Aromatics — Storax 459 



purple-red of color, resembling the tse Van $f W. (Pterocarpus santalinus, 

 likewise ascribed to K'un-lun), strong, solid, and very fragrant. 1 This 

 is Liquidambar altingiana or Altingia excelsa, a lofty deciduous tree 

 growing in Java, Burma, and Assam, with a fragrant wood yielding a 

 scented resin which hardens upon exposure to the air. The Arabs 

 imported liquid storax during the thirteenth century to Palembang on 

 Sumatra; 2 and the T'ai p'in hwan yu ki states that su-ho oil is produced 

 in Annam, Palembang (San-fu-ts'i) , and in all barbarous countries, from 

 a tree-resin that is employed in medicine. The Mon ki pi Van discrimi- 

 nates between the solid storax of red color like a hard wood, and the 

 liquid storax of glue-like consistency which is in general use. 3 



The Chinese transcription su-ho, *su-gap, has not yet been explained. 

 Hirth's 4 suggestion that the Greek ori>pa£ should have been "muti- 

 lated" into su-ho is hardly satisfactory, for we have to start from the 

 ancient form *su-gab, which bears no resemblance to the Greek word 

 save the first element. In the Papyri no name of a resin has as yet been 

 discovered that could be compared to *su-gab. 6 Nor is there any such 

 Semitic name (cf. Arabic lubna). In view of this situation, the question 

 may be raised whether *su-gab would not rather represent an ancient 

 Iranian word. This supposition, however, cannot be proved, either, in 

 the present state of science. Storax appears in the Persian materia 

 medica of Abu Mansur under the Arabic name mi'a* The storax called 

 rose-maloes is likewise known to the Persians, and is said to be derived 



1 Cen lei pen ts'ao, I. c. This tree is mentioned in the Ku kin lu (Ch. c, p. I b, 

 as a product of Fu-nan, and by Cao Zu-kwa as a variety of sandal-wood (Hirth) 

 Chao Ju-kua, p. 208). Li Si-6en (Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 34, p. 12) says that the 

 people of Yun-nan call tse Van by a peculiar word, $f£ Sen; this is pronounced sen 

 in Yun-nan, and accordingly traceable to a dialectic variation of landan, sandan, 

 sandal. The Japanese term is Ulan (Matsumura, No. 2605). 



2 Hirth, Chao Ju-kua, p. 61. 



* Cf. Tien tse lei pien, Ch. 195, p. 8 b; Bretschneider, Bot. Sin., pt. Ill, 

 p. 464. The Hian p'u quoted in the Pen ts'ao is the work of Ye T'ih-kwei i§| ££ SL 

 not the well-known work by Huh C'u, in which the passage in question does not 

 occur (see p. 2, ed. of T'an Sun is'un $u, where it is said that it is difficult to recognize 

 the genuine article). For further information on liquid storax, see Hirth, Chao 

 Ju-kua, p. 200. 



* Chao Ju-kua, p. 200. 



5 Muss-Arnolt (Transactions Am. Phil. Assoc, Vol. XXIII, p. 117) derives 

 the Greek word from Hebrew z'ri; the Greek should have assimilated the Semitic 

 loan-word to <rr6pa£ ("spike"). This is pure fantasy. The Hebrew word, moreover, 

 does not relate to storax, but, according to Gesenius, denotes a balsam or resin like 

 mastic (above, p. 252). The Hebrew word for Styr ax officinalis is said to be nataf 

 (Exodus, xxx, 34), Septuaginta o-tok^, Vulgata stacte (E. Levesque in Diction- 

 naire de la Bible, Vol. V, col. 1869-70). 



8 Achundow, Abu Mansur, p. 138. 



