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0255 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 255 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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THE BALM OF GILEAD

47. The Yu yan tsa tsu' has the following notice of an exotic plant

referred exclusively to Syria: "The plant f1 J   a-p`o-ts`an (*a-bwut-
sam) has its habitat in the country Fu-lin (Syria) . The tree is over ten feet high. Its bark is green and white in color. The blossoms are fine NO, two being opposite each other (biflorate) . The flowers resemble

those of the rape-turnip, man-tsin   ri (Brassica rapa-depressa),
being uniformly yellow. The seeds resemble those of the pepper-plant, hu-tsiao tiffi 0( (Piper nigrum) . By chopping the branches, one obtains a juice like oil, that is employed as an ointment, serving as a remedy for ringworm, and is useful for any disease. This oil is held in very high esteem, and its price equals its weight in gold."

As indicated in the Pen ts'ao kan mu .i 1,2 the notice of the plant a-p`o-san has been adopted by two works,— the e'en fu t`un hwi

IA 6, which simply notes that it grows in Fu-lin; and the Hwa i hwa mu k`ao A t 7K 4 (" Investigations into the Botany of China and Foreign Countries"), which has copied the account of the Yu yan tsa tsu without acknowledgment. Neither of these books gives any additional information, and the account of the Yu yan tsa tsu remains the only one that we possess.

The transcription *a-bwut(bwur)-sam, which is very exact, leads to Aramaic and Talmudic afursama riC1377" 3 (Greek ßécX vaµov, Arabic balessân), the balm of Gilead (Amyris gileadensis, Balsamodendron giliadense, or Commiphora opobalsamum, family Burseraceae) of ancient fame. This case splendidly corroborates Hirth's opinion that the language of Fu-lin (or rather one of the languages of Fu-lin) was Aramaic. The last two characters p`o-ts`an (*bwut-sam) could very well transcribe Greek balsam; but the element PI excludes Greek and any other language in which this word is found, and admits no other than Aramaic. In Syriac we have apursdma and purseimâ (pursmei), hence Armenian aprsam or aprasam.4 In Neo-Hebrew, afobalsmôn or

1 Ch. 18, p. 12.

2 Ch. 4, p. 15.

3I. LOEW, Aramaeische Pflanzennamen, p. 73. Also afarsma and afarsmôn (J. BUXTORF, Lexicon chaldaicum, p. Io9; J. LEVY, Neuhebr. Wörterbuch, Vol. I, p. 151). Cf. S. KRAUSS, Talmudische Archâologie, Vol. I, pp. 234-236.

4 HÜBSCHMANN, Armenische Grammatik, p. 107. I do not believe in the Persian origin of this word, as tentatively proposed by this author.

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