398 Sino-Iranica 



or Palaka 1 as the name of a country, which has evidently resulted in 

 the assertion of Buddhist monks that the spinach must come from a 

 country Palinga. The Nepalese, accordingly, applied a word relative 

 to a native plant to the newly-introduced spinach, and, together with 

 the product, handed this word on to China. The Tibetans never became 

 acquainted with the plant; the word spo ts'od, given in the Polyglot 

 Dictionary, 2 is artificially modelled after the Chinese term, spo (pro- 

 nounced po) transcribing Chinese po, and ts'od meaning "vegetable." 



Due regard being paid to all facts botanical and historical, we are 

 compelled to admit that the spinach was introduced into Nepal from 

 some Iranian region, and thence transmitted to China in a.d. 647. 

 It must further be admitted that the Chinese designation "Persian 

 vegetable," despite its comparatively recent date, cannot be wholly 

 fictitious, but has some foundation in fact. Either in the Yuan or in 

 the Ming period (more probably in the former) the Chinese seem to 

 have learned the fact that Persia is the land of the spinach. I trust that 

 a text to this effect will be discovered in the future. All available his- 

 torical data point to the conclusion that the Persian cultivation can 

 be but of comparatively recent origin, and is not older than the sixth 

 century or so. The Chinese notice referring it to the seventh century 

 is the oldest in existence. Then follow the Nabathaean Book of Agri- 

 culture of the tenth century and the Arabic introduction into Spain 

 during the eleventh. 



1 The latter form is noted in the catalogue of the Mahamayari, edited by S. 

 L£vi (Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 42). 

 J Ch. 27, p. 19 b. 



