IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
BRASSICA 381
(ganbit) and Syrian from Mosul. He further mentions Brassica rapa under the name .elgem (Arabic ..aljam).'
33. One of the synonymes of yün-t`ai Tc 4 (Brassica rapa) is his
ts'ai 4k' ("vegetable of the Hu"). According to Li Si-cen,2 this term
was first applied to this vegetable by Fu Kien JR of the second
century A.D. in his run su wen A f 3Z. If this information were correct, this would be the earliest example of the occurrence of the term Hu in connection with a cultivated plant; but this Hu does not relate to Iranians, for Hu Hia IA MI', in his Pai pin fan i A , a medical work of the Sui period (A.D. 589-618), styles the plant sai ts`ai S 5A, which, according to Li Si-den, has the same significance as his ts`ai, and
refers to Sai-wai, the Country beyond the Passes, Mongolia.
Some even believe that Yün-t`ai is a place-name in Mongolia, where this plant thrives, and that it received therefrom its name. Such localities abstracted from plant-names are usually afterthoughts and fictitious.' The term yün-t`ai occurs in the early work Pie lu.
SCHLIMMER4 mentions Brassica capitata (Persian kalam pie), B. caulozapa (kalam gomri), and B. napus or rapa (.elgem). I have already pointed out that the Persians were active in disseminating species of Brassica and Raphanus to Tibet, the Turks, and Mongolia.' Reference has been made above (p. 199) to the fact that Brassica rapa (yün-t`ai) was introduced into China from Turkish tribes of Mongolia under the Later Han dynasty, and it would be reasonable to conclude that these had previously received the cultivation from Iranians.' Brassica rapa is very generally cultivated in Persia and most parts of India during the dry season, from October until March.' Yün-t`ai is enumerated among the choice vegetables of the country 7c Mo-lu, *Mar-luk, in Arabia.'
The country of the Arabs produced the rape-turnip (man-tsin , Brassica rapa-depressa) with roots the size of a peck 4-, round, and of very sweet flavor.'
Yi Tsin, the Buddhist pilgrim of the seventh century, makes some comment on the difference between Indian and Chinese Brassica by saying,
1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 87.
2 Pen ts'ao lean mu, Ch. 26, p. 9 b. Compare p. 401.
a Terminologie, p. 93.
5 T`oung Pao, 1915, pp. 84, 87.
6 The case would then be analogous to the history of the water-melon. W. ROXBURGH, Flora Indica, p. 497.
$ T'ai yin hwan yü ki, Ch. 186, p. 16 b. 9 Ibid., Ch. 186, p. 15 b.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.