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0384 Sino-Iranica : vol.1
Sino-Iranica : vol.1 / Page 384 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000248
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558   SING-IRANICA

KARABACEK and HOERNLE.' Let us assume for a moment that the premises on which this speculation is based are correct: how could the Uigur, Persians, and Arabs make leagaô out of a Chinese kok-U (or dzi) ? How may we account for the vocalization â, which persists wherever the word has taken root (Hindi kâgad, Urdu kdgaz, Tamil kccgidam, Malayalam kciyitam, Kannada kägada) ?Q The Uigur and Persians, according to their phonetic system, were indeed capable of reproducing the Chinese word correctly if they so intended; in fact, Chinese loan-words in the two languages are self-evident without torturing the evidence. For myself, I am unable to see any coincidence between kok-a and kâgad. But this alleged kok-ëi, in fact, does not exist. The word ku, as written by Hirth, is known to every one as meaning "grain, cereals;" and none of our dictionaries assigns to it the significance "mulberry." It is simply a character substituted for kou 40 (anciently *ku, without a final consonant), which refers exclusively to the paper-mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera), expressed also (and this is the most common word) by eu . The Pen tstao kan mu3 gives the character ku on the same footing with eu, quoting the former from the ancient dictionary , i min,4 and adding expressly that it has the phonetic value of

, and is written also IS . The character ku, accordingly, to be read kou, is merely a graphic variant, and has nothing to do with the word ku (*kuk), meaning "cereals."

According to Li Si-ben, this word kou (*ku) originates from the language of C`u V, in which it had the significance "milk" (u L); and, as the bark of this tree contained a milk-like sap, this word was transferred to the tree. It is noteworthy in this connection that Tsai Lun, the inventor of paper in A.D. 105, was a native of C`u. The dialectic origin of the word kou shows well how we have two root-words for exactly the same species of tree. This is advisedly stated by Li Si-ben, who rejects as an error the opinion that the two words should refer to two different trees; he also repudiates expressly the view that the word kou bears any relation to the word ku in the sense of cereals or rice. According to Tao Hun-kin, the term kou ei was used by the people of the south, who, however, said also c`u ei; the latter word,

1 Journal Roy. As. Soc., 1903, p. 671.

2 According to JEWELLER (Indische Paläographie; p. 91), paper was introduced into India by the Mohammedans after the twelfth century. The alleged Sanskrit word for "paper," kâyagata, ferreted out by HOERNLE (Journal Roy. As. Soc., 1911, p. 476), rests on a misunderstanding of a Sanskrit text, as has been shown by Lieut.Col. WADDELL on the basis of the Tibetan translation of this text ((ibid., 1914,

PP. 136-137).

3 Ch. 36, p. 4.

4 See above, p. 201.