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Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

of Persia, knows the city of « Spahan »; Schiltberger writes « Hispahan » (cf. HALLBERG, 266-267).
In view of R's « Spaan », one might think that Fra Mauro owed his « Spahan » to the prototype
of Z; but since « Spahen » occurs in Hethum (Hist. des Crois., Arm., II, 127, 266), and since both
Hethum and Fra Mauro mention here the Phison, it is more probable that Fra Mauro is indebted
to Hethum in the present case.
The « Isfaan » adopted in RR, 424, and B¹, 444, is an arbitrary correction introduced from Y,
I, 85, into B, 25; but not a single Western source then shows the form in -f-, which, moreover,
even in Arabic, is not always used by mediaeval Oriental writers; cf. the notice اصبهان Iṣpahān
(Iṣbahān) of Ya'qūt in BARBIER DE MEYNARD, Dict. hist. 40-48; LS, 202-207; Mi, 131; the Persian
form, which is the one we should expect in Polo, is Ispahān.
In 1225, Chao Ju-kua writes 牙 四 包 關 Ya-ssŭ-pao-hsien (read Ya-ssŭ-pa[巴]-hsien) and
Ya-pa[巴]-hsien (read Ya-ssŭ-pa-hsien), which, in the dialect of his transcriptions, must represent
*Aspahan (HR, 116, 121, 202); this is in agreement, for the initial a-, with the pronunciation
Aṣpahān also indicated by Ya'qūt, who even gives it as the most popular in his time.
The case of the city called 伊 思 八 剌 納 I-ssŭ-pa-la-na, cited for 1229 A. D. in Br, II, 113,
from YS, 2, 1 a, is not so certain, but the probability is that it also represents Ispahān, in a corrupt
form. The Chinese map of circa 1330 and the corresponding list in YS, 63, 16 b, mention 亦 思
法 杭 I-ssŭ-fa-hang, *Isfahang (= Isfahān), which renders the Arabic form (for final -ng, due to
the nasalization of the last -ā-, cf. « Caxan », « Badascian »). From 1416 to 1438, the name appears
several times in the form 亦 思 弗 罕 I-ssŭ-fu-han, *Isfuhan, which again renders the Arabic
pronunciation (cf. Ming shih, 332, 9 a; China Review, v, 170; Br, II, 291). But I-ssŭ-pu-han
also occurs once, c. 1400 (Br, II, 145), and I-ssŭ-pa[拔]-han in Ming shih, 332, 9 a, for 1431.

261. IUGURISTAN

jvguristam Z

« Icoguristam » in the Milan copy is an error of the copyist who read -v- as -co-.
The name of the country is regularly, in Persian, اويغورستان Ūïyuristān, « Country of the
Uïyur » (cf. Bl, II, 85, 86), and the name of the people is spelt اويغور Uïyur in 1076 by Kāšyarī, and
later اويغور Ūïyūr by Juwaīnī and by Rašīdu-'d-Dīn; all these forms agree with the original Turkish
name, Uïyur, occurring in Turkish « runic » inscriptions of the 8th-9th cents.
But, already in the 11th or in the early 12th cent., we find in Arabic a form يغور Yuγur
(cf. MINORSKY, in Comptes rendus de l'Ac. des Inscr., 1937, 320), which is also represented in
Syriac by the ethnic Yugūrayē (cf. ABBELOOS and LAMY, Gregorii Barhebraei Chronicon Ecclesiast.,
III, 451-452). This metathetic form is the one used by Polo; in the same way, Rubrouck always
writes « Iugures » (Wy, 227, etc.), and Hethum uses « Iougour » or « Iogur » (Hist. des Crois., Arm.,