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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
125. CASVIN 215
guese texts). Strictly speaking, a kaiEr is a priest of the secular clergy. When speaking of Hang-chou, Wa§§af mentions there the non-Mussulman clergy of « priests» (kagII n) without faith and « monks » (rahbân) without religion (cf. Hat, 42; Y, II, 213). I think we have the same distinction in Polo. His « regules » (he uses the word elsewhere) are the « regular» clergy, the monks, and the « casses » must consequently be the « secular » clergy, the kaii!, the priests. But it is more difficult to say where he drew the line in Islam between « priests» and « monks ».
The only point which is more or less embarrassing is that Polo rarely uses Oriental words without stating them as such or giving their explanation (except as proper names or parts of proper names, e. g. « cingsan », « sangon »). It may be that something is missing here or elsewhere in our mss. in regard to «casses ». Moreover, I am not certain how we should inter-
pret Polo's transcription. The Arabic would be qiss, not qass, and, as a rule, Polo would
have used the Persian form kcda. But I cannot say whether we should take « casses » for *« cascis » = kara, or whether the final -s is a European plural. I myself incline rather to the first solution.
125. CASVIN
casibin R causuin L chasuin Z
casiun FB causum LT chasuni V
cassum VL chascimFA chausom TA3, VB
casum F, P chasom VA chauson TAl
The well-known city of Qazwin. Cf. BARBIER DE MEYNARD, Dict. hist. de la Perse,
441-445; LS, 218-220; Mi, 36, 132. Fra Mauro's « Chassu» (HALLBERG, 125) is probably *Chassuin > *Chassum (°um occurs in Polo's F and other mss.) > *Chassu > Chassu.
Qazwin is transcribed 7 A 5; K'o-chi-yün, Qazwin, on the Chinese map of c. 1330 and in the corresponding list of YS, 63, 16 b (cf. Br, II, 110). It is also the Isq go It A-chi-min (read K'o Rig or nj J-chi-min), between Sultaniya and Tabriz, of the Ming itinerary translated by BRETSCHNEIDER in China Review, v, 239, which he left unidentified. K'o-chi-min supposes *Qazmin, and Qazmin is the form of the name in Georgian (cf. BROSSET, Hist. de la Géorgie, I, 472, 601).
In the Times Literary Supplement of 1929, p. 946, Ross has expressed himself strongly in favour of the reading « Casum » _ *Casun, which would represent the popular pronunciation of the name of Kagan. He must have changed his view later, since in his translation of 1931 (RR, 416), he adopts « Casvin » = Qazwin. Moreover, Kagan is correctly named as « Caxan» in Z (see « Caxan »).
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