Saffron and Turmeric 323 



favored by the Swo wen. 1 Both explanations are reasonable, but only 

 one of the two can be correct. 2 My own opinion is this: yii is an ancient 

 Chinese name for an indigenous Chinese aromatic plant; whether 

 Curcuma or another genus, can no longer be decided with certainty. 3 

 The term yii-kin means literally "gold of the yii plant," "gold" re- 

 ferring to the yellow rhizome, 4 yii to the total plant-character; the con- 

 crete significance, accordingly, is "jw-rhizome" or "yw-root." I do not 

 believe, however, that yii-kin is derived from the district or clan of Yu; 

 for this is impossible to assume, since yii as the name of a plant existed 

 prior to the name of that district. This is clearly evidenced by the 

 text of the Swi kin lu: for it was only in in B.C. that the name Yu-lin 

 ("Grove of the Yii Plant") came into existence, being then substituted 

 for the earlier Kwei-lin ("Grove of Cinnamomum cassia"). It is the 

 plant, consequently, which lent its name to the district, not the dis- 

 trict which named the plant. As in so many cases, the Chinese con- 

 found cause and effect. The reason why the name of this district was 

 altered into Yu-lin is now also obvious. It must have been renowned 

 under the Han for the wealth of its yii-kin plants, which was less con- 

 spicuous under the Ts'in, when the cassia predominated there. At 

 any rate, yii-kin is a perfectly authentic and legitimate constituent 

 of the Chinese language, and not a foreign word. It denotes an indig- 

 enous Curcuma; while under the T'ang, as we have seen, additional 

 species of this genus may have been introduced from abroad. The word 

 yii-kin then underwent a psychological treatment similar to yen-ci: 

 as yen-fi, "safflower," was transformed to any cosmetic or rouge, so yii-kin 

 "turmeric," was grafted on any dyes producing similar tinges of yellow. 

 Thus it was applied to the saffron of Kashmir and Persia. 



1 The early edition of this work did not contain the form yii-kin, but merely the 

 plain, ancient yii. Solely the Fan yi min yi tsi (Ch. 8, p. 10 b) attributes ( I believe, 

 erroneously) the term yii-kin to the Swo wen. 



2 Li Si-cen says that the district Yu-lin of the Han period comprises the territory 

 of the present cou >)]\ of Sun ?|f[, Liu $P, Yuh f , and Pin ^ of Kwan-si and Kwei- 

 cou, and that, according to the Ta Min i t'un li, only the district of Lo-S'en ff; fjjfc 

 in Liu-cou fu (Kwan-si) produces yii-kin hiah, which is that here spoken of (that is, 

 Crocus), while in fact Curcuma must be understood. 



* There is also the opinion that the ancient yii must be a plant similar to Ian 

 |5ij, an orchidaceous plant (see the P'i ya of Lu Tien and the T'un ci of Cen Tsiao). 



* Pallegoix (Description du royaume Thai ou Siam, Vol. I, p. 126) says, "Le 

 curcuma est une racine bulbeuse et charnue, d'un beau jaune d'or." 



