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
THE CUCUMBER 30I
ably be in India; and WATT' observes, "There seems to be no doubt that one at least of the original homes of the cucumber was in North India, and its cultivation can be traced to the most ancient classic times of Asia." DE CANDOLLE2 traces the home of the plant to northwestern India. I am not yet convinced of the correctness of this theory, as the historical evidence in favor of India, as usual in such cases, is weak;3 and the cultivation of the cucumber in Egypt and among the Semites is doubtless of ancient date.' At any rate, this Cucurbitacea belongs to the Egypto-West-Asiatic culture-sphere, and is not indigenous to China. There is, however, no trace of evidence for the gratuitous speculation that its introduction is due to General Can Ktien. The theory that it was transmitted from Iranian territory is probable, but there is thus far no historical document to support it. The only trace of evidence thereof appears from the attribute Hu.
Abu Mansur mentions the cucumber under the name gittä, adding the Arabic-Persian xiyär and kawanda in the language of Khorasan.' The word xiyär has been adopted into Osmanli and d into Hindustani in the form xirä. Persian xäwu§ or xäwad denotes a cucumber kept for seed; it means literally "ox-eye" (gäv-a. ; Avestan a.i, Middle Persian a, Sanskrit aksi, "eye"), corresponding to Sanskrit gaväksi ("a kind of cucumber"). A Pahlavi word for "cucumber" is vätran, which developed into New Persian bädran, bälan, or väran (Afghan bädran).s
1 Commercial Products of India, p. 439. In Sanskrit the cucumber is trapu.ca.
2 Op. cit., p. 265.
3 Such a positive assertion as that of de Candolle, that the cucumber was cultivated in India for at least three thousand years, cannot be accepted by any serious historian.
4 V. LORET, Flore pharaonique, p. ?5; C. JORET, Plantes dans l'antiquité, Vol. I, p, 6i.
6 ACHUNDOW, Abu3Mansur, p. io6.
6 This series is said to mean also "citron." The proper Persian word for the latter fruit is turunj (Afghan turanj, Balai trunj). The origin of this word, as far as I know, has not yet been correctly explained, not even by HÛBSCHMANN (Armen. Gram., p. 266). VULLERS (Lexicon persico-latinum, Vol. I, p. 439) tentatively suggests derivation from Sanskrit suranga, which is surely impossible. The real source is presented by Sanskrit mâtulutiga (" citron," Citrus medica).
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