Choheili or Chohaili (Persian: چحیلی; Arabic: الكحيلي, Al-Kuhaili or Al-Kuhailia; Modern Mandaic: ࡊࡅࡄࡀࡉࡋࡉࡀ, romanized: Kuhailia) is an Iranian and Iraqi Mandaean surname or family name. The Choheili (Kuhailia) family has produced many Mandaean priests.[1] Notable people with the surname include:

Choheili family
ࡊࡅࡄࡀࡉࡋࡉࡀ

Kuhailia, Kuhaili, Al-Kuhaili, Chohaili, Chohili
Family
CountryIran and Iraq
Current regionKhuzestan and Lower Mesopotamia
Place of originIran and Iraq
MembersJabbar Choheili, Salah Choheili, Najah Choheili, Salem Choheili, Brikha Nasoraia
Connected membersTaleb Doraji
Connected familiesKhaffagi family
TraditionsMandaean priestly family

Mandaean priest and professor Brikha Nasoraia also belongs to the Choheili family.[1]: 118  Ganzibra Taleb Doraji of Ahvaz is also connected to the Choheili family. Members of the Choheili family can trace their ancestry back to Adam Zakia, the father of Bihram Bar-Hiia, who lived around 1500 A.D.[1]: 118 

19th-century Mandaean priest Yahya Bihram's uncle Yahya Yuhana, of the Kuhailia (Choheili) clan, was a prominent copyist and ganzibra.[1]

In Mandaean colophons

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Kuhailia scribes from the 15th to 17th centuries who are mentioned in the colophons of Mandaean texts include:[1]

  • Baktiar br Adam Mhatam, Kuhailia
  • Bihram BrHiia br Adam Zakia, Kuhailia (the elder, fl. 1400s; one of the earliest known ancestors of the Kuhailia clan
  • Bihram BrHiia br (Adam) Baktiar, Kuhailia (the younger; nephew of Bihram BrHiia, above)
  • Mhatam Zihrun br Baktiar/Yahia BrHiia, Kuhailia (husband of Yasmin Mudalal; uncle of Bihram BrHiia the elder)
  • Ram Kuhailia (fl. 1560)
  • Ram Yuhana br Yahia Baktiar, Kuhailia (c. 1580)
  • Yahia Yuhana br Ram, Kuhailia (brother of Zakia Zihrun; fl. 1600s)
  • Zakia Zihrun br Ram Kuhailia (brother of Yahia Yuhana br Ram; fl.  1677)
  • Yahia br Adam Kuhailia

Neo-Mandaic

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Most prominent members of the Choheili family (including Rishama Salah Choheili and Salem Choheili), along with their family members, are fluent native speakers of Neo-Mandaic.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2010). The great stem of souls: reconstructing Mandaean history. Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-621-9.
  2. ^ Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2023). 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans. Gorgias Mandaean Studies. Vol. 5. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-4632-4132-2. ISSN 1935-441X.