546 Sino-Iranica 



KokovT^ia, xauXtfei', and 7aXaYyd; in Russian, kalgdn. The whole group 

 has nothing to do with Chinese kao-liah-kiah. 1 Moreover, the latter 

 refers to a different species, Alpinia officinarum; while Alpinia galanga 

 does not occur in China, but is a native of Bengal, Assam, Burma, 

 Ceylon, and the Konkan. Garcia da Orta was already well posted on 

 the differences between the two. 2 



8. Abu Mansur mentions the medical properties of mdmirdn. 3 

 According to Achundow, 4 a rhizome originating from China, and 

 called in Turkistan momiran, is described by Dragendorff, and is re- 

 garded by him as identical with the so-called mishmee (from Coptis 

 teeta Wall.), which is said to be styled mamiraUn in the Caucasus. He 

 further correlates the same drug with Ranunculus ficaria {x&'&bviov 

 to fxiKpov), subsequently described by the Arabs under the name 

 mamirun. Al-Janki is quoted by Ibn al-Baitar as saying that the 

 mdmirdn comes from China, and that its properties come near to 

 those of Curcuma; 1 ' these roots, however, are also a product of Spain, 

 the Berber country, and Greece. 6 The Sheikh Daud says that the best 

 which comes from India is blackish, while that of China is yellowish. 

 Ibn Batuta 7 mentions the importation of mdmirdn from China, saying 

 that it has the same properties as kurkum. Hajji Mahomed, in his 

 account of Cathay (ca. 1550), speaks of a little root growing in the 

 mountains of Succuir (Su-cou in Kan-su), where the rhubarb grows, 

 and which they call Mambroni Cini (mdmlrdn-i Clnl, "mamiran of 

 China"). "This is extremely dear, and is used in most of their ail- 

 ments, but especially where the eyes are affected. They grind it on 

 a stone with rose-water, and anoint the eyes with it. The result is 

 wonderfully beneficial." 8 In 1583 Leonhart Rauwolf 9 mentions 



1 Needless to say that the vivisections of Hirth, who did not know the Sanskrit 

 term, lack philological method. \ 



2 Markham, Colloquies, p. 208. Garcia gives lavandou as the name used in 

 China; this is apparently a corrupted Malayan form (cf. Javanese laos). In Java, he 

 says, there is another larger kind, called lancuaz; in India both are styled lancuaz. This 

 is Malayan lenkuwas, Makasar lankuwasa, Cam lakuah or lakuak, Tagalog lankuas. 

 The Arabic names are written by Garcia calvegiam, chamligiam, and galungem; the 

 author's Portuguese spelling, of course, must be taken into consideration. 



3 Achundow, Abu Mansur, p. 138. 



4 Ibid., p. 268. 



5 Leclerc, Traite" des simples, Vol. II, p. 441. Dioscorides remarks that the 

 sap of this plant has the color of saffron. 



6 In Byzantine Greek it is ixa/i-qpe or nempkv, derived from the Persian- Arabic 

 word. 



7 Ed. of Defremery and Sanguinetti, Vol. II, p. 186. 



8 Yule, Cathay, new ed., Vol. I, p. 292. 



9 Beschreibung der Raiss inn die Morgenlander, p. 126. 



