Lak
لەک / Lek
Total population
c. 2.5 million (est. 2000)[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
Western Iran:
  1,160,000[1] to 2,000,000,[2] Iraq[2]
Languages
Laki
Religion
Mostly Shi'a Islam, a Yarsanism minority

Lak (Kurdish: Lek ,لەک)[3][4] is a Kurdish[5][6] tribe[2] native to Western Iran. They speak Laki, which is considered a Kurdish dialect[2][7][8][9][10][11] by most linguists.[12]

Laks inhabit a large part of Lorestan Province where they constitute over 65% of the population[2] and most of the eastern regions of the neighboring province of Kermanshah, and some parts of western Ilam province (Poshte-Kuhi Laks). The area to the east of Mount Kabir is known as Pishe-Kuh, and west of the mountain is known as Poshte-Kuh.

Origins

Vladimir Minorsky, who wrote the entry "Lak" in the first edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, referred to the Lak as "the most southern group of Kurd tribes in Persia" and stated that their language has the characteristics of Kurdish. Some of the Lak tribes living in Lorestān Province live among Lur tribes, and have assimilated over time toward a Lur identity. Although, Minorsky quotes some evidence indicating that they were brought there from further north. He mentions that they are often confused with the Lurs, whom they resemble from an ethnic and somatic point of view, but are different.[6]

History

The Zand dynasty was of Laki origin (from the Zand tribe).[13] According to the third edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Zands "were a branch of the Laks, a subgroup of the northern Lurs, who spoke Luri, a Western Iranian language".[14] Similarly, according to the second edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Zands "belonged to the Lakk group of Lurs".[15] According to The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, likewise, the Zand tribe "spoke the Lakk dialect of the Lur language".[16]

Self-identification

The Laks firmly identify with the Lurs, "which appears to have been strengthening in recent times".[17] This self-identification is particularly pronounced amongst the Laks of Lorestan Province, where most Laki-speakers of Iran live.[17] Social catalysts behind this identification stem from the fact that the Lurs were historically prominent as governors of both Lorestan and Ilam, as well as due to the main corpus of the Laks in Lorestan Province having minority status.[17]

Sub-tribes

List of Lak sub-tribes:[18]

Notable Lak people

References

  1. ^ "Laki".
  2. ^ a b c d e Hamzeh'ee, M. Reza (2015). "Lak Tribe". Iranica Online. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  3. ^ ""بێڕێزیكردن بە كوردانی لەك" كاردانەوەی تووندی لێكەوتەوە". Rûdaw (in Kurdish). 30 July 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Radyoya Lekî li Kirmaşanê; Îran li çi digere?". Rûdaw (in Kurdish). 9 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  5. ^ Hamzehʼee, M. Reza (1990). The Yaresan: A Sociological, Historical and Religio-historical Study of a Kurdish Community. p. 64. ISBN 9783922968832.
  6. ^ a b Minorsky, Vladimir (2012). "Lak". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0562. ISBN 9789004161214.
  7. ^ "Laki". Ethnologue.
  8. ^ Anonby, Erik John (29 September 2003). "Update on Luri: How many languages?" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 13 (2): 171–197. doi:10.1017/S1356186303003067. S2CID 162293895. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  9. ^ Gernot Windfuhr (2009). The Iranian Languages. London & New York: Routledge. p. 587. ISBN 978-0-7007-1 131-4.
  10. ^ Hulst, Harry van der; Goedemans, Rob; Zanten, Ellen van (2011). A Survey of Word Accentual Patterns in the Languages of the World. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110198966.
  11. ^ Rüdiger Schmitt (2000). Die iranischen Sprachen in Gegenwart und Geschichte (in German). 200. p. 85. ISBN 3895001503.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ "Atlas of the Languages of Iran A working classification". Languages of Iran. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  13. ^ Zand dynasty
  14. ^ Tucker, Ernest (2020). "Karīm Khān Zand". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
  15. ^ Perry, J.R. (2002). "Zand". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume XI: W–Z. Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-12756-2.
  16. ^ Frye, Richard N. (2009). "Zand Dynasty". In Esposito, John L. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530513-5.
  17. ^ a b c Aliakbari, Mohammad; Gheitasi, Mojtaba; Anonby, Erik (2015). "On Language Distribution in Ilam Province, Iran". Iranian Studies. 48 (6): 843, 840. doi:10.1080/00210862.2014.913423. S2CID 162337795.
  18. ^ "تغییرات زیستی و اسمی قوم لک". Shahokhabar (in Persian). Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2020.

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