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0050 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 50 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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646   220. ERGIUUL

see in « organinum » the « ital. organzino, silk used in warping » (French organsin, Engl. organzine). But it is clear that the vari organini of the said document are the same as the vai (« vairs ») called organni by Pegolotti, the latter form moreover being probably an erroneous reading of organini. Organzine is derived from the name of 'Organ)" in the Khanate of Khiva (cf. LOKOTSCH, No. 2137), and all the known forms retain the final}, rendered as -s- or -z-. Whether the same etymology can be accepted for organinus is uncertain. I may, however, point out that, as I intend to show elsewhere, Rubrouck's « Organum », always connected by commentators with the name of the queen « Organa » (thy, 226), is in fact nothing else than the very name of Ürgänj ; organinus would be a regular derivative form of Organum. On the other hand, it is not impossible that ercolin should be another form of organinus, perhaps with a contamination due to a name derived from that of Heraclea. In that case too, the « ercolin » would not be an ermine, but a kind of squirrel.

220. ERGIUUL City

argol VB arguuil V chuguuil VA

Province

arghiul, erchuil TAI arghul TA3

argul, garelli VB egiuul Fr

erghuil TAI r, TA3

erghigul LT ergighul TA3 ergigul F, TAI

erginul P; R

ergiuul F, L, VL, Z

ergonil, ergonyl G

erguiul Ft, FA, FA4, FB, Z (?)

ergul VA

erginul R

ergiuul L, VL erguiul FA, FB, Z (?)

erguuil V erguul F, VA

ergyul LT origiuul VL rigiuul L

The reading « Erginul » of BI, 442-443, and the whole commentary attached to it must be eschewed. Polo, having left Kan-chou by the main road, reached Liang-chou, and we have here simply the Central Asiatic name of this town. It appears in the Mongol text of the Secret History (§ 265) under the form Ärijä'ü (perhaps for *ÄrJi'ü), and with the Chinese equivalent;r,ÿß, Hsi-Liang, i. e. modern Liang-chou (cf. also TP, 1931-1932, 480).

The name has survived. In the itinerary included in the Ming Sino-Turkish Vocabulary of the School of Oriental Studies (« Kô Kwô Yï Yü »), the native name of Liang-chou is transcribed

FQ - Ê-êrh-chiao (*Ärjäu; j = dz), and it certainly is the « Arso » of WITSEN, Nord en Oost Tart. I [1785], 277. It continued to be known until the present day; on the Russian « 40 verst » map of Central Asia, « Er-ceu » is still given as an alternative name of Liang-chou. In Sergeio Fëdorovic5, Ol'denburgy... sbornik state i (Leningrad, 1934, 8°, 185-194), LAMCARANO has published a Mongolian document of A.D. 1725 (« 1752 » p. 189 is a misprint) where « Ersu » (Ärsu) occurs alongside « Hamju » (see « Campçio ») and « Cug)i» (see « Succiu »); there is no doubt (despite