ASAFCETIDA 361 



In regard to the modern employment of the article, S. W. Williams 1 

 writes, "It is brought from Bombay at the rate of $15 a picul, and 

 ranks high in the Materia Medicaof the Chinese physician; it is exhibited 

 in cholera, in syphilitic complaints and worms, and often forms an 

 ingredient in the pills advertised to cure opium-smokers." It is chiefly 

 believed, however, to assist in the digestion of meat and to correct the 

 poison of stale meats (ptomaine poisoning), mushrooms, and herbs. 2 

 In Annam it is carried in small bags as a preventive of cholera. 3 



The following ancient terms for asafoetida are on record: — 



(1) Persian P*J H£ ^St a-yii-tsie, *a-nu-zet= Middle Persian *anguzad; 

 New Persian anguba, anguiad, anguydn, anguwan, anguddn, angiHak 

 (stem angu-\-$ad = " gum" 4 ); Armenian ankutad, anjidan, Old Arme- 

 nian anguZat, angtat; Arabic anjuddn. Garcia gives anjuden or angeidan 

 as name of the tree from which asa is extracted. 



(2) Sanskrit HIS hin-kil, *hin-gu; % HI hin-yit, *hin-nu; H HI 

 hiin-k'ii, *hun-gu; corresponding to Sanskrit hingu. In my opinion, 

 the Sanskrit word is an ancient loan from Iranian. 6 Garcia gives imgo 

 or imgara as Indian name, and forms with initial i appear in Indian 

 vernaculars: cf. Telugu inguva; cf., further, Japanese ingu, Malayan 

 angu (according to J. Bontitjs, who wrote in 1658, the Javanese and 

 Malayans have also the word hin). 



(3) M 1% a-wei, *a-nwai; ;& S (in the Nirvana-sutra) yan-kwei, 

 *an-kwai, correspond to an Indian or Iranian vernacular form of the 

 type *ankwa or *ankwai, that we meet in Tokharian B or Kuca ankwa. 6 

 This form is obviously based on Iranian angu, angwa. 



(4) Mongol "n "ai xa-si-ni (thus given as a Mongol term in the 

 Pen ts'ao kan mu after the Yin San Zen yao of the Mongol period, written 

 in 133 1), corresponds to Persian kasni, kisni, or gisnl ("asafoetida"), 

 derived from the name of Gazni or Gazna, the capital of Zabulistan, 

 which, according to Huan Tsah, was the habitat of the plant. A Mon- 

 gol word of this type is not listed in the Mongol dictionaries of Kova- 

 levski and Golstunski, but doubtless existed in the age of the Yuan, 



1 Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 80. 



2 Stuart, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 174. 



1 Perrot and Hurrier, Mat. m6d. et pharmacop^e sino-annamites, p. 161. 



4 Cf. Sanskrit jatuka (literally, "gum, lac ") = asafoetida. Hubschmann, Armen. 

 Gram., p. 98. 



5 D'Herbelot (Bibliotheque orientale, Vol. I, p. 226; Vol. II, p. 327) derived 

 the Persian word (written by him angiu, engiu, ingu; Arabic ingiu, ingudan) from 

 Indian henk and hengu, ingu, for the reason that in India this drug is principally 

 used; this certainly is not correct. 



N 6 Cf. T'oung Pao, 1915, pp. 274-275. 



