Remarks on the Word Tersai, 



349 



Persic, not Armenian." The quotation from Trigautius, inserted 

 above, does not justify such an interpretation: that writer merely re- 

 marks, that he is ignorant of the cause of the appellative Tersai, but 

 inclines to believe, on satisfactory grounds, in its connexion with the 

 Armenian ; since he v\^as informed by a certain Armenian, that in 

 Persia the Armenian Christians were styled by that name. Besides 

 this, no mention whatsoever, either of Arabic or Persic, occurs in 

 the whole passage out of Trigautius. The statement of the Profes- 

 sor is, therefore, inaccurate; as he attributes to Trigautius an expres- 

 sion, which belongs properly to Assemanus. By an oversight alone 

 of Mr. Lee the error could have escaped detection. 



In the next place, the origin and signification of the name demand 

 some attention. There is every reason to suppose that Tersai is a 

 compound word, formed of Ter and Isai — the / being dropped in the 

 coalescence. Assemanus, no doubt, was well aware of this combina- 

 tion ; but he has only explained the latter term Isai, which he says 

 denotes something belonging to Jesus, in the Persian and Arabic 

 languages. With regard to the prefix Ter he has preserved an un- 

 accountable silence : evidently not having found a homophonous word 

 in either of those tongues to suit the purpose. His favorite Syriac 

 failed likewise to help him in the present emergency. Were I per- 

 mitted to hazard an opinion in this case, I would assign the deriva- 

 tion of the term to Armenian, in which language Ter signifies Lord. 

 The appellation Tersai then would be equivalent to " Lord-Jesusites," 

 and the Saracens or Mahomedans might very appositely call the Ar- 

 menian Christians by that name, since to this day the expression Ter- 

 lesous is extensively used by the Armenians. I am uncertain, how 

 far the explanation now given will prove acceptable to the philolo- 

 gists in general; but, without such an assumption, the difficulty can 

 scarcely be remedied, or, at least, the subject be reduced to a reason- 

 able meaning. Whilst upon this inquiry, I may notice the great simi- 

 larity existing between Chazimami, by which the Armenians were 

 denominated by the Tartars, according to Muller, and the A^rmenian 

 word chatch or Jihatch, a Cross, with its derivatives — answering to 

 the Greek Staurolatrce. This explanation derives further support 

 from the " Historia Chatzitzariorum," written by Demetrius Cyzi- 

 cenus, who flourished about the eleventh century. See Cave, His- 

 toria Literaria, vol. IL Dissert. I. p. 6. 



The objection of Assemanus against the intercourse of Armenians 

 with China ought to be admitted with some restriction. It is true 



