KIĀ, ṢĀDEQ (b. Tehran, 15 May 1920; d. Missoula, Montana, 1 March 2002), educator, lexicologist, and the president of the…

ḴODĀYDĀDZĀDA, BĀBĀ-YUNOS (Tajik, Bobo­yunus Ḵudoydodzoda; b. Baljovan, ca. 1870-75; d. Baljovan, 27 May 1945; Figure 1), Tajik folk poet and…

KEŠAʾI DIALECT, the dialect spoken in the village of Keša, near Naṭanz, in Isfahan province. Keša village. Keša (endonym Kiša)…

KOJUR, historical district in the central Alborz, northwestern Māzandarān. i. Historical Geography Topography. The historical district of Kojur covers roughly…

NIMĀ YUŠIJ, pen name of Moḥammad-ʿAli Nuri Esfandiāri (b. Yuš, in the Nur district of Māzandarān, 21 Ābān 1276/11 November…

KERMANSHAH vii. LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS Kermanshah province (henceforth Kermanshahan, for brevity and distinctness from Kermanshah, the city) is linguistically characterized…

KERMANSHAH i. GEOGRAPHY Physical geography. Kermanshah province, situated in western Iran, spreads over an area of 25,000 km2 (9,560 square…

KERMAN xvi. LANGUAGES The province of Kerman is characterized by two indigenous, “Southwest” Iranian languages, Persian in the mountainous north…

NEŠALJ ii. The Dialect Corresponding to its geography, Nešalj (نِشَلج) had a Median dialect of Rāji variety, a language group…

NEŠALJ i. The Village Nešalj is located in Niāsar Rural District, Niāsar District, Kashan Sub-Province, Isfahan Province. The name has…

KOJUR ii. Language Two major languages are spoken in Kojur: the native Caspian dialect and a Kurdish dialect spoken by…

KERMAN xvi. Languages The province of Kerman is characterized by two indigenous, “Southwest” Iranian languages, Persian in the mountainous north…

KERMANSHAH vii. Languages and Dialects Kermanshah Province (henceforth Kermanshahan, for brevity and distinctness from Kermanshah, the city) is linguistically characterized…

FARROḴI (فرّخی), township on the southern edge of the Great Desert, in Ḵur-Biābānak Sub-province, Isfahan Province. Farroḵi is an isolated oasis…

ḴUR, oasis on the southern border of the Great Desert in central Persia; the administrative center of the sub-province of…

KHARG ISLAND i. Geography Kharg Island is situated at about 30 miles northwest of the port of Bušehr and 20…

KEŠAʾI DIALECT, the dialect spoken in the village of Keša, near Naṭanz, in Isfahan Province. Keša village. Keša (endonym Kiša)…

KHATLON (Ḵatlān), one of the three provinces of Tajikistan, located in the southwestern part of the country.  Khatlon Province was…

SULEDEH (also Suldeh, Suladeh), Caspian township and former sub-province in Māzandarān province. An early mention of Suledeh is in 1859…

KULĀBI DIALECT, a distinct variant of Tajik spoken in Kulāb and adjoining districts. The Tajik dialects spoken in Kulāb are…

KERMANSHAH i. Geography Physical geography. Kermanshah Province, situated in western Iran, spreads over an area of 25,000 km2 (9,560 square…

ḴODĀYDĀDZĀDA, BĀBĀ-YUNOS (Tajik. Boboyunus Ḵudoydodzoda; b. Baljovan, ca. 1870-75; d. Baljovan, 27 May 1945; Figure 1), Tajik folk poet and Köroğlu singer….

MORḠĀB, district covering the Pamir Plateau in eastern Tajikistan, of which it is the administrative center. The name is transliterated as…

ŠOKUROV, MOḤAMMADJĀN (Taj. Muhammadjon Šukurov; also Šakuri), Tajik scholar and literary critic (b. February 1925, Bukhara; d. 16 September 2012,…

MAŠHAD-E ARDAHĀL (or Ardahār), district and settlement near Kashan, significant for its shrine and conservative traditions. The district of Ardahāl…

KERMAN i. Geography Physical geography. Kerman Province is situated in southeast Iran, to the southwest of the Kavir-e Lut (see DESERT). …

NOWŠAHR, port city and sub-province in western Māzandarān Province. The city.  The coastal town of Nowšahr (lat 36° 39′ N,…

SORḴA (locally: Sur), township and sub-province in Semnān Province. Sorḵa is situated 20 km southwest of Semnān and 12 km…

KOJUR i. Historical Geography Topography. The historical district of Kojur covers roughly a quadrangle (about 55 km by 40 km)…

MEHRAJĀN (or Mehr(e)jān; locally known as Mehrigun), oasis and the seat of Naḵlestān district in Ḵur-Biābānak Sub-province, Isfahan Province. Mehrajān…

KUHPĀYA i. The District Kuhpāya is a large piedmont boluk (3,000 km2) separated from Ardestān on the north and Nāʾin…

FARVI DIALECT, spoken in the township of Farroḵi in central Persia. Farvi or Farvigi is the native dialect of Farroḵi,…

KUHPĀYA ii. The Dialect The dialects spoken in the Kuhpāya district belong to the Central Dialects, but in a narrower…

KĀṮ (or Kāt, Kat), the old capital of Chorasmia, situated by the Oxus/Āmu Daryā river, near its delta at the…

ḴᵛĀNSĀR i. Historical Geography Covering an area of 900 km2 on the eastern foot (Piškuh) of the central Zagros, Ḵᵛānsār…

ZEFRA i. The District Located 70 km northeast of Isfahan (lat 32°54′ N, long 52°7′ E) at an elevation of…

KIĀ, ṢĀDEQ (b. Tehran, 15 May 1920; d. Missoula, Montana, 1 March 2002; Figure 1), educator, lexicologist, and the director…

KĀZERUNI FAMILY, an entrepreneurial family based in Isfahan, best known for their role in the textile industry, above all the…

ʿAYNI, KAMĀL (Kamol Aĭnī in the Tajik orthography), Tajik literary critic (b. in Samarkand on 15 May 1928, d. in…

KASHAN ix. The Median Dialects of Kashan   This sub-entry is divided into two sections:   (1) Rural Rāji dialects.   (2)…

KASHAN ix. The Median Dialects of Kashan (2) Urban Jewish Dialect  Kashan may be characterized as exclusively Persian speaking and…

KASHAN vi. The Esbandi Festival   An elaborate festival held in the Kashan region on the eve of the month…

KALĀRESTĀQ i. The District and Sub-District. ii. The Dialect.

MEYMA, district in central Persia, on the road leading north from Isfahan to Qom. ii. The Dialect  Meyma district is…

QOHRUD, mountainous river, village, and district, with attractive architectural monuments; on a caravan station from Kashan to Isfahan. i. Historical…

MEYMA, district in central Persia, on the road leading north from Isfahan to Qom. i. The district History. Meyma itself…

HAMADĀNIĀN FACTORIES AND ENDOWMENTS Established by ʿAli Hamadāniān (1907-63) and his brother Ḥosayn Hamadāniān (1909-78), entrepreneurs and industrialists based in…

 FLAGS ii. OF AFGHANISTAN The Kingdom of Afghanistan. Almost nothing is known about the flags of Afghanistan during the reign…

FLAGS  iii. OF TAJIKISTAN Before the establishment of Tajikistan. The royal standard labeled “drapeau nationale Boukhare” in a frontispiece of…

FEṬRAT, ʿABD-AL-RAʾŪF BOḴĀRĪ; (official Soviet name: Abdurauf Abdurahimov, b. Bukhara, ca. 1886; d. Tashkent, 1938), teacher, man of letters, and…

FARHANG-E ZABĀN-E TĀJĪKĪ (Farhangi zaboni tojikī, Tajik Language Dictionary), a descriptive dictionary of classical Persian in two volumes (1,900 pages)….

ESFARA, a district in the Fergana (Farḡāna, q.v.) valley south of the Jaxartes which extends to the foothills of the…

ʿERFĀN, ḤASAN (Hasan Aliḵonovič Mamadḵonov; b. 3 March 1900 at Samarkand; d. 22 June 1973, Figure 1), Tajik translator and…

KALĀRESTĀQ  ii. THE DIALECT The Caspian vernaculars spoken in Kalārestāq, together with those of Tonekābon district, may not be properly…

EDUCATION xxviii. IN TAJIKISTAN Modern education in Tajikistan developed as the country emerged as a Soviet socialist republic, under the…

ECONOMY   xii. IN TAJIKISTAN Before its incorporation into the Soviet Union the territory of Tajikistan constituted the eastern part…

EARTHQUAKES. Persia and Afghanistan lie on the great alpine belt that extends from the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean through…

KALĀRESTĀQ (or Kalār-rostāq), and Kalārdašt, historical district in western Māzandarān. i. THE DISTRICT AND SUB-DISTRICT Kalārestāq district. This predominantly mountainous…

KEŠAʾI DIALECT, the dialect spoken in the village of Keša, near Naṭanz, in Isfahan province. Keša village. Keša (endonym Kiša)…

KERMAN i. GEOGRAPHY Physical geography. Kerman province is situated in southeast Iran, to the southwest of the Kavir-e Lut (see…

KARUN RIVER (Rud-e Kārun), the largest river and the only navigable waterway in Iran. It flows out of the central…

JOWŠAQĀN (or Jowšeqān), a district in Isfahan Province in central Persia, best known for its carpets and for its dialect….

JOWŠAQĀNi. THE DISTRICT Jowšaqān (جوشقان) is located at 65 miles northwest of Isfahan, where the western foothills of the Karkas…

JOWŠAQĀN ii. THE DIALECT Jowšaqāni, spoken in the township of Jowšaqān, is a variety of the local dialects of Kāšān,…

JAZI (Gazi), DARVIŠ ʿABBĀS (1847-1905), dialect poet from whom survives a divān in the dialect of Gaz, an oasis north…

JARQUYA, a district located in the eastern region of Isfahan Province.   i. The district. ii. The dialect.

JARQUYA i. THE DISTRICT The toponym is known locally also as Garkuya, with possible components gar and kuh (cf. Jarquh…

JARQUYA ii. THE DIALECT The dialect of Jarquya, together with those of Rudašt and Kuhpāya to its north, belongs to…

ISFAHAN xx. GEOGRAPHY OF THE MEDIAN DIALECTS OF ISFAHAN The continuum of Central Plateau Dialects appears along a northwest-souteast axis…

ISFAHAN xv. EDUCATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS (1) Education. (2) Cultural Affairs. (1) Education   Foreign schools. The presence of European…

ISFAHAN xiv. Modern Economy And Industries (2) Industries of Isfahan City The stagnation experienced after the fall of the Safavids…

ISFAHAN xiii. CRAFTS Isfahan has maintained its position as a major center for traditional crafts in Persia. The crafts of…

ISFAHAN xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES This sub-section is divided into the following parts: (1) Modern Economy of the Province….

ISFAHAN xiv. MODERN ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES (1) Modern Economy of the Province On the whole Isfahan is an average province…

ISFAHAN ix. THE PAHLAVI PERIOD AND THE POST-REVOLUTION ERA The Pahlavi period saw the development of a modern nation-state, rapid…

ḤAYRAT, MOḤAMMAD ṢEDDIQ, Tajik poet from Bukhara (1878-1902). Ḥayrat was born into poverty, as the son of a muezzin from…

ḤĀŠEM, RAḤIM (Rahim Mamedovič Hošimov), Tajik essayist, literary critic, and translator, who is considered to have been one of the…

ḤAQIQAT, title of several newspapers in Tajik Persian. The word ḥaqiqat “truth” is apparently a rendering of Russian Pravda, the…

ḠOJDOVĀN (also Ḡojdavān, Ḡajdovān), town and district in the oasis of Bukhara. The modern town (Ḡejdovān) is located at 253…

KOJUR iii. The Calendar The Ṭabari or Deylami year observed in Kojur consists of twelve months, thirty days each, plus…

ʿĀLEMPUR, Moḥyi-al-Din (Muhiddin Olimpur/Olimov), Tajik journalist, photographer, and intellectual figure who was instrumental in strengthening cultural ties among Persianate societies…

ʿĀṢEMI(also Osimi and Asimov) MOḤAMMAD, Tajik educator, scholar, statesman, and humanist (b. Ḵojand, 1 September 1920; d. Dushanbe, 29 July 1996;…

TAJIKISTAN v. DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS The alphabet change to Roman and then to Cyrillic (1928 and 1940) coupled with vernacularization…

KULĀB, city, district, and former province of Tajikistan (also Kōlāb, Kolāb[a]; Tajik Kūlob, Russian Kulyab; apparently köl-āb “lake-water”). The district…

KURGANTEPE (Qūrḡonteppa in Tajik orthography; Kurgan-Tyube in Russian), provincial capital and former province of Tajikistan. The province is bounded by…

BIDOḴT (current pronunciation: Beydoḵt), the center of a subdistrict (dehestān) in Gonābād šahrestān in central Khorasan and the seat of…

TAJIKISTAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Tajikistan’s leading research institution for coordinating and conducting theoretical and applied research projects. The institution began…

AMIR PĀZVĀRI, semi-legendary poet of Māzandarān, who is believed to have composed, among other dialect poems, the quatrains (do-baytis) known…