2$2 SlNO-lRANICA 



pistdn ("a place abounding with pistachio-nuts"). 1 Again, the Persian 

 word in the transcription pi-se-ta >& S ^ appears in the Pen ts*ao 

 kan mu U i 2 by Cao Hio-min, who states that the habitat of the plant 

 is in the land of the Mohammedans, and refers to the work Yin san 

 ten yao 3 of 1331, ascribed by him to Hu-pi-lie M. >& 3$; that is, the 

 Emperor Kubilai of the Yuan dynasty. We know, however, that this 

 book was written in 1331 by Ho Se-hwi. 4 Not having access to this, 

 I am unable to state whether it contains a reference to pi-se-ta, nor do 

 I know whether the text of Cao Hio-min, as printed in the second 

 edition of 1765, was thus contained in the first edition of his work, which 

 was published in 1650. It would not be impossible that the tran- 

 scription pi-se-ta t accurately corresponding to Persian pista, was 

 made in the Mongol period; for it bears the ear-marks of the Yuan style 

 of transcription. 



The Persian word pista (also pasta) has been widely disseminated: 

 we find it in Kurd fystiq, Armenian fesdux and fstoiil, Arabic fistaq or 

 fustaq, Osmanli fistiq? and Russian fistaSka. 



In the Yuan period the Chinese also made the acquaintance of 

 mastic, the resinous product of Pistacia lentiscus* It is mentioned in 

 the Yin San Zen yao, written in 1331, under its Arabic name mastaki, 

 in the transcription $1 & % l!f ma-se-ta-ki. 7 Li Si-en knew only the 

 medical properties of the product, but confessed his ignorance regarding 

 the nature of the plant; hence he placed his notice of it as an appendix 

 to cummin (&i-lo). The Wu tsa tsu 3L H 3EL, written in 1610, says that 

 mastaki is produced in Turkistan and resembles the tsiao W (Zanth- 

 oxylum y the fruit yielding a pepper-like condiment) ; its odor is very 

 strong; it takes the place there pjE a condiment like pepper, and is 

 beneficial to digestion. 8 The Persian word for "mastic" is kundurak 

 (from kundur, "incense"), besides the Arabic loan-word mastaki or 



1 As already recognized by W. SCHOTT (Topographic der Producte des chinesi- 

 schen Reiches, Abh. Berl.Akad., 1842, p. 371), who made use only of the new edition. 



2 Ch. 8, p. 19; ed. of 1765 (see above, p. 229). 

 8 Cf. above, p. 236. 



4 BRETSCHNEIDER, Bot. Sin., pt. i, p. 213. 



6 Hence Pegoletti's fistuchi (YULE, Cathay, new ed. by CORDIER, Vol. Ill, 

 p. 167). 



Greek axlvm (Herodotus, iv, 177). 



7 The Arabic word itself is derived from Greek tiaarlxn (from /uaorTafeu', "to 

 chew"), because the resin was used as a masticatory. Hence also Armenian maz- 

 tak'e. Spanish oLmdciga is derived from the Arabic, as indicated by the Arabic 

 article a/, while the Spanish form mdsticis is based on Latin mastix. 



8 Quoted in the Pen ts'ao kan mu Si i, Ch. 6, p. 12 b. The digestive property 

 is already emphasized by Dioscorides (i, 90). 



