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0087 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.3
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.3 / Page 87 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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INDEX   73

In the later terms to-lo jung, to-to-ni, to-lo-lien, to-lo is probably due to a later confusion with tou-lo, but it has nothing to do with the old term to-lo which represents Skr. tala.

A provisional conclusion is that to-lo-ni is an adaptation in Mandarin of a local term used in Amoy and Chang-chou. To-to-ni, to-lo-lien and the later terms formed with ni are interesting vestiges of the time when most of the foreign trade of China was carried on at Amoy and Chang-chou.

See p. 430433.

COTTON. YÜEH-NO : the simplest solution would be to regard yüeh-no as representing some Prâkrit form of Skr. varnakci, known as the designation of a textile; but it cannot be said what sort of fabric was known under the trade name of yüeh-no.

See p. 483-484.

cotton paper » : it has been established that cotton never entered in the fabrication of any mediaeval paper.

See COTTON, p. 428.

cottone : cannot be traced in Rubrouck, but only once cotone, as a Latin ablative.

See COTTON, p. 436.

cottonum : occurs, occasionally, in Western texts from the end of the 13th cent.

See COTTON, p. 426.

coturnice : (Itai.), « quail », it is Polo's « quatornis ».

See CATORS, p. 230.

  • coturnices » : (Z), « quatornis » in F.

See CATORS, p. 230.

coturnix . (Lat.), « quail », it is Polo's « quatornis ». See CATORS, p. 230.

  • Coulam » : for « Coilum » in R. See COILUM, p. 399.

  • Coulam » : Barbosa wrote that and not « Coilam ».

See COILUM, p. 401.

« *Coulom» : (or « *Coiiom ») perhaps in the original French text.

See COILUM, p. 399. COWRIES.

Polo speaks of cowries, Cypraea

moneta, as « porcelains ».

Our word « cowry » comes from Hind. kauTi and ultimately goes back to Skr. kaparda.

The true Arabic name of the cowry is wad'ah, or wada'i t. The earliest mention of a shell currency comes from China. Chinese classics do not throw much light on the problem of the cowry.

If we except Wang Mang's attempt at a revival of the

ancient practice, the cowry currency had fallen into disuse in the 3rd cent. B.C.

Tzü pei, an ancient term, refers since the 5th cent. to the

Cyproea macula; the designa-

tions of the true cowry are pei-ch'ih, pei-tzû, pei-chu. A

cowry currency is attested in

Yün-nan in the Mongol period; from that date, there are new

names of the cowry : pa, patzû, hai-pa, hai-pei, lo-pei, to pa. The use of cowries in Yün-nan continued in the Ming dynasty.

The so was a count of 80 cowries; the sa of Ming times may represent Lolo sa, itself borrowed from Ch. so.

The cowries reached Yün-nan from the Indian Ocean through

Siam; the Siamese name of

the cowry is bid (Malay biya). The main centre of production

of the cowries was the Maldives.

Chinese texts mention a cowry currency in Bengal. Skr. mâsaka,

or mâ> a (> our « mace ») is worth 80 cowries. Skr. kiir>câpana has two values, of 1280 and 1600 cowries.

The scale of value of the cowries in Yun-nan during the Middle Ages, based on 4,16 (4 x 4) and 80 (16 x 5), is connected with India, and not with the usual decimal scale of China.

See p. 531-563.

  • cowry » : it must be borrowed from Hindi kauTi. See PORCELAIN, p. 806.

  • coya » : for « Coja », in Marignolli. See COJA, p. 402.

  • Coyne » : occurs in Joinville. See COMO ( < *COINE), p. 404.

*Coyno : > R's « Coyno », for Qonya, « Konieh ».

See COMO ( <*COINE), p. 403. cramoisi : French, the same word as Polo's « cremosi »; goes back to Ar. qirmizi.

See CREMOSI, p. 564. cramoisi : its first occurence in French is dated in 1315.

See CREMOSI, p. 565.

cramoisy : Engi. < French cramoisi. See CREMOSI, p. 564.

cramosin : Old French, the same word as Polo's « cremosi »; goes back to Ar. qirmizi.

See CREMOSI, p. 564. Cremam : this is Kirman.

See CURMOS, p. 578.

« Creman » : on the Catalan Map, it is due to a misreading of Kerman.

See CHERMAN, p. 241.

« cremixi » : in the Codex Curnanicus, name of a colour listed between virmilium, « red » and « bachami », « reddish ».

See CREMOISI, p. 565. CREMOSI.

Polo uses this word only once, as the name of a costly textile woven in Bagdad. It is the same word as Fr. cramoisi, cramosin, carmin, which go back to Ar. qirmizi, and adj. form of qirmiz, « kermes ». All agree that qirmiz is not a true semitic word and must be traced ultimately to Skr. k>mi-, Pers. kirm, old Slav é'rm'. « cremosi » was first a color and later became the name of a textile, probably red.

See p. 564-565.

« Cremosor » : this is a clerical error for « Curmos » or « Cormos ». See CURMOS, p. 576.

Crimea.

See BERCA, p. 94.

crimosin : (> crimson) Engi. < Old French cramosin.

See CREMOSI, p. 564. crimson : Engi. < crimosin.

See CREMOSI, p. 564. Crusaders.

See ACRE, p. 12.

CUBLAI.

The true Mongolian form of the name is « Qubilai »; the name is written Hu-pi-lieh in Chinese.

6.