä | davy-se, dave-se, sinza | sinzdäh |
| 14 | dahačio čordä | davy-čo, dave-ču, čardä | čahardäh |
| 15 | dahapind ponzä | davy-pendž, dave-pendž, panzä | panzdäh |
| 16 | dahašaš šonzä | davy-šäš, dave-šäš, šanzä | šanzdäh |
| 17 | dahahaft havdä | davy-haft, dave-haft, hivdä | hevdäh |
| 18 | dahahašt häždä | davy-häšt, dave-häšt, häždä | hiždäh |
| 19 | dahanav nonzä | davy-näv, dave-näv, nuzda | nuzdäh |
| 20 | vist | vist, bist | bist |
| 30 | si | si | si |
| 40 | čel' | čyl, čel | čehel |
| 50 | pindžoj | pendžo, pendža | pändžah |
| 60 | šešt | šest, šäst | šäst |
| 70 | havta | hafto, hatu, häftad | häftad |
| 80 | hašta | häšto, häštu, häštad | häštad |
| 90 | vahta | näve, näved, näväd | näväd |
| 100 | sa | sa, säd | säd |
| 1000 | hačoj | häzo, häzu, häzar | hezar |
The identity
Chopin remarks that the inhabitants of Kilit village were professing Shiite faith and their language is not similar to any of the other local dialects. However he has been puzzled about their origin. He mentioned that they might be from ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
origin or more likely Talyshi
Talysh people
Talysh are an Iranian people indigenous to a region shared between Azerbaijan and Iran which spans the South Caucasus and the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea. They speak the Talysh language, one of the Northwestern Iranian languages...
, Tat
Tats
Tats are an Iranian people, presently living within Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia ....
, Tajik
Tajiks (disambiguation)
Tajiks may refers to:* Persian peoples, a term used for Persians in general and more specifically today in Central Asia* Tajiks of Xinjiang, a minority in China who speak different Pamir languages* Pamiri people, speakers of Pamir languages...
or Zoroastrian. Zelinsky considered it as a mixture of Kurdish, Persian and Arabic. Gasanov called it with a certain affinity towards Iranian languages. But only Zelinsky's materials are enough to understand that kiliti is not an argot, possesses an independent grammatical structure and have the main base of the root words and all the typical features of the Iranian languages. The existing materials also provide a sufficient basis to determine it as belonging to the northwestern Iranian group of languages. That language had no written tradition. According to Zelinsky, dozens of villages had spoken the language before, but it was just understandable to the villagers afterwards and then the Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
(known as Tatar at the time) has been replaced it.