[1][2] These dances are mostly found in weddings and generally accompanied by zurna and davul,[3] but in the recent years, electronic instruments have started to replace them.
In Persian, it is taken from the Greek aláyi(on) αλάγιον "independent cavalry unit in the Byzantine army (10th century)".
[5] According to Sevan Nişanyan's Etymological Dictionary of Contemporary Turkish, it comes from the Kurdish (Kurmanji) hilayi or halayi meaning "standing up, playing".
This word is derived from the Kurdish (Kurmanji) verb hildan or haldan "to play, to jump, to lift".
[7] It is also known as Govend or Dîlan in Kurdish, as Ḥeggāʾ (ܚܓܐ) in Syriac, as Yallı in Azerbaijani, as šurǰpar (Շուրջպար) in Armenian, as Chaláï (Χαλάϊ) in Greek, and as Halay in Turkish.