322 Sino-Iranica 



the reproduction of a foreign k; but the character yu in transcriptions 

 usually answers to *ut, ud. The whole theory, however, is exposed to 

 much graver objections. The Chinese themselves do not admit that 

 yii-kin represents a foreign word; nowhere do they say that yii-kin is 

 Persian, Sanskrit, or anything of the sort; on the contrary, they regard 

 it as an element of their own language. Moreover, if yii-kin should 

 originally designate the saffron, how, then, did it happen that this alleged 

 Persian word was transferred to the genus Curcuma, some species of 

 which are even indigenous to China, and which, at any rate, has been 

 acclimated there for a long period? The case, indeed, is not simple, and 

 requires closer study. Let us see what the Chinese have to say con- 

 cerning the word yii-kin. Pelliot 1 has already clearly, though briefly, 

 outlined the general situation by calling attention to the fact that as 

 early as the beginning of the second century, yii-kin is mentioned in 

 the dictionary Swo wen as the name of an odoriferous plant, offered as 

 tribute by the people of Yu, the present Yu-lin in Kwan-si Province; 

 hence he inferred that the sense of the word should be "gold of Yu," 

 in allusion to the yellow color of the product. We read in the Swi kin 

 lu *K % W as follows: "The district Kwei-lin & # M of the Ts'in 

 dynasty had its name changed into the Yu-lin district ^ ^ fP in the 

 sixth year of the period Yuan-tin (in b.c.) of the Emperor Wu of the 

 Han dynasty. Wan Mail made it into the Yu-p'ih district Wt Z P. Yin 

 Sao J® S{5 [second century a.d.], in his work Ti li fun su ki ife S M, 

 f&wE, says, 'The Cou li speaks of the yii Zen&K ('officials in charge of 

 the plant yu'), who have charge of the jars serving for libations; when- 

 ever libations are necessary for sacrifices or for the reception of guests, 

 they attend to the blending of the plant yii with the odoriferous wine 

 l K an, pour it into the sacred vases, and arrange them in their place.' 3 

 Yii is a fragrant plant. Flowers of manifold plants are boiled and mixed 

 with wine fermented by means of black millet as an offering to the 

 spirits: this is regarded by some as what is now called yii-kin hian 

 W 4£ # (Curcuma) ; while others contend that it was brought as 

 tribute by the people of Yu, thus connecting the name of the plant 

 with that of the clan and district of Yii." The latter is the explanation 



1 Bull, de I'Ecole frangaise, Vol. Ill, p. 270. 



2 This work is a commentary to the Swi kin, a canonical book on water-courses, 

 supposed to have been written by San K'in under the Later Han dynasty, but it 

 was elaborated rather in the third century. The commentary is due to Li Tao-yuan 

 of the Hou Wei period, who died in A.D. 527 (his biography is in Wei $u, Ch. 89; 

 Pei U, Ch. 27). Regarding the various editions of the work, see Pelliot, Bull, de 

 I'Ecole frangaise, Vol. VI, p. 364, note 4. 



s Cf. Biot, Le Tcheou-li, Vol. I, p. 465. 



