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0219 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 219 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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321. QUESITAN   815

nications between Fu-chou on the one hand and Chiang-hsi province and Hang-chou on the other, cf. Yung-lo ta-tien, 19423, 22-26, and 19426, 10 a. The notation of ning by lin has been put to the account of the local dialect (cf. B1, 440), but it is of fairly common occurrence in many parts of China; most Hunanese pronounce 1- for n-, and the Hsi-ning (Si-ning) of Western China has become Silin and Siting in Central Asian speech (see « Silingiu »). On « Quenlinfu », cf. Y, H, 228; Ch, III, 105; the « Kelinfu » adopted by YULE is not a correct reading.

321. QUESITAN

casitan, quiecitari R chisitani VL chontani, quasitan V ispini VA

gitan, quescitan TA1 quecitain F, L quesitam F, FAt, VA quesitan FA, FB, L

quesitani P

quesitarie, quitaiti TA3 questiaus FA

quiata, quiesitan LT

Sic in FA, FB; the « Quesitam » of F is probably due to a copyist's wrong reading of a form *quesitâ. Pe, 199, still keeps the wrong correction « quesican » (given in B, 78, 84). I published the true explanation in TP, 1930, 27-29; and RR, 424, and B', 452, are correct. Polo's « Quesitan » (for *Quesictan misread as *Quesittan > Quesitan?) represents the regular plural form käsiktän of the singular käiktü and kä. iktäi; the three forms occur in Chinese transcriptions; kaiktü and käsiktiii are the regular adjectives derived from kci.'ik, « watch », and mean « those who have to do the watch ». The turns of watch of the four käsik are more or less imitated from the turns of watch which existed already under the T'ang for the four 3T wei, or divisions of the Imperial

guard. [For the four käsik (t 6+- ch'ieh-hsieh) in command of the käsiktäi eft   ch'ieh-
hsieh-tai) in the days of Cinghis, and for their turns of duty, see YS, 99, 1 a-b; and for the relief of the four käsik suffering from famine on April 13, 1339, YS, 40, 2 b. A.C.M.]. Rasidu-'d-Din writes käzik and käziktändn (-an is the Persian plural), but also sometimes käsik. I could add much to my note of 1930, but it is not the place to write a monograph on the käsiktän. I want only to call attention to the fact that Kâsyari (ed. BROCKELMANN, 106, 107), in 1073 or 1076, distinguishes in Turkish between käzik, « turn » and « [recurrent] fever » (secondary meaning of käzik, « turn »), and käsik, « watch-station »; this will have to be taken into consideration when studying again the relation of Mongol käsik to Turkish käzik. Odoric's « çuthe » or « zuche » cannot easily be reconciled palaeographically with käsik, in spite of Y', li, 229 (where the last line of n. 6 must be suppressed), followed by Icy, 475; see also « Cuiuci ».