202 Sino-Iranica 



some vaguely defined region of Central Asia. The fact, however, re- 

 mains that there are a number of introduced, cultivated Hu plants 

 coming from Iranian lands, but in each and every case it has been my 

 endeavor to furnish proof for the fact that these actually represent 

 Iranian cultivations. With the sole exception of the walnut, the his- 

 tory of which may tolerably well be traced, the records of these Hu 

 plants are rather vague, and for none of them is there any specific 

 account of the introduction. It is for botanical rather than historical 

 reasons that the fact of the introduction becomes evident. It is this 

 hazy character of the traditions which renders it impossible to connect 

 these plants in any way with Can K'ien. Moreover, it cannot be 

 proved with certainty that any names of plants or products formed 

 with the element hu existed under the Han. The sole exception would 

 be hu ts'ai, 1 but its occurrence in the T'un su wen of the Han is not 

 certain either; and this hu, according to Chinese tradition, refers to 

 Mongolia, not to Iran. Another merely seeming exception is presented 

 by hu t'un-lei* but this is a wild, not a cultivated tree; and hu, in this 

 case, has a geographical rather than an ethnographical significance. In 

 the wooden documents discovered in Turkistan we have one good, 

 datable instance of a Hu product; and this is hu Vie ("iron of the Hu" 

 and implements made of such iron). These tablets belong to the Tsin 

 period (a.d. 265-419),* while in no wooden document of the Han has 

 any compound with Hu as yet been traced. Again, all available evi- 

 dence goes to show that these Hu plants were not introduced earlier 

 than the Tsin dynasty, or, generally speaking, during what is known 

 as the Leu c'ao or six minor dynasties, covering the time from the 

 downfall of the Han to the rise of the T'ang dynasty. It is noteworthy 

 that of none of these plants is an Iranian name on record. 



The element hu, in a few cases, serves also the purpose of a tran- 

 scription: thus probably in the name of the coriander, hu-swi,* and 

 quite evidently in the name of the fenugreek, hu-lu-pa} 



Imported fruits and products have been named by many nations 

 for the countries from which they hailed or from the people by whom 

 they were first brought. The Greeks had their "Persian apple" (jxrj\op 

 Ucpaindv, "peach"), their "Medic apple" (wXov Mt;5ik6v, "citron"), 

 their "Medic grass" (MtjSiKi) 71-60, "alfalfa"), and their "Armenian 



1 Below, p. 381. I 



s Below, p. 339. 



* Chavannes, Documents chinois ddcouverts par Aurel Stein, pp. 168, 169. 

 4 Below, p. 298. 



1 Below, p. 446. It thus occurs also in geographical names, as in Hu-2'a-la 

 (Guzerat); see Hirth and Rockhill, Chao Ju-kua, p. 92. 



