The word “Lur” first had been used in historical and geographical texts, with the varied forms like “al-Lurîa”, “Lârîa”, “belad al-Lûr”, “Lûrîa”, etc. In etymological discussions, it has said ancestor’s name of Lurian people is “Lur”; but it is perfectly incomprehensible that who is he and where his name has been recorded? Certain respondents say he is “Luhrasb” (ancient Iranian king); but it cannot be acceptable and here there is nothing but some similarities between two words “Lur” and “Luhrasab”.

According to the Nâmnâme-ye Iran, word “Lur” is derived from Persian word “Rudhro” which means “red” and Minorsky suppose Lur is another form of Rur. But it seems be nearer the reality what be said Lur is placename. There is a place in the name “Lûr” (or Lur) in the Mânrûd (or Mâirûd), as Hamd ul-Allah Mostoufi says, where Lurian tribes all are branched.

Today, there is a vast place in the name “Lûr” in the north of present Khuzistan and south of present Luristan province.

In the present Lurian language there is no meaning for “Lur” but name of tribe. It can be possible that “Lur” originally was “Lîr” and this latter has some meaning in Lurian language, such as “house” and “woodland”, hence there are many examples, in Lurian language, for the transform of vowel û in î:

About the race and ancestry of Lurian branches, have no enough reasons, both who say they are a Kurdish tribe and who say they are Persian people. It be said in the Islamic texts that Lurs are a branch of Kurds; but some critics disallow this and says “Kurd” means “nomad”, “tribe” and those texts (whether Persian or Arabic ones) attribute “Kurd” to all nomadic Iranian tribes not only the tribe of Kurds.

Anyways, many lingual, cultural and social relations can be found easily between present Lurs and present Kurds and Persians. Indeed there are many lingual relations, on the one hand, between Lur-i Buzurg (Grand Lur, include Bakhtiari, Mamasanî, Kuhgiluya, Liravi of Bushihr, etc. whose population are six million persons) and Persian, and on the other hand, between Lur-i Kuchak (Smaller Lur, include present Luristan province and Ilam, some towns of Kirmanshah and Hamadan, and Mandali, Badra and Khanaghain in Iraq, etc.) and Kurdish.

Thus, in the final analysis, it can be possible to say of a tribe in the name of “Lur” as a Aryan and Iranian branches which has many relations with Kurds in northern and Persians in southern regions in all particulars whether lingual or cultural or historical or racial and so on.