Different theories existed including the beliefs that Kurdish was closely related to Turkic languages, that it was a rude and uneducated Persian dialect or that Kurds were originally Chaldeans.
In his travel notes published between 1787 and 1791, Güldenstädt erroneously claimed that Kurds were Tatars and his translations also had inaccuracies because of communication issues with his informants.
The Spanish Jesuit Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro also examined the Kurdish language in his Vocabolario poligloto (transl.
[4] The missionary and traveler Maurizio Garzoni spent 20 years with the Kurds of Amadiya and Mosul and wrote an Italian-Kurdish dictionary with around 4,500 words between 1764 and 1770.
It was called Storia della regione Kurdistan e delle sette di religio ivi esistenti and was written by Giuseppe Campanile.
[6] The Italian missionary and researcher Alessandro de Bianchi published in 1863 a book on Kurdish culture, traditions and history.
During his stay in the Ottoman Empire, Helmuth von Moltke reported about Kurds in his work letters about the events in Turkey.
Russia's access to Black Sea and the Caucasus brought the country in contact with eastern part of the Ottoman Empire, where they then began their research on the Kurds.