The Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe

by Leon Dominian

The purest living representatives of the Semitic race are found among these Bedouins. Civilization pursued its steady growth around their tent homes without affecting their lives. Better favored belts encircling the Syrian desert attracted the human migrations which took place in western Asia. From the last outliers of the hill system fringing the southern Taurus to the northern confines of the Arabian peninsula, the patriarchal state of society prevailing today differs little from the condition in which a dreamer well past middle age found it fourteen centuries ago and brought it within the pale of modern thought by inspiring it with the enthusiasm of his own belief in a single God. Stripped of his religion and of his rifle, the Bedouin stands today before the historian as the living image of long remote ancestors whose invasions caused profound upheavals in the societies established east and west of his present tramping ground.

But the Arab settled in the long elongated plain watered by the Tigris and Euphrates can never lay claim to equal purity of stock. He lives in a land which by virtue of a great twin river system gave rise to the oldest civilization of the world. Its inhabitants, whether aboriginal or invaders from the table-land on the east, derived more than mere sustenance from proximity to these mothering watercourses. Surrounded by desert and mountain, this region naturally became a seat of population. Its native element, already much mixed, was assimilated to a large extent by the Arabs since the period of their appearance in Mesopotamia.

The floating masses of Bedouins have successfully resisted Turkish effort to induce them to abandon nomadism. Occasionally, as in the belt of Tauric precipitation or along the borders of the zone of Mediterranean rains no less than under the benign influence of Mesopotamian rivers, they become sedentary. They are then known as fellaheen. But the change is incompatible with their immemorial restlessness and implies loss of caste in their own eyes.

TABLE I

Names and Peoples of Some Non-Turkish Villages in Asia Minor

Peoples designated as follows:

Alevi	Al.
Armenians	Ar.
Avshars	Av.
Chaldeans	Ch.
Circassians	Cir.
Greeks	Gr.
Karapapaks	Kpk.
Kizilbash	Kz.
Kurds	Kd.
Nestorians	N.
New Chaldeans	N. Ch.
Tatars	Ta.
Turkomans	Tkn.
Yezidi	Yd.

Name of Village	Peoples	Name of Village	Peoples
Aghje Kaleh	Kd.	Atess	N.
Agh-ova	Kd.	Avviran	Gr.
Aivali	Gr.	Bazarjik	Kd.
Ak-bunar	Cir.	Berar	Ar.
Akdam	Ar.	Bey	Ch.
Akhlat	Kd.	Birgami	Kd.
Akstafa	Kpk.	Chateran	Ar.
Alaklissia	Gr.	Chevirme	Kd.
Alexandropol	Ar.	Chukh	Ar.
Alkosh	N. Ch.	Deliler	Kd.
Altea	Gr.	Derendeh	Ar.
Angora	Ar.	Diz-deran	Kd.
Arabja Keupri	Gr. & Cir.	Ekrek	Ar.
Ardia	Cir.	Feshapur	Ch.
Arji	N.	Funduk	Cir.

Name of Village	Peoples	Name of Village	Peoples
Furinji	Kd.	Misli	Gr.
Garib	Kd.	Mush plain	Ar.
Garni	Ar.	Nerdivan	Kd.
Gemerek	Ar.	Nerib	Kd.
Gunderno	Ar.	Nigdeh	Gr.
Gunig-kaleh	Ar.	Niksar	Gr.
Gurgujeli	Tkn.	Norchuk	Ar.
Gurun	Ar.	Omar	Kd.
Haik	Ar.	Orbülu	Kd.
Hamsi	Gr.	Pekarieh	Ar.
Hanefi	Al.	Pingan	Ar.
Harras	Kd.	Porrot	Kd.
Helais	Kd.	Pulk	Ar.
Hornova	Ar.	Rabat	Kd.
Hoshmat	Ar.	Redvan	Yd.
Inevi	Tkn.	Samsat	Kd.
Instosh	Ar.	Sekunis	N.
Isbarta	Gr.	Semil	Yd.
Isoghlu	Kd.	Serai	N.
Jenan	Kd.	Shabin Kara-Hissar	Ar.
Jessi	Kd.	Shahr	Ar.
Kaialik	Kd.	Sha-uta	N.
Kainar	Cir.	Sheik Adi	Yd.
Karachu	Kd.	Sheikh Amir	Kd.
Kara-geben	Ar.	Sheikhan	Kd.
Keklik-oghlu	Kd.	Shen	Kd.
Kelebesh	Gr.	Shernak	Kd.
Kemer	Av.	Sultan Oghlu	Tkn.
Keupri	Tkn.	Tadvan	Ar.
Kezanlik	Cir.	Takvaran	Kd.
Khakkaravokh	Kd.	Tashan	Ar.
Khasta-Khâneh	Av.	Tashbunar	Cir.
Khusi	N.	Terzili	Ar.
Kinskh	Kd.	Thorub	Ch.
Kizil-doghan	Gr.	Tokat	Ar.
Kilisse	Ar.	Tomarze	Ar.
Kochannes	N.	Top-agach	Ar.
Koch-hissar	Ar.	Tor	Tkn.
Kojeri	Ar.	Ulash	Ar.
Koshmet	Kz.	Uzum Yaila	Cir.
Kotni	Kd.	Vurla	Gr.
Kula	Gr.	Yakshi-khân	Ta.
Kwaneh	N.	Yalak	Av.
Maden	N.	Yarzuat	Ta.
Madrak	Kd.	Yeni Keui	Kd.
Mansuriyeh	Ch.	Zara	Ar.
Melendis	Gr.	Zela	Ar.
Mervanen	N.