afret

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

From Arabic عَوْرَة (ʕawra, “pudendum, genitals”), derived from the root ع و ر (ʕ w r). But the sound shift is irregular, *ewret would be expected instead, which is already loaned as another word. Perhaps related to afirandin and initially meant creature (compare Arabic عِفْرِيت (ʕifrīt), from Iranic *āfrīt) but later on shifted senses under the influence of other languages in the region because of phonetic similarity. Compare Turkish avrat. The relation between the sense of "creature" and the family or possessions of one is seen in other Iranic traditions, compare Middle Persian d'm (/⁠dām⁠/), meaning "livestock" but used to denote "creature" in Zoroastrian texts.

Similar word shifts are common around the regions of Soran and Behdinan, compare Central Kurdish مێرد (mêrd), replaced by پیاو (pyaw) to mean "man" and now only means "husband". The same occurence is happening with the original word that means "woman", jin, where it is changed into only signifying "wife", while another word is used for "woman"; the difference of which doesn't exist in other Kurdish dialects.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑːfˈɾɛt/

Noun

afret f (Arabic spelling ئافرەت)

1. woman, lady

   Synonyms: jin, kulfet

Usage notes

Used only in Southern Kurdistan and only in the dialects of certain regions such as Soran and Badinan. Never used in the sense of "wife".

Declension

Declension of afret

definite feminine gender
case	singular	plural
nominative	afret	afret
construct	afreta	afretên
oblique	afretê	afretan
demonstrative oblique	wê afretê	wan afretan
vocative	afretê	afretino
indefinite feminine gender
case	singular	plural
nominative	afretek	afretin
construct	afreteke	afretine
oblique	afretekê	afretinan

References

• Chyet, Michael L. (2020) “afret”, in Ferhenga Birûskî: Kurmanji–English Dictionary (Language Series; 1), volume 1, London: Transnational Press, page 2