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0251 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 251 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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Yen-chou instead of the *lu* of Chien-tê just as he uses the common Su-chou instead of the *lu* of
P'ing-chiang; in both cases, it is the common form which has survived until now.

I have said Polo uses the common Yen-chou, because I have no doubt that this is the origin
of the delusive « Tanpigiu ». The word *yen* in Yen-chou began even in the 13th cent. with a real
nasal guttural (*ng-*, *ṅ-*), and the final was still *-m*; Polo's transcription ought therefore to have been
« *Camgiu ». But we have here an exact parallel to Kan-chou, which ought to be « *Camgiu »,
though it appears in Polo's Mss. under the forms « Canpicion », etc. (see « Campçio »), the *p*, and
afterwards the following *i*, having developed under the influence of the final *-m* of *yen* (*ngâm*) and
*kan* (*kam*) respectively. I hold the equivalence of Yen-chou and « Campigiu » for certain, and
think that Polo simply spoke of « *Camgiu », which was altered to *Campgiu > Canpigiu > Tan-
pigiu by the copyists.

**354. TAURIS**

*coriss, toruis* VB *tauriz* FB *toris* F, Fr, *t*, L, TA¹, TA², V, VA
*taoris* V(cor.) *thauris* Z; R *totis* VL
*tauris* FA; R *thaurisium* P; G *touris* F
*taurisium* Pr *thoris* FB, LT, Z *turis* VA
*tauritium* LT

In Persian تبریز Tabrīz (the Arabic vocalization Tibrīz of B. DE MEYNARD, *Dict. hist.*, 132, is
not supported by any foreign transcription, mediaeval or modern, except as a not very good notation *e*
of *â* in Tabrīz), but the mediaeval pronunciation was certainly Taurīz or Tōrīz, and Taurīz is the
form of Abū-'l Fidā (in spite of the use of *u* as *u* or *v*, Tavris in *Pa*, 59, is a wrong restoration).
Tabrīz, the capital of the *ilkhan* before the foundation of Sultāniyah, was well known in Latin
countries, and Polo has used the form then usual among Western traders and travellers; his Mss.
and the form he uses for the name of the inhabitants (cf. « Taurisin ») make Tauris more probable
than Toris adopted in *RR*, 437, and *B*¹, 448.

The Latin form is Thaurisium in Ricold and in Monte-Corvino, Taurisium in Hethum (var.
Torisium) and in Jourdain Cathala; Torisium in BRĂTIANU, *Actes des notaires génois*, 257, 287. In
French, HETHUM has only Toris (*Hist. des Crois.*, Arm., II, 118, 215, and cf. 268). Odoric writes
Thoris; the Catalan Map, Tauris and Tauriz; the Bianco Map, Toris; the Genoese Map, Taurix
(*x* in value of *z*); Pegolotti, Torissi and Torizi; Fra Mauro, Thauris; Schiltberger, Thaures; Clavijo,
Tauris and (by a misreading?) Turis (never Tabreez as in HALLBERG). Cf. HALLBERG, 518-523;
GOLUBOVICH, *Bibl. bio-bibl.*, II, 528.

A letter from Aryûn to the Pope, dated 1285 and preserved in a bad Latin translation, was
written in Toris (corrupted into Coris); cf. CHABOT, *Hist. de Mar Jabalaha III*, 190, 193. The
Armenian form is Tavrêž (cf. *Br*, I, 171; PATKANOV, *Istoriya Mongolov*, II, 84).

Tabrīz does not appear in Chinese texts at an early date. Chao Ju-kua does not mention it