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0135 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 135 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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92. CAÇAN   119

  1. CACIONFU

cacianf F, FA, FAt

cacianfu F, Z, L, R

caciansu LT

caciauf FB

cacionphu, cacionfur, chation-

phur VL

cacionphur, caciunphur S camanfu P cancianfu F casianf FBt casiauf FA catianf FAr

catiauf FBr chaccianfu TA3 chacianfa TA' chanzianfo V chazianfu VA

Although the mss. then available to us authorized only « Cacianfu », I had originally corrected it to « Cacionfu », since I could see no solution except ipJ 4 J j Ho-chung-fu, the name under the Mongols of the modern P'u-chou-fu; « Cacionfu » is now confirmed by S and VL. It is true that Ho-chung-fu is east of the Yellow River, and not west as Polo's text would imply. But there is no other fu which can fit in the itinerary, and the transcription « Cacionfu » is quite regular. The identification, which was first proposed by KLAPROTH, has been adopted by all recent editors. WADELL's identification with T'ung-chou-fu (JRAS, 1910, 1260-1261) has no value.

The name of Ho-chung-fu was given under the T'ang, and it was only in the Ming dynasty that it was changed to P'u-chou-fu. In the new Republican nomenclature, it is Yung-chi-hsien. CORDIER (L'Extrême-Orient dans l' Atlas Catalan, 21) thinks that this name is written « Caysam » on the Catalan Map; but the two names north and south of it on the map are doubtful, and the phonetic correspondence is too remote to be convincing.

  1. CAÇAN

achasan, chasian, chaxian,   caçan, F, L   caxan FB

chazen, chonsanson V   casan F, FA, Z, R   chaçan, scaçan L

This transcription represents a pronunciation L.,I» Qazan which is quite admissible, although ~Ijlz « Ghâzàn » (yazan) has gained early and almost general recognition. The name is no t Mongol, but seems to be the Turk. qazan (< qazyan), « kettle ». There must be something wrong in the story Ha', II, 7, gives, according to which the name would be Mongol and mean « tooth »; I do not know of a Mongol word for « tooth » having any similarity with qazan or yazan; moreover, there is no z in Mongolian. Josafat Barbaro explains by « kettle » the name of the town of Kazan on the Volga (RAMuslo, ed. 1559, II, 98 A). I must add that, although the Turk. qazan is old in many dialects, and already attested c. 1300 in Codex Cumanicus, it is the form qazyan which is at the basis of the Persian borrowed forms gazgan, qazgan and (corrupt?) Jiazyan, « kettle » (cf. VÜLLERS, II, 705). During the Mongol period, the name was borne in Persia by different persons. For this particular man, the texts hesitate between Qazan and yazan (Ghazan); cf. Ha', II, 439, 464. The Armenians write « Gazan » (PATKANOV, Istoriya Mongolov, I, 57) .