126 Beginnings of Porcelain 



meaning "small shells" or "glass beads." 1 The conjecture is therefore 

 admissible, that Greek morrion (aside from its Greek ending) is an 

 Iranian loan-word, and that the Iranian prototype had the significance 

 "glass paste, glaze." 2 



The earliest author to speak of murrine vessels is the poet Propertius 

 (born about 49 B.C.), in one of his elegies (IV, 5, 26), in which a pro- 

 curess tries to allure an inexperienced lass by promising her all the 

 wealth of the Orient, like purple robes, dresses from Cos, urns from 

 Thebas in upper Egypt, and murrine goblets baked in Parthian fur- 

 naces, — 



Seu quae palmiferae mittunt venalia Thebae 

 murreaque in Parthis pocula cocta focis. 



The most biased adherents of the mineralogical hypothesis were obliged 

 to concede that mineral vessels could not be understood in this pas- 

 sage: no one would be likely to say regarding a mineral that it is cooked 

 or baked. Nor is it necessary to press the verb coquere into a forced 



1 The Persian word mind signifies "enamel" and "glass, glass bead, goblet." 

 It is very probably connected with Young- Avestan minav, "necklace, ornament" 

 (Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterbuch, col. 1 186). The Persian morl ("glass 

 bead") is found also in the language of the Abdal or Tabarji in northern Syria 

 (A. von Le Coq, Baessler-Archiv, Vol. II, 1912, p. 234). 



2 Also the Russian designation for Chinese porcelain, farfor, is derived from 

 Iranian. In the allied Slavic languages we have Ruthenian faifurka, Bulgarian 

 farfor and farforiya, Polish farfura (in dialects faifura; farfurka, farforka, and faforka 

 with the meaning "vessel, plate of stoneware"). The same word is found in Neo- 

 Greek as farfuri (<£ap<£oi>pi) and in the same form in Osmanli (in other Turkish 

 dialects, farfuru: W. Radloff, Worterbuch der Turk-Dialecte, Vol. IV, col. 1914). 

 The Russian lexicographer Dal is unable to account for the Russian word, and 

 doubtfully refers it to a Turkish source of origin. E. Berneker (Slavisches etymo- 

 logisches Worterbuch, p. 279) proposes to derive the Slavic words from Osmanli 

 fag fur, which means "title of the Chinese sovereign; name of a region^in China 

 which was celebrated for its porcelain; Chinese porcelain; porcelain in general, 

 vases made from it." It must be understood, however, that this word is not Turkish 

 in origin, but Persian, and was borrowed by the Osmans from the latter language. 

 For a long time we have known that fagfur is the Persian term designating the 

 Emperor of China (d'Herbelot, Bibliotheque orientale, Vol. Ill, p. 320), and it 

 was d'Herbelot who first pointed out that the Turkish name for porcelain, fagfuri, 

 was adopted from the Persian title fagfur (see also Yule's Marco Polo, Vol. II, 

 p. 148). The older form is pakpur or pakur (in the form Pakurios preserved by 

 Procopius, the Byzantine historian of the sixth century, in his De bello persico, I, 5). 

 MasQdi (translation of A. Sprenger, Vol. I, p. 326) was familiar with the correct 

 significance of the term, explaining it as "Son of Heaven." It is accordingly a 

 literal rendering of the Chinese title T'ien-tse ("Son of Heaven"), claimed by the 

 sovereigns of China since times of old, the ruler receiving his mandate from the 

 supreme deity Heaven and governing the world in his name. Persian fag is evolved 

 from bagh (corresponding to Sanskrit bhaga), and signifies "God" ("Bagdad" 

 signifies "gift of God"); Persian fur, bur (Sanskrit putra) means "son." Also in 

 Persian, fagfuri chlnl and fagfuri relate to Chinese porcelain. 



