IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
INTRODIICTION 20I
In hu tsiao ("pepper") the attribute hu distinctly refers to India.' Another example in which hu alludes to India is presented by the term hu kan kian 4i X N (" dried ginger of the Hu "), which is a
synonyme of T `ien-ëu 3C kan kian ("dried ginger of India"), "pro-
duced in the country of the Brahmans. "Z
In the term hu fen M (a cosmetic or facial powder of white lead),
the element hu bears no relation to the Hu, although it is mentioned as a product of Ku6a3 and subsequently as one of the city of Ili (Yi-lipa-li).4 In fact, there is no Chinese tradition to the effect that this substance ever came from the Hu.' F. P. SMITH° observed with reference to this subject, "The word hu does not denote that the substance was formerly obtained from some foreign source, but is the result of a mistaken character." This evidently refers to the definition of the dictionary Si min fl Z by Liu Hi of the Han, who explains this hu by t,,: hu (" gruel, congee "), which is mixed with grease to be rubbed into the face. The process of making this powder from lead is a thoroughly Chinese affair.
In the term hu yen r 12 ("salt of the Hu ") the word Hu refers to barbarous, chiefly Tibetan, tribes bordering on China in the west; for
there are also the synonymes dun 9- , yen and kian yen, the former
already occurring in the Pie lu. Su Kura of the seventh century equalizes the terms dun yen and hu yen, and gives t`u-ten li yen as the word used in a-coup 311. Ta Min :k HA, who wrote in A.D. 97o, says that this is the salt consumed by the Tibetans (Si-fan), and hence receives the designation dun or kian yen. Other texts, however, seem to make a distinction between hu yen and gun yen: thus it is said in the biography of Li Hiao-pot -* TLI in the Wei ku, "The salt of the Hu cures pain of the eye, the salt of the Zufi heals ulcers."
The preceding examples are sufficient to illustrate the fact that the element hu in botanical terms demands caution, and that each case must be judged on its own merits. No hard and fast rule, as deduced by Bretschneider, can be laid down: the mere addition of hu proves neither that a plant is foreign, nor that it is West-Asiatic or Iranian. There are native plants equipped with this attribute, and there are foreign plants thus characterized, which hail from Korea, India, or
1 See below, p. 374.
2 Gen lei pen ts'ao, Ch. 6, p. 67 b.
3 Cou SU Ch. 5o, p. 5; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 5 b.
4 Ta Min i run ti, Ch. 89, p. 22; Kwan yü ki, Ch. 24, p. 6 b.
6 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 8, p. 6; GEERTS (Produits, pp. 596-601), whose translation "poudre des pays barbares" is out of place.
Contributions towards the Materia Medica of China, p. 231.
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