National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2 |
870 376. VANCHU
by Rasidu-'d-Din in his notice of the tribe. In the Secret History of the Mongols, a whole paragraph (§ 64), put in the mouth of Chinghiz-khan's future father-in-law and addressed to Chinghizkhan's father, extolls in rhythmic form the qualities of the Onggirat girls : « ...In our Onggirat people, since the days of old and beyond contention, our daughters' sons are well-built and our daughters have beauty. Our daughters with fine cheeks, for those of you who become qaan, we make them ascend a Qasaq chariot, to which we harness a black camel... » Later, in the tradition of the Cayatai empire, the high rank of the Qonyrat superseded their reputation for beauty, and the name of their clan is often coupled with that of Chinghiz-khan's own, the Qïyat clan (cf. RADLOV, Dict., u, 523; TP, 1930, 266). A Turkish verse, misunderstood in RADLOV, it, 856, says : « What I wish is beauty; what the shah wishes is merit and race. For me, the Tzigane and Hindu girls; for the shah, the Qonyrat and Qïyat. »
VANCHU vanchu R
It has long been supposed that this was a transcription of I Wang Chu, the name of the
leader of the plot against Alimad (see « Acmatl »); Bl, 449, still transcribes « Vanciu », and gives Wang Chu as its original. He ought not to have disregarded MOULE's paper in JNCB, 1927, 26-28. MOULE justly remarks that, in the «Vanchu » of R (the only source), ch- before u must sound k (see the same in « Cenchu »), and the « name » must be simply a transcription of the title ii% wan-hu, « myriarch ». Polo says positively that « Vanchu » was « master of ten thousand ». Although Polo mixes up the part played by the different conspirators, he does so to a less extent than Ragidu-'d-Din.
uenece, uenisse F uenese F, Ft uenesia VL uenetie LT uenexia VB | ueniesia VL ueniexia V, VA uinegia TA3 venecie L, P, Z venedie, venedige G | venes 0 venetia VL; R venise FB, 0 venisse FA vinegia TA' |
Venice. « Ve redaction, with -s-
seems to be the most probable form of Rustichello's original French
pronounced -s- and not -z-.
nese
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