Feylis - Etymology of The Name

Etymology of The Name

The origins and linguistic history of the Feyli have been investigated by several notable western scholars, such as Sir John Malcolm, Brown, Laurie, Hassle and Henry Field. Several imaginative, if apocryphal, etymologies for the word "Feyli" have been espoused. In the 13th century, Yaqout al-Hamawi mentions in his book The lexicon of countries (Ar. معجم البلدان Mujam al-Buldan) that the Feylis are those who reside the mountains separating Iran and Iraq. He attributes their name to their size, claiming that they are as huge as "elephants"; the word fil (فيل) means "elephant" in Arabic. Others have claimed that the name goes back to an ancient ruler of the territory. Feyli's have a large population within Baghdad due to disruption among the area. The numbers go from 500,000 to 1,300,000 people. Many people believe that this gives the Kurds the right to press claims on Baghdad and divide the city with Shias and Sunnis if a 3 states solution is created and therefore there have been attempts from KRG to "Kurdize" the Feyli.

However, more likely is the explanation given by M. R. Izady. He claims that the Arabic Feyli is a corruption of Pahla, meaning Parthia, a kingdom based in modern day Iran, contemporaneous with the Roman Empire. The change occurred because Arabic alphabet lacks the letter p, rendering it as an "f" instead (this sound change can also be seen in Palestine/Philistin فلسطين and Persian/فارسي), but sometimes also as a "b". Early Arabic texts recorded the name as Fahla or Bahla, the former of which became the more common, corrupting eventually to Faila, of which the adjective is Faili or Feyli.