Editing Central Kurdish (section)

=== 1700s–1918 ===
The oldest written [[Kurdish literature|literature]] in Central Kurdish is reported to have been ''Mehdîname'' ("The book of [[Mahdi]]") from 1762 by Mulla Muhammed ibn ul Haj. Central Kurdish thus only emerged as a written language after the decline of the [[Gorani language|Gorani]] vernacular, the [[Ardalan]] state and the rise of [[Baban]] around Silêmanî. During the Baban era, Sorani emerged as an important literary vernacular and many poets such as [[Nalî]] wrote in Sorani despite being proficient in [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]. Nalî mentioned that he wrote in Kurdish knowing his poetry might not receive the same [[dissemination]] as it might have done in the more prestigious Arabic or Persian.{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|pp=637-638}} Contemporaries of Nalî like [[Salim (poet)|Salim]] and Mustefa Bêgî Kurdî also wrote in Sorani and their writings would become the foundation for the standard variety of Central Kurdish. When the Baban dynasty was overthrown in 1850, the golden era of Sorani ended and poets including Nalî left the Silêmanî region.{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|p=638}} [[Haji Qadir Koyi|Hacî Qadirî Koyî]] continued the tradition of writing in Sorani and lamented the lack of promotion of Sorani among the Kurdish clergy and called those who did not do so 'bastards'. Beside Koyi, [[Riza Talabani|Riza Talebanî]] also promoted Sorani as a literary language.{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|pp=638-639}}

Prior to the 20th century, only three non-poetic Central Kurdish works are known to exist being ''Mewlûdname'' by Şêx Husên Qazî (1793-1871), a glossary of Arabic-Kurdish by Ehmedî from 1795 and a translation of the introduction to [[Gulistan (book)|Gulistan]] by [[Saadi Shirazi]].{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|p=639}}

The language of these works heavily relied on Arabic and Persian, which prevented Central Kurdish from enjoying further progress besides being a literary language. Only after [[World War I]] did this change.{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|p=639}}

Besides poetry and the few other texts mentioned above, linguistic works on Central Kurdish also existed. [[Leonard Chodźko]] wrote a sketch of the Silêmanî variety (Soran)i in 1857; de Morgan wrote his "''Etudea linguistiques: Dialectee Kurdea''" in 1904, in which he compared eleven varieties of Kurdish to each other and with Persian and [[Sanskrit]]. Later, in 1903, [[Ely Bannister Soane]] published a learner textbook and vocabulary list on Sorani for British personnel in Kurdistan, while Oskar Mann wrote ''Die Mundart der Mukri Kurden'' containing a grammar sketch of the Central Kurdish variety of [[Mukriyan]] in 1906. Lastly, Ludvig Olsen Fossum published a grammar book in 1919 based on the Central Kurdish variety spoken around [[Mahabad]].{{Sfnp|Sheyholislami|2021|p=639}}