Harzani

Harzani, once spoken in the village of Galin-Qaya on the Marand-Jolfa route, is now a dead Iranian language, along with Kerengani and Khoynrudi, one of the few surviving ancient languages ​​of Azerbaijan. It was originally spoken in the village of Harzan near Galin-Qaya, whose inhabitants later moved to Galin-Qaya. The small figure on this page is the result of a brief meeting that I (Esfandiar Taheri) and my student Farid Bagheri Fakhr had with the last speaker of this language, Hajj Abdol-Ali Adabi, in the village of Galin-Qaya on September 26, 2019. This was intended to be an introduction to a larger project to document Harzani, which was never completed due to bad weather. Today, Esfand 2, 1402, and on International Mother Language Day, I am uploading this image, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the passing of the great poet Abdul Ali Adabi, which is also the 40th anniversary of the death of an Iranian language and the loss of part of Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage. These few words quoted from the mouth of Hajj Abdul Ali are the only sound that remains of this Iranian language, the rest is our regret and shame.