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

303. NONE

non (?) F none F(?), FA, FB

According to Polo, this is the title, equivalent to « count », of the man who governed the small
Mussulman province of « Vocan », in the name of the Lord of Badaḫšān. I think I am responsible
for the equivalence noyan given in RR, 428, which has been reproduced without comment by
LENTZ, ZDMG, 1932, 31. Noyan, for which a none too certain Chinese etymology has been pro-
posed, is a Mongolian title used for high dignitaries, and appears frequently in Rašīdu-'d-Dīn; the
modern Mongol pronunciation is noïn. I still think that « none » may be noyan; but I must remark
that Polo's text is not very satisfactory here and may be corrupt, and also that we have no outside
information as to the use of any Mongol title in the region of Badaḫšān, itself not Mongolian. Never-
theless, I have quoted (under « Badascian ») a text showing that, in 1276, Qubilai could send people
to work at the mines in Badaḫšān, and it may be that the Mongols had appointed representatives
in that country, although the native sovereign of Badaḫšān kept his position. I know of no case
in which the Mongol title of noyan has been given to anybody who was not a Mongol.
The Kushan « nana » of Y, I, 173, is a misreading, and his Tibetan « nono » is almost out of the
question (cf. BARTHOLD in Minaev, 67).


304. NOROECH

noruechia L¹ orbeche TA¹ oroech F
nouerchia L orecha Z

« Oroech » of F would seem confirmed by « Orecha » of Z, and that would justify YULE's hesita-
tion between Norway and Wareg (Y, II, 489). But I do not doubt that Norway is correct, and that
« enoroech » of F stands for « ẽ noroech ». We find an almost identical name in the French letter of
John and James Vassal of 1276 which I have quoted under « Bargu », where mention is made of
gerfalcons to be bought in « Noroaigue »; the doubts of the editors as to the identification of this
« Noroaigue » cannot be sustained. But the drop of initial n- in Polo's text must have occurred in
the archetype of all our Mss. except L, where « Noruechia », is remarkably accurate.


305. NUBIE

anabat V nubie F, FA oesie FB
nubia L, TA¹, Z; R

It may be doubted whether Polo had any clear ideas about Nubia, and whether he distinguished
it from Ethiopia, of which he only speaks from hearsay under the Arabic name of «Abasce». The
Chaldaean breviary attributes to Saint Thomas the conversion of the Chinese and Ethiopians (Y,