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Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
177. COMO
403
175. COMANIE chomania TA'
comanie F cumania Z, L
The land of the Comans (see « Comain »). It represents the plains of southern Russia, including a portion of western Siberia, but the extent of « Comania » varies in the accounts of the different travellers.
176. COMARI
camari Z in chomacci TA' chomacri TAs chomain, comain V chomari VA
chomate Sr
chomati, comati VL
comam VB
coman G
comari F, Fr, t, P, Z, VA, L
comary FA, FB comate S cormari, cormary FA cumari R quomari Z
Cape Comorin and the surrounding region. The name comes from Skr. Kumâri, « the Virgin », and occurs already in Ptolemy. The Arabic form, at least since the 13th cent., has been sj4j Kumhari, the origin of the -h- remaining obscure. Cf. Y, II, 382-383; YULE, Hobson-Jobson2, s. v. «Comorin »; Fe, 698; DAMES, Barbosa, II, 102-103. Here as in a few other cases, Polo gives the height of the North Star in « goues », that is to say in « cubits » (see « Goue »); this is surprising, as the then current practice among Mussulman sailors on the Indian Ocean (reflected in Chinese portulans of the 15th cent.) was to count in isba or « digits »; cf. FERRAND, Instr. nautiques, III, 157. Fra Mauro writes « Chomari » (Zu, 42; HALLBERG, 143).
177. COMO (< •COINE)
chemo S chomo VA cogno R | come FA, FB [comesauastcaserie FB] como F, L (L, lecomo) | goino LT gomo P, Pb |
This is Qonyà, « Konieh » of our maps, the ancient Iconium. B1, 20, writes « Conia », and says that, in Rustichello's French, the final -o has almost the value of a final mute -e. I must say I doubt it, as I believe the -o to be an early corruption of -e. The corruption already occurred in the source of the Catalan Map, which gives « Cunnyo » (BucxoN, in Not. et Extr. XIV, II, 100). On the other hand, R's a Cogno n (< •Coyno; again a Cogno n in R's Dichiaratione, 13 b) and LT's
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