Folio § amed
Amed
Diyarbakır (Kurdish name)
The story of the name
Amed — the Kurdish name of the city now officially called Diyarbakır. From the ancient Amid, attested in Roman and Aramaic sources; Kurmancî has kept the older form. As a name, Amed puts a city into a word — the city whose black walls still stand.
Etymology
Root: Amed · Toponym
Amed is the Kurdish name for the city now officially called Diyarbakır in Turkey. The pre-modern name Amid / Āmida is attested in Roman, Byzantine and Aramaic sources for the same site, and the Kurmancî form preserves that older name. Using Amed is a deliberate cultural-political choice.
Name family
- Hewlêr · cognate — the Kurdish name of Erbil
Updated: 2026-05-02