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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

etymology of the name Bakūr, and although, as will soon be seen, Faγfūr has been used as a man's
name at a late date, I am afraid that, in the present state of our knowledge, the equation of all the
Πάκορος, Pacorus, etc., to Baγpūr is hardly defendable. The case may be different, however,
with one of the names adduced by Justi. Procopius (1, 5 [DINDORF ed., p. 26]), in a passage copied
from Faustus of Byzantium (second half of the 4th cent.), calls Sapor II « Παχούριος ». Both
LAUFER (Beginnings of porcelain, 126) and FERRAND (JA, 1924, I, 243) have declared that this
Παχούριος was the earliest example known of baγpūr. On account of the earlier Parthian Pahlavī
and, above all, Sogdian examples, this is of course erroneous. But, if we remember that Faustus
of Byzantium, although of Greek origin, wrote a History of Armenia, and that Armenian bakur
has found a counterpart in the bagūr of the Syriac catena, it will appear quite plausible that
Παχούριος, used as a designation of the Sassanian king Sapor II (4th cent. A. D.), should really
be an example of the use of the title of « Son of Heaven » for one of the four (or five) Sons of Heaven
of the Chinese texts, and one who is not the Chinese Emperor.
As is well known, tribal names and foreign titles have often been employed as men's names
in Central Asia. YULE has already said (Y, II, 148) that Faγfūr seemed to be used as a man's name
in the Memoirs of Bābur, and I have no doubt that he was right (cf. A. S. BEVERIDGE's translation,
551, 687, 750); the form Mayfūr given by the Ḥaydarabād Ms. must be an erroneous reading of the
same type as maγbūr in Sulaymān (cf. supra, p. 653).
But the history of the term faγfūr is not limited to its use as a title or a man's name. The
derivative forms Pers. faγfurī > Turk. farfuru, farfuri have acquired the meaning of « porcelain »,
and as such have passed into modern Greek φάρφουρι and into all Slavic languages, beginning
with Russian farfor (cf. the various Slavic forms in BERNEKER, Slav. Etymol. Wörterbuch, I, 279;
LOKOTSCH, No. 569; LAUFER, Beginnings of porcelain, 126). BERNEKER says that in « Osmanli »
faγfur means not only the Chinese Emperor, but « a region in China, famous for its porcelain »; in
fact, « Osmanli » must be a slip for « Persian », and the definition is borrowed from VULLERS, who
quotes his native source. But it is sheer nonsense. There never was any region really called Faγfūr
in China (although a strangely worded passage of I-Ching in CHAVANNES, Les religieux éminents,
56 [but not in the corresponding text of TAKAKUSU, A Record of the Buddhist Religion, 136],
would seem to refer the corresponding name devaputra to the Chinese capital). The error of
VULLERS' source recurs, however, in Sidi 'Ali Čelebi (1554 A. D.; cf. Fe, 501) : « The best kind of
porcelain, called pāytaḫtī čīnī, is found at Šahr-i-naw and at Faγfūr. The most costly goods are
called pāytaḫtī and faγfūrī ». Šahr-i-naw was a designation of Ayuthia in Siam (cf. Hobson-
Jobson², 795), and Faγfūr is used here as a place-name. But pāytaḫtī čīnī means « porcelain
(čīnī) of the capital ». As to pāytaḫtī and faγfūrī, mentioned by Sidi 'Ali Čelebi as designations
of costly goods (not particularly of porcelain), they would seem to mean, in his text, « [goods] of the
capital » and « [goods] of Faγfūr », respectively, Faγfūr being a place-name. But I have little
doubt that this is the result of some misunderstanding. In TP, 1931, 458, I have already expressed
the view that, if faγfūrī > farfuri came to mean porcelain, it was because it was the « [porcelain]
of the faγfūr », i. e. of the Chinese Emperor. When properly understood, the two terms used by
Sidi 'Ali Čelebi are equivalent : they were pāytaḫtī, because they came from the capital, and they
were faγfūrī, because the capital was the residence of the Emperor. But faγfūrī certainly goes