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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
242 140. CHEYNAM
more probable that Polo or Rustichello wrote « Chescemir », so as to show that the name had -§- and not -s- (cf. the case of « Abasce »).
The « Ariora Chiesiemar », etc., which has been adopted in YULE, and for which STEIN'S identification with Agror has been accepted in Y, III, 22, 24, and in Pe, XLI, is an idolum libri; « ariora » is altered from « a a non », « is named » (cf. B, Lxxviii), and must be put on a level with « Anonichesiemur » and « Chiamala Chesmur » in HALLBERG, 122.
In 1076, Kâsyari mentions separately Qasmir, our Kashmir (BROCKELMANN, 247), and Käsmir, a city in the land of the Turks, built by Salomon (ibid. 245). A. HERRMANN (Die älteste türkische Weltkarte, p. 28; cf. also TP, 1936, 361-363; the identification of Käsmir with Chih-shih-mi of CHAVANNES, Doc. sur les Tou-kiue, 13, is hardly possible phonetically) has accepted the distinction, about which I am still doubtful; other writers spell indifferently Kasmir and Qasmir for our Kashmir; cf. Mi, 494.
Kashmir has been known to the Chinese from the Han times, first under the name of xi A
Chi-pin. For the T'ang period, cf. CHAVANNES, Doc. sur les Tou-kiue, 336. It is mentioned many times in the Mongol period, at first in the accounts of the campaigns in Central Asia, later on because of the influence of lamaïsm and Indian sorcery. In the Secret History, the Mongolian form of the name is Käsimir (§ 262, 270). For the Chinese texts, cf. Br, I, 137-138; n, 26; many others could be added.
For the order given in 1252 by Mongka to Sali noyan to conquer Kashmir, cf. Br, I, 138,
and see « Caraunas ». In the Secret History, completed in 1240, the name of « Käsimir» appears, strangely enough (§ 262, 270), in the list of the countries of the Caucasus, Western Siberia, and Eastern Europe which were conquered by Sübötäi. But the first Mongol inroad into Kashmir seems to be of 1241 (see « Caraunas »); moreover, Kashmir was quite out of the area of Sübötäi's activities (cf. Br, I, 305). If we could really prove the existence of the city of Käsmir in the lands of Turks mentioned by Kàsyari, this might perhaps help us out of the difficulty; in such a case, it should also be with that «Turkish» Käsmir that we ought to identify the « Cosmir » which Plan Carpine in 1246 names among the countries conquered by the Mongols (Wy, 89).
140. CHEYNAM
cheinan R cheynam Z
Z has « Cheynam », R « Cheinan »; they go back to a common source, and the original form
was very probably *Cainam, i. e. Hai-nan (still pronounced Hai-nam in the Mongol period).
The term, which means « South of the Sea », is well known as being now the name of the Island of Hai-nan; YULE (Y, II, 266), still followed by Pe, 239, was wrong in thinking that « Cheynan » (« Cheynam » < *Cainam) may represent « An-nan » (= Tonking).
We should not suppose, however, that Polo's *Cainam is derived direct from a true name of the island. Hai-nan, as applied to the island, is a vulgar, unofficial name, and the date at which
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