398 SING-IRANICA
or Palakal as the name of a country, which has evidently resulted in the assertion of Buddhist monks that the spinach must come from a country Palinga. The Nepalese, accordingly, applied a word relative to a native plant to the newly-introduced spinach, and, together with the product, handed this word on to China. The Tibetans never became acquainted with the plant; the word spo ts`od, given in the Polyglot Dictionary,2 is artificially modelled after the Chinese term, spo (pronounced po) transcribing Chinese po, and ts'od meaning "vegetable."
Due regard being paid to all facts botanical and historical, we are compelled to admit that the spinach was introduced into Nepal from some Iranian region, and thence transmitted to China in A.D. 647. It must further be admitted that the Chinese designation "Persian vegetable," despite its comparatively recent date, cannot be wholly fictitious, but has some foundation in fact. Either in the Yüan or in the Ming period (more probably in the former) the Chinese seem to have learned the fact that Persia is the land of the spinach. I trust that a text to this effect will be discovered in the future. All available historical data point to the conclusion that the Persian cultivation can be but of comparatively recent origin, and is not older than the sixth century or so. The Chinese notice referring it to the seventh century is the oldest in existence. Then follow the Nabathan Book of Agriculture of the tenth century and the Arabic introduction into Spain during the eleventh.
1 The latter form is noted in the catalogue of the Mahamayari, edited by S. Ltvi (Journal asiatique, 1915, I, 2. 42).
2 Ch. 27, P. 19 b.
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