The Kurdish Curse (gor ba gor گور به گور)

Gor  گور is the Kurdish word for grave which is a common Indo-European word from the PIE root (ghrebh) to dig compare English (grave) and German (Grab) which is probably cognate with the English (gore) a triangle piece of ground.

Gor  گور is often used in cursing most prominently in (gor ba gor گور به گور) which is a hope that the person being cursed may have an agonizing life after death i.e. never find rest even in grave as the dead body is hoped to be buried in different graves probably meaning the cursed person´s dead body may be cut in pieces (پارچه پارچه). This is part and parcel of the Iranian cursing culture believing that angels could move the dead body to different graves. Interestingly the Kurdish word ( goran گوران ) refers to change.

No doubt (gor ba gor گور به گور) acquired some semantic change after Islamization which replaced the Iranian gor گور by Arabic qabr قبر grave.

Jamshid

Bremen 26 April 2016