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267. KESMACORAN   759

267. KESMACORAN ( < *KESMOCORAN)

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besmaceran VL

cemascherini VB

chasmarcha, chesmarcha TM

chesmacora,chesmanchora TAl

chesmacoran R

ckesmacoran Z

esmacoran Fr

kernacoran Lr

kesmacora F, L, Z kesmacoran F, Ft, L, Z kesmucoran F

quesinaturan FA, FM quesinetoran, quesmaturan FA quesmacuram FAt, FB quesmecoram FB

resinacorar, resinatorar G resmachoinan, resmocholan,

rismachoran V resmachoram, resmoram,

rischomorchoram VA resmacoram P

resmagoram LT

This has long been recognized as a joint name of the principal town and of its province, the town being 1 Ka and the province 3I Mukrân. Although Polo provides the earliest example, the joint name was used shortly after him by Ibn-Ballnlah, and afterwards by many others (cf. Y, II, 402).

The name of the province is often read Makrän or Mekrän, but Ya'qût and Abû-'l-Fidä vocalize Mukrân (or Mokrän; cf. BARBIER DE MEYNARD, Dict. hist. 538; REINAUD, Géogr. d'Aboulféda, II, II, 111), and this reading is confirmed by the Chinese transcriptions which will be quoted below. The town which was associated with the province at an early date is ;.; Tiz (cf. Fe, 67), but Ya'qut already mentions Kéz as the principal city of Mukrân, at five days' journey from Tiz, which is the principal port; Ya'qut adds that some write Jiz and KeJ instead of Kéz (BARBIER DE MEYNARD, ibid., 499); this seems to point to an original *Ge .

In 1225, Chao Ju-kua wrote   flt.   Mu-chü-lan (HR, 122, 224), which supposes *Mukurän.

The Chinese map of the early 15th cent. gives, side by side, the two place-names of s   K'o-shih,
*Ka (= Kéz), and 7fc A Nß Mu-k'o-lang, *Mukäräng, = *Mukärän (with -a- nasalized; see « Badascian »). These pronunciations, which represent the name of the province as read in three syllables, agree with Polo's spelling.

Most Mss. support « Kesmacoran », but the full agreement of Arabic and Chinese transcriptions shows that the mediaeval pronunciation of the name of the province which is represented here by the second half of the word began with mu- or mo-, not with ma-. In one case (although B1, 203, has read otherwise), F has « Kesmucoran », and the « Quesinetoran » of FA (also in one case) is more easy to explain by starting from « Kesmocoran » than from « Kesmacoran ». Moreover, the mo- is indirectly confirmed by the Catalan and Medici maps dependent here on Polo. The Medici Map gives two names « Chechi » and « Nocran », which are « Chesimo » and « Nocran » on the Catalan Map (cf. HALLBERG, 138, 347, 378; Y1, I, 309). It seems evident that « Nocran » is for « Mocran » (*« Chechmocran » > « Chechinocran » ?), and that « Kesimo » represents a wrong division of

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