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0342 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 342 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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516   SING-IRANICA

character pin has been formed ad hoc, and, as already remarked by Mayers, is written also without the classifier; that is, in a purely phonetic way.

86. g   se-se, *sit-sit (Japanese .itsu-§itsu), hypothetical restora-
tion *sirsir, a precious stone of Sasanian Persia, which I have discussed at some length in my " Notes on Turquois in the East " (pp. 25-35, 45-55,67-68). For this reason only a brief summary is here given, with some additional information and corrections. I no longer believe that se-se might be connected with Shignan (p. 47) or Arabic jaza (p. 52), but am now convinced that se-se represents the transcription of an Iranian (most probably Sogdian) word, the original of which, however, has not yet been traced. Chinese records leave us in the dark as to the character of the Iranian se-se. It is simply enumerated in a list of precious stones of Persia and Sogdiana (K`an) .1 The Tang Annals locate the se-se mines to the south-east of the Yaxartes in Sogdiana;2 and the stones were traded to China by way of Khotan.3 Possibly the Nestorians were active in bringing to China these stones which were utilized for the decoration of their churches. The same history ascribes columns of se-se to the palaces of Fu-lin (Syria) ;4 in this case the question is of a building-stone. In ancient Tibet, se-se formed part of the official costume,

being worn by officials of the highest rank in strings suspended from   ï
the shoulder. The materials ranking next to this stone were gold, plated silver, silver, and copper,5— a clear index of the fact that se-se was regarded in Tibet as a precious stone of great value, and surpassing gold. The Tibetan women used to wear beads of this stone in their tresses, and a single bead is said to have represented the equivalent of

a noble horse.' Hence arose the term ma kia cu   (" pearl or bead
equalling a horse in price ") . These beads are treated in the Ko ku yao lun7 as a separate item, and distinct from turquois.8 In the Tang period, se-se stones were also used as ornaments by the

.K .t

1 Pei Si, Ch. 97, pp. 7 b, 12; eou su, Ch. 5o, p. 6; Sui su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b; Wei su,

Ch. 102, pp. 5 a, 9 b.   '4

2 raft su, Ch. 221 B, p. 2 b.

3 ran. su, Ch. 221 A, p. 10 b.   .k.,

4 Kiu Tan su, Ch. 198, p. 11 b; rait su, Ch. 221 B, p. 7 b.

5 rail su, Ch. 216 A, p. 1 b (not in Kiu rait su).   40

6 Sin Wu Tai Si, Ch. 74, p. 4 b.   k,

7 Ch. 6, p. 5 b.   ill

8 As justly said by GEERTS (Produits de la nature japonaise et chinoise, p. 481),   ∎tii

it is possible that ma kia cu (Japanese bakasu) is merely a synonyme of the emerald.   411

Also in the Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 8, p. 17 b) a distinction is made between the two

articles, tien-tse   J. being characterized as pi   , ma kia cu as ts`ui M.   $1

4