362 SlNO-lRANICA 



v 



when the Mongols introduced the condiment into China under that 

 name, while they styled the root S M yin-tan. In modern Mongol, 

 the name of the product is singun, which is borrowed from the Tibetan 

 word mentioned below. 



In the Tibetan dialect of Ladakh, asafcetida is called hin or sip. 1 

 The name sip or sup was reported by FALCONER, who was the first to 

 discover in 1838 Ferula narthex in western Tibet on the slopes of the 

 mountains dividing Ladakh from Kashmir. 2 The word sip, however, 

 is not generally Tibetan, but only of local value; in all probability, 

 it is not of Tibetan origin. The common Tibetan word is $in-kun, 

 which differs from the Iranian and Indian terms, and which, in view of 

 the fact that the plant occurs in Tibetan regions, may be a purely Tibe- 

 tan formation. 



Finally it may be mentioned that, according to BORSZCZOW/ 

 Scorodosma is generally known to the inhabitants of the Aralo-Caspian 

 territory under the name sasyk-karai or keurok-kurai, which means 

 as much as ''malodorous rush." The Bukharans call it sasyk-kawar 

 or simply kawar. 



1 RAMSAY, Western Tibet, p. 7. 



2 Transactions Linnean Soc., Vol. XX, pt. I, 1846, pp. 285-291. 



3 Op. cit., p. 25. 



