National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

Ch'ü-êhr-chih = Kürji, in YS, 3, anno 1252, and 谷兒只 Ku-êrh-chih = Gürji, in YS, 120, 7 a.
Both really represent Gurji, « Georgian », but the Chinese knew the name through Mongol docu-
ments, and the Uiguro-mongol writing does not distinguish between k and g. The Mongols entered
Georgia for the first time early in 1221 (cf. Br, I, 294, 299).

The name of the Georgians in Iranian was formerly Gurj, with a parallel form Gurẑ; the element
-j (-ẑ) is a suffix of origin, and the element gur- seems to be the outcome of a more ancient vr-;
cf. Mi, 421.


246. GOÇURAT

casmar, gozutrach G ghufarat TA¹ r gozurath P
chansarat, cunsurat, ghusurat gioxolat V guçurat Ft, Z
TA³ gocurat L gusurat F, L
chosurat TA¹, TA³ goçurat F, Fr, Z guzzerat, guzzerati R
coçurath, gusmara LT gonzurach VA gvfarat TA¹
gazurat FA, FB gozuar VB sezurat FAt
gesurach VL gozurat V, Z

Guzerat, Skr. Gurjara, Gurjara-rāṣṭra :> H. and Mahr. Gujarāt. Rašidu-'d-Dīn writes گجرات
Guzarāt (ELLIOT, Hist. of India, I, 67). With the usual conflict of vowels in the Polian Mss., it is
not impossible that the original form was « Guçurat » or even « Guçarat ». On the name and its
application, cf. YULE, Hobson-Jobson², 388; DAMES, Barbosa, I, 108; Fe, 705. Fra Mauro writes
« Guçirat » (not « Guzirat » or « Cvcirat » as in Zu, 42 and HALLBERG, 216-217).

Guzerat has a notice in 1225 in Chao Ju-kua, under the name 胡 茶 辣 Hu-ch'a-la, which,
if taking into account the pronunciation of the author, strictly represents *Gujarat (cf. HR, 92-93).
Chao Ju-kua, like Polo, mentions among its native products indigo and cotton.


247. GREEN HILL

grune berg G mont vert FA, FB monte verde TA¹, VA; R
mons uirdis LT monte uerde TA³, V viridis mons P
mont uers F

The spelling in F is « Mont Vers » for what, in modern French, would be « Mont Vert », the
« Green Hill » of the translation. Polo gives this name to an artificial hill in the Imperial Palace