.ah-balut ("the edible chestnut," Castanea vulgaris), which appears in the Bûndahisn (above, p. 193), as correctly identified by Hirth; but ! ptu-lu and pa-/ii of the Yu yan tsa tsu (see above) would indicate that the Chinese heard bulu and balu without a final t, and such forms may have existed in Middle-Persian dialects. In fact, we have this type in the dialect of the Kurd in the form berru, and in certain Kurd dialects barü and barru.l
1 Cf. J. DE MORGAN, Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. V, p. 133. The Iranian term means literally "acorn of the Shah, royal acorn," somehow a certain analogy to Greek Acts ß6,Xavos ("acorn of Zeus"). The origin of Greek Kaur6.vacov or K6.Œravov is sought in Armenian kask (` ` chestnut") and kaskeni ("chestnut-tree"; see SCHRADER in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 402). According to the Armenian Geog_ raphy of Moses of Khorene, the tree flourished in the Old-Armenian province Duruperan (Daron) ; according to Galenus, near Sardes in Asia Minor; according to Dafld, on Cyprus; according to Abu Mansur, also in Syria; while, according to the same author, Persia imported chestnuts from Adherbeijan and Arran; according to Schlimmer, from Russia (E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 152). It is striking that the
Chinese did not see the identity of the Iranian term with their li , the common
chestnut, several varieties of which grow in China.
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