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0029 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 29 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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INTRODUCTION   203

apple" (AiRtov 'App€Vtacôv, "apricot"). RABELAIS (1483-1553)1 has already made the following just observation on this point, " Les autres [plantes] ont retenu le nom des regions des quelles furent ailleurs transportées, comme pommes medices, ce sont pommes de Medie, en laquelle furent premierement trouvées; pommes puniques, ce sont grenades, apportées de Punicie, c'est Carthage. Ligusticum, c'est livesche, apportée de Ligurie, c'est la couste de Genes: rhabarbe, du fleuve Barbare nommé Rha, comme atteste Ammianus: santonique, fenu grec; castanes, persiques, sabine; stoechas, de mes isles Hieres, antiquement dites Stoechades; spica celtica et autres." The Tibetans, as I have shown,' form many names of plants and products with Bal (Nepal), Mon (Himalayan Region), rGya (China), and Li (Khotan).

In the same manner we have numerous botanical terms preceded by "American, Indian, Turkish, Turkey, Guinea, " etc.

Aside from the general term Hu, the Chinese characterize Iranian plants also by the attribute Po-se (Parsa, Persia) : thus Po-se tsao (" Persian jujube ") serves for the designation of the date. The term Po-se requires great caution, as it denotes two different countries, Persia and a certain Malayan region. This duplicity of the name caused grave confusion among both Chinese and European scholars, so that

I was compelled to devote to this problem a special chapter in which all available sources relative to the Malayan Po-se and its products are discussed. Another tribal name that quite frequently occurs in

connection with Iranian plant-names is Si-dun   3 G ("the Western
Zun "). These tribes appear as early as the epoch of the Si kin and Su kin, and seem to be people of Hiufi-nu descent. In post-Christian times Si-iun developed into a generic term without ethnic significance, and vaguely hints at Central-Asiatic regions. Combined with botanical names, it appears to be synonymous with Hu.3 It is a matter of course that all these geographical and tribal allusions in plant-names have merely a relative, not an absolute value; that is, if the Chinese, for instance, designate a plant as Persian (Po-se) or Hu, this signifies that from their viewpoint the plant under notice hailed from Irani or in some way was associated with the activity of Iranian nations, 'but it does not mean that the plant itself or its cultivation is peculiar or due to Iranians. This may be the case or not, yet this point remains to be determined by a special investigation in each particular instance. While the Chinese, as will be seen, are better informed on the history

1 Le Gargantua et le Pantagruel, Livre III, chap. L.

2 roung Pao, 1916, pp. 409, 448, 456.

ê For examples of its occurrence consult Index.

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