34S 



BemarJis o?i the Word Tersai. 



[No. 35, 



proofs in corroboration of his sentiments. The subjoined extract 

 from the above mentioned Essay (p. 89,) relates to the -word under 

 consideration. " Longe plures vero et passim in Tartaria vicinis- 

 que regionibus reperti sunt Christiani. Armenorum etiam studiuray 

 quod conversioni Tariaros impenderint, imprimis commendatur. 

 Christiani etiam, qui ibi locorum degebant, Armenorum propagines 

 fuisse videntur. Oommuniter enim Crucis adoratores vocabantur, 

 et Rex gentis, quern Presbyterum Johannem vulgo vocant, (Arabice) 

 P7'€star Chan, hoc est, Adoratorum Imperator, Armeni vero ab 

 olim Chazimanii dicti sunt, hoc est, GravpoXarpat. Vide ml. meas 

 ad Aziz. num. 24 et ad Ep» Mosis Mardeni p. 17. Certum est 

 Christianos illos crucem imprimis (neglectis Imaginibus aliis, Cada- 

 mustus, c. 133) venerates esse, a — Tonsura Catholici Armeni in 

 formam crucis est. Cadam. I. c. b — Insigne labari Najamici crux 

 erat. Marc. Paid. Ven. II. 4. c. — Solebant etiam Staurolatrce in 

 Sinis crucem digito signare cibum potnmque usurpaturi. Trig, e 

 jRiccii ore. Hi vero in Sinis Tersai a Saracenis vocabantur. Trig. 

 Eodem nomine, quo Christiani Armeni in Perside appellabantur, Ar- 

 meno quodam, quem Trigautius laudat, teste. Indeque Trigautius 

 colligit Crucis adoratores ex Armenia esse, cumque Tartaris in Sinas 

 irrupisse. Qui cum causam appellationis nescire se fateatur. Vide- 

 sis not ad Azizum. num. 14." I am sorry that I do not possess 

 the work of Muller referred to at the end of the foregoing citation. 

 A different construction of the subject, however, is adopted by the 

 learned Syro-Maronite, Joseph Simon Assemanus'. In the fourth 

 volume of his laborious compilation, the " Bibliotheca Orientalis 

 Olementino-Vaticana," he has examined the question in a detailed 

 form. After a lengthy analysis of th'e authorities, he comes to the 

 conclusion, against Trigautius, that the origin of Tersai is either Per- 

 sian or Arabic, not Armenian, and that the term was applied to Sy- 

 rian-Nestorians, not to Armenians. These are his words : — " Chris- 

 tianos in Sinarum regno Syros Nestorianos fuisse, non Armenios, ne- 

 que ex Armenia, sed partim ex Assyria et Mesopotamia, partim ex 

 Sogdiana, Bactriana et India illuc convolasse, eo maxime tempore, 

 quo Tartari in illud regnum invaserunt.*' (p. 519.) Not to multi- 

 ply instances; — a modern scholar, the Rev. Samuel Lee, Arabic 

 Professor at Cambridge, makes an allusion to this affair in a note to 

 his translation of the " Travels" of Ibn Batuta. He draws his ma- 

 terials from Assemanus, and proceeds to observe (p. 217) that the 

 word Tersai, " according to Trigautius, must be either Arabic or 



