ساینو-ایرانیکا اثرجاوید برتولت لوفر

ASAFCETIDA 357

el nombre le llaman Rabacuz. De suerte que Robalcuz en Arabic, quiere
dezir c.umo basto de Regaliza: porque Rob, es cumo basto, y Al, ar-
ticulo de genitiuo, de, y Cuz, regaliza, y todo junto significa cumo
basto de Regaliza: y assi no se puede llamar a este gumo Assa dulcis.
Los Indies la loan para el estomago, para facilitar el vientre, y para
consumir las ventosidadas. Tambien curan con esta medicina los
cauallos, que echan mucha ventosidad. En tanto tienen esta medicina
que le llama aquella gente, principalmente la de Bisnaguer, manjar
delos Dioses."

JOHN FRYER 1 relates, "In this country Assa Fcetida is gathered at
a place called Descoon; 2 some deliver it to be the juice of a cane or reed
inspissated; others, of a tree wounded: It differs much from the stink-
ing stuff called Hing, it being of the Province of Carmania: 3 This latter
is that the Indians perfume themselves with, mixing it in all their pulse,
and make it up in wafers to correct the windiness of their food, which
they thunder up in belchings from the crudities created in their stom-
achs; never thinking themselves at ease without this Theriac: And this
is they cozen the Europeans with instead of Assa F&tida, of which
it bears not only the smell, but color also, only it is more liquid."

J. A. DE MANDELSLO 4 reports as follows: "The Hingh, which our
drugsters and apothecaries call Assa fcetida, comes for the most part
from Persia, but that which the Province of Utrad produces in the Indies
is the best, and there is a great traffick driven in it all over Indosthan.
The plant which produces it is of two kinds; one grows like a bush, and
hath small leaves, like rice, and the other resembles a turnip-leaf, and
its greenness is like that of fig-tree leaves. It thrives best in stony and
dry places, and its gum begins to come forth towards the latter end
of summer, so that it must be gathered in autumn. The traffick of it
is so much the greater in those parts, upon this account, that the
Benjans of Guzuratta make use of it in all their sawces, and rub their

1 New Account of East India and Persia, Vol. II, p. 195 (Hakluyt Soc., 1912).

2 Kuh-i Dozgan, west of Kuristan.

8 Ring is mentioned by FRYER (Vol. I, p. 286) as in use among the natives of
southern India, "to correct all distempers of the brain, as well as stomach," "a sort
of liquid Assa Fcetida, whereby they smell odiously." This is the product of Ferula
alliacca, collected near Yezd in Khorasan and in the province of Kerman, and
chiefly used by the natives of Bombay (FLtteKiGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia,
pp. 319-320; WATT, Commercial Products of India, p. 534). Fryer's distinction be-
tween hing and asafcetida shows well that there were different kinds and grades of
the article, derived from different plants. Thus there is no reason to wonder that
the Chinese Buddhist authors discriminate between hingu and a-wei (CHAVANNES
and PELLIOT, Trait6 maniche'en, p. 234); the l*ou ts'ai ("stinking vegetable") is
probably also a variety of this product.

4 Voyages and Travels, p. 67 (London, 1669).



3 $8 SlNO-lRANICA

pots and drinking vessels therewith, by which means they insensibly
accustom themselves to that strong scent, which we in Europe are
hardly able to endure."

The Chinese understand by the term a-wei products of two different
plants. Neither Bretschneider nor Stuart has noted this. Li Si-Sen 1
states that " there are two kinds of a-wei, one an herb, the other a
tree. The former is produced in Turkistan (Si yu), and can be sun-
dried or boiled: this is the kind discussed by Su Kun. The latter is
produced among the Southern Barbarians (Nan Fan), and it is the
sap of the tree which is taken: this is the kind described by Li Sun,
Su Sun, and C'en C'en." Su Kun of the T'ang period reports that
11 a-wei grows among the Western Barbarians (Si Fan) and in K'un-
lun. 2 Sprouts, leaves, root, and stems strongly resemble the pai li Q
3 (Angelica anomald). The root is pounded, and the sap extracted
from it is dried in the sun and pressed into cakes. This is the first
quality. Cut-up pieces of the root, properly dried, take the second
rank. Its prominent characteristic is a rank odor, but it can also stop
foul smells; indeed, it is a strange product. The Brahmans say that
hiin-kit (Sanskrit hingu, see below) is the same as a-wei, and that the
coagulated juice of the root is like glue; also that the root is sliced,
dried in the sun, and malodorous. In the western countries (India)
its consumption is forbidden. 8 Habitual enjoyment of it is said to do
away with foul breath. The barbarians (-$C A) prize it as the Chinese
do pepper." This, indeed, relates to the plant or plants yielding asa,
and Li Si-Sen comments that its habitat is in Hwo Sou (Qar5-Khoja)
and Sa-lu-hai-ya (Shahrokia). 4 Curiously enough, such a typical Iran-
ian plant is passed over with silence in the ancient historical texts
relative to Sasanian Persia. The only mention of it in the pre-T'ang
Annals occurs in the Sui $u b with reference to the country Ts'ao $t
north of the Ts'un-lin (identical with the Ki-pin of the Han), while
the T'ai p'in hwan yii ki* ascribes a-wei to Ki-pin.

The Yu yan tsa tsu 7 contains the following account of the product:

1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 34, p. 21.

2 K'un-lun is given as place of production in the Kwan i, written prior to
A.D. 527, but there it is described as the product of a tree (see below).

8 It was prohibited to the monks of the Mahayana (cf. S. Lvi, Journal asiatiquc,
1915, I, p. 87).

4 BRETSCHNEIDER, Mediaeval Researches, Vol. II, pp. 253, 254, also 193.
6 Ch. 83, p. 8 (also in the Pei Si).

6 Ch. 182, p. 12 b.

7 Ch. 18, p. 8 b.



ASAFGETIDA 359

"A-wei is produced in Gazna fto E8 l (*Gia-ja-na); 1 that is, in north-
ern India. In Gazna its name is hin-yti (Sanskrit hingu). Its habitat
is also in Persia, where it is termed a-yu-tsie (see below). The tree
grows to a height of eight and nine feet. 2 The bark is green and yellow.
In the third month the tree forms leaves which resemble a rodent's
ear. It does not flower, nor does it produce fruit. The branches, when
cut, have a continuous flow of sap like syrup, which consolidates, and
is styled a-wei. The monk from the country Fu-lin, Wan W by name,
and the monk from Magadha, T'i-p'o $1 SI (*De-bwa, Sanskrit Deva),
agree in stating that the combination 3 of the sap with rice or beans, and
powdered, forms what is called a-wei"*

Another description of a-wei by the Buddhist monk Hwei Zi S ,
born in A.D. 680, has been made known by S. Lfevi. 6 The Chinese pil-
grim points out that the plant is lacking in China, and is not to be seen
in other kingdoms except in the region of Khotan. The root is as large
as a turnip and white; it smells like garlic, and the people of Khotan
feed on this root. The Buddhist pilgrim Yi Tsifi, who travelled in
A.D. 671-695, reports that a-wei is abundant in the western limit of
India, and that all vegetables are mixed with it, clarified butter, oil,
or any spice. 6

Li Sim, who wrote in the second half of the eighth century, states
that, " according to the Kwan ci, a-wei grows in the country K'un-lun;
it is a tree with a ;sap of 'the appearance of the resin of the peach-tree.
That which is black in color does not keep; that of yellow color is the
best. Along the Yangtse in Yun-nan is found also a variety like the
one imported in ships, juicy, and in taste identical with the yellow brand,
but not yellow in color." Su Sun of the Sung period remarks that there
is a-wei only in Kwafi-ou (Kwafi-tun), and that it is the coagulated
sap of a tree, which does not agree with the statement of Su Kun.
C'en C'efi R $s a distinguished physician, who wrote the Pen ts'ao

1 In the Pen ts'ao kan mu, where the text is quoted from the Hai yao pen ',s'ao
of Li Sun, Persia is coupled with Gazna. Gazna is the capital of Jagutfa, the Tsao-
ku-c'a of Hiian Tsan, the Zabulistan of the Arabs. Huan Tsan reported that
asafoetida is abundant there (S. JULIEN, Me"moires sur les contre"es occidentales,
Vol. II, p. 187. Cf. S. L6vi, Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 83).

2 Thus in the text of the Pen ts'ao; in the edition of Pai hai: eighty or ninety
feet. In fact, the stems of Ferula reach an average height of from eight to ten feet.

3 Instead of $P of the text I read jf P with the Pen ts'ao.

4 The translation of this passage by HIRTH (Chau Ju-kua, p. 225) does not
render the sense correctly. The two monks mean to say that the sap or resin is a
condiment added to a dish of rice or beans, and that the whole mixture bears the
name a-wei.

5 Journal asiatique, 1915, I, p. 89.

6 TAKAKUSU, I-tsing, pp. 128, 137.



360 SlNO-lRANICA

pie $wo about A.D. 1090, says, "A-wei is classed among trees. People
of Kian-su and Ce-kian have now planted it. The odor of the branches
and leaves is the same, but they are tasteless and yield no sap." The
above K'un-lun refers to the K'un-lun of the Southern Sea; 1 and Li
Si-en comments that "this tree grows in Sumatra and Siam, and that
it is not very high. The natives take a bamboo tube and stick it into
the tree; the tube gradually becomes filled with the sap of the tree, and
during the winter months they smash the tube and obtain the sap."
Then he goes on to tell the curious tale of the sheep, in the same manner
as Cao Zu-kwa. 2

Cao Zu-kwa's notice that the resin is gathered and packed in skin
bags is correct; for GARCIA DA ORTA 3 reports that the gum, obtained
by making cuts in the tree, is kept in bullock's hides, first anointed with
blood, and then mixed with wheat flour. It is more difficult to account
for the tradition given by the Chinese author, that, in order to neutralize
the poison of the plant, a sheep is tied to the base of the tree and shot
with arrows, whereupon the poison filters into the sheep that is doomed
to death, and its carcass forms the asafcetida. This bit of folk-lore was
certainly transmitted by Indian, Persian, or Arabic navigators, but any
corresponding Western tradition has not yet been traced. Hobeich
Ibn el-Hacen, quoted by Ibn al-Baitar, 4 insists on the poisonous action
of the plant, and says that the harvests succeed in Sind only when asa
is packed in a cloth and suspended at -the mouth of water-courses, where
the odor spread by the harvest will kill water-dogs and worms. Here
we likewise meet the notion that the poisonous properties of the plant
are capable of killing animals, and the sheep of the Chinese tradition
is obviously suggested by the simile of white sheep-fat and the white
vegetable fat of asa. In reality, sheep and goats are fond of the plant
and fatten on it. 5 The asa ascribed to the country Ts'eii-t'an in the Sun
& 6 was surely an imported article.

1 Not to the K'un-lun mountains, as assumed by STUART (Chinese Materia
Medica, p. 173).

2 Needless to say, this Malayan asafoetida can have been but a substitute; but
to what plant it refers, I am unable to say. The Tun si yan k'ao (Ch. 2, p. 18; 3,
p. 6 b), published in 1618, mentions a-wei as product of Siam and Java. T'an Ts'ui
IS 2^, in his Tien hai yii hen i, written in 1799 (Ch. 3, p. 4, ed. of Wen yin lou yu
ti ts'un ), states that the a-wei of Yun-nan is produced in Siam, being imported
from Siam to Burma and brought from Burma up the Kin-Sa kian.

3 C. MARKHAM, Colloquies, p. 47.

4 LECLERC, Trait6 des simples, Vol. I, p. 447.

6 E. KAEMPFER, Amoenitates exoticae, p. 540; C. JORET, Plantes dans 1'antiquite",
Vol. II, p. 100.

8 Ch. 490; cf. HIRTH, Chao Ju-kua, p. 127. I am not convinced that Ts'en-t'an
is identical with Ts 'en-pa or Zanguebar.



ASAFCETIDA 361

In regard to the modern employment of the article, S. W. WILLIAMS 1
writes, "It is brought from Bombay at the rate of $15 a picul, and
ranks high in the Materia Medicaof the Chinese physician; it is exhibited
in cholera, in syphilitic complaints and worms, and often forms an
ingredient in the pills advertised to cure opium-smokers." It is chiefly
believed, however, to assist in the digestion of meat and to correct the
poison of stale meats (ptomaine poisoning), mushrooms, and herbs. 2
In Annam it is carried in small bags as a preventive of cholera. 3

The following ancient terms for asafcetida are on record:

(1) Persian P3 BE 18 a-yti-tsie, *a-nu-zet = Middle Persian *anguzad;
New Persian anguZa, anguZad, anguydn, anguwdn, angudan, angi&ak
(stem awgtt-h2a
derived from the name of Gazni or Gazna, the capital of Zabulistan,
which, according to Huan Tsan, was the habitat of the plant. A Mon-
gol word of this type is not listed in the Mongol dictionaries of Kova-
levski and Golstunski, but doubtless existed in the age of the Yuan,

1 Chinese Commercial Guide, p. 80.

2 STUART, Chinese Materia Medica, p. 174.

8 PERROT and HURRIER, Mat. m6d. et phannacope'e sino-annamites, p. 161.

4 Cf. Sanskrit jatuka (literally, "gum, lac ") = asaf oetida. HUBSCHMANN, Armen.
Gram., p. 98.

6 D'HERBELOT (Bibliotheque orientale, Vol. I, p. 226; Vol. II, p. 327) derived
the Persian word (written by him angiu, engiu, ingu; Arabic ingiu, ingudan) from
Indian henk and hengu, ingu, for the reason that in India this drug is principally
used; this certainly is not correct.

6 Cf. Toung Pao, 1915, pp. 274-275.



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.



GALBANUM

23. There is only a single Chinese text relative to galbanum, which
is contained in the Yu yan tsa tsu, 1 where it is said, "P*i-ts*i ail 2 ^
(*bit-dzi, bir-zi, bir-zai) is a product of the country Po-se (Persia).
In Fu-lin it is styled f I %J 3H fll han-p'o-ti-fa (*xan-bwi5-li-da). 8 The
tree grows to a height of more than ten feet, with a circumference of
over a foot. Its bark is green, thin, and extremely bright. The leaves
resemble those of the asafcetida plant (a-wei), three of them growing
at the end of a branch. It does not flower or bear fruit. In the west-
ern countries people are accustomed to cut the leaves in the eighth
month; and they continue to do this more and more till the twelfth
month. The new branches are thus very juicy and luxuriant; without
the trimming process, they would infallibly fade away. In the seventh
month the boughs are broken off, and there is a yellow sap of the
appearance of honey and slightly fragrant, which is medicinally em-
ployed in curing disease."

Hirth has correctly identified the transcription p'i-ts*i with Persian
forzai, which, however, like the other Po-se words in the Yu yan tsa tsu,
must be regarded as Pahlavi or Middle Persian; 4 and the Fu-lin han-
p'o-li-fa he has equated with Aramaic xelbanita, the latter from Hebrew
xelbendh, one of the four ingredients of the sacred perfume (Exodus,
xxx, 34-38). This is translated by the Septuaginta xaXjS&pq and by
the Vulgate galbanum. The substance is mentioned in three passages

1 Ch. 18, p. ii b.

2 HIRTH, who is the first to have translated this text (Journal Am. Or. Soc.
Vol. XXX, p. 21), writes this character with the phonetic element Hf , apparently
in agreement with the edition of the Tsin tai pi $u; but this character is not author-
ized by K'an-hi, and it is difficult to see how it could have the phonetic value p'i;
we should expect ni. The above character is that given by K'an-hi, who cites under
it the passage in question. It is thus written also in the Min hian p'u & fff by
Ye T'in-kwei ^ S S (p- 10, ed. of Hian yen ts'un su) and in the Pen ts'ao kan
mu (Ch. 33, p. 6), where the pronunciation is explained by $3 *biet. The editors
of cyclopaedias were apparently staggered by this character, and most of them
have chosen the phonetic man, which is obviously erroneous. None of our
Chinese dictionaries lists the character.

3 The Pen ts'ao kan mu (I. c.) annotates that the first character should have
the sound ^ffr to, *dwat, which is not very probable.

4 There are also the forms plrzed, bdrzed (LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. I,
p. 201), berzed, barije, and bazrud; in India bireja, ganda-biroza. Another Persian
term given by SCHLIMMER (Terminologie, p. 294) is

363



364 SlNO-lRANICA

by Theophrastus: 1 it is produced in Syria from a plant called Trava
("all-heal"); it is only the juice (OTTOS) which is called xaXjSdpq, and
which "was used in cases of miscarriage as well as for sprains and
such-like troubles, also for the ears, and to strengthen the voice. The
root was used in childbirth, and for flatulence in beasts of burden,
further in making the iris-perfume (Ipivov pvpov) because of its fra-
grance; but the seed is stronger than the root. It grows in Syria, and
is cut at the time of wheat-harvest/' 2

Pliny says that galbanum grows on the mountain Amanus in Syria
as the exudation from a kind of ferula of the same name as the resin,
sometimes known as stagonitis* Its medicinal employment is treated
by him in detail. 4 DioscoRiDES 5 explains it as the gum of a plant which
has the form of a ferula, growing in Syria, and called by some metopion.
Abu Mansur 8 discusses the drug under the Arabic name quinna and the
Persian name barzad. During the middle ages galbanum was well known
in Europe from the fourteenth century onward. 7

The philological result is confirmed by the botanical evidence,
although Twan C'en-si's description, made from an oral report, not as
an eye-witness, is naturally somewhat deficient; but it allows us to
recognize the characteristics of a Ferula. It is perfectly correct that the
leaves resemble those of the asafoetida Ferula, as a glance at the ex-
cellent plates in the monograph of BORSZCZOW (op. tit.) will convince
one. It is likewise correct that the leaves grow at the ends of the twigs,
and usually by threes. It is erroneous, however, that the tree does not
flower or bear fruit. 8 The process of collecting the sap is briefly but
well described. Nothing positive is known about the importation of gal-
banum into China, although W. AINSLIE* stated in 1826 that it was

1 Histor. plant., IX. I, 2; IX. vn, 2; IX. ix, 2. The term occurs also in the
Greek papyri.

a Cf. the new edition and translation of Theophrastus by A. HORT (Vol. II,
p. 261). I do not see how the term "balsam of Mecca" (ibid., p. 219), which is a
misnomer anyhow, can be employed in the translation of an ancient Greek
author.

a Dat et galbanum Syria in eodem Amano monte e ferula, quae eiusdem nominis,
resinae modo; stagonitim appellant (xii, 56, 126).

4 xxiv, 13.

8 in, 87 (cf. LECLERC, Traite" des simples, Vol. Ill, p. 115).

6 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 108.

7 See, for instance, K. v. MEGENBERG, Buch der Natur (written in 1349-50),
ed. F. Pfeiffer, p. 367; FLUCKIGER and HANBURY, Pharmacographia, p. 321.

8 The fruits are already mentioned by Theophrastus (Hist, plant., IX. ix, 2)
as remedies.

9 Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 143.



GALBANUM 365

sent from Bombay to China, and SxuART 1 regards this as entirely
probable; but this is merely a supposition unsupported by any tangible
data: no modern name is known under which the article might come.
The three names given for galbanum in the English-Chinese Standard
Dictionary are all wrong: the first, a-yii, refers to asafcetida (see above,
p. 361) ; 2 the second, $8, denotes Liquidambar orientalis; and the third,
pai sun hian ("white pine aromatic "), relates to Pinus bungeana.
The Pen ts'ao kanmu 3 has the notice on p'i-ts'i as an appendix to "manna."
Li Si-6en, accordingly, did not know the nature of the product. He is
content to cite the text of the Yu yan tsa tsu and to define the medical
properties of the substance after C'en Ts'an-k'i of the T'ang. Only
under the T'ang was galbanum known in China.

The trees from which the product is obtained are usually identified
with Ferula galbaniflua and F. rubricaulis or erubescens, both natives
of Persia. The Syrian product used by the Hebrews and the ancients
was apparently derived from a different though kindred species.
F. rubricaulis, said by the botanist Buhse to be called in Persian khas-
suih* is diffused all over northern Persia and in the Daena Mountains
in the southern part of the country; it is frequent in the Demawend and
on the slopes of the Alwend near Hamadan. 5 No incisions are made
in the plant: the sap flowing out of the lower part of the stalks and from
the base of the leaves is simply collected. The gum is amber-yellow,
of not disagreeable, strongly aromatic odor, and soon softens between
the fingers. Its taste is slightly bitter. Only in the vicinity of Hamadan,
where the plant is exuberant, has the collecting of galbanum developed
into an industry.

SCHLIMMER* distinguishes two kinds, a brown and a white-yel-
lowish galbanum. The former (Persian barzed or barije), the product of
Ferula galbaniflua, is found near De Gerdon in the mountains Sa-ute-
polagh between Teheran and Gezwin, in the valleys of Lars (Elburs),
Khereghan, and Sawe, where the villagers gather it under the name
balubu. The latter kind is the product of Dorema anchezi Boiss., en-

1 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 181.

2 This is the name given' for galbanum by F. P. SMITH (Contributions towards
the Materia Medica, p. 100), but it is mere guesswork.

3 Ch. 33, p. 6.

4 Evidently identical with what WATT (Commercial Products of India, p. 535)
writes khassnib, explaining it as a kind of galbanum from Shlraz. LOEW (Aram.
Pflanzennamen, p. 163) makes kassnih of this word. The word intended is apparently
the kasni mentioned above (p. 361).

5 BORSZCZOW, op. cit., p. 35.

6 Terminologie, p. 295.



366 SlNO-lRANICA

countered by Buhse in the low mountains near Reshm (white galbanum).
Galbanum is also called kilyanl in Persian.

Borszczow has discovered in the Aralo-Caspian region another
species of Ferula, named by him F. schair from the native word lair
(= Persian ftr, " milk-juice") for this plant. The juice of this species
has the same properties as galbanum; also the plant has the same
odor.

Abu Mansur 1 mentions a Ferula under the name sakbinaj (Arabic
form, Persian sakfona), which his translator, the Persian physician
Achundow, has identified with the Sagapenum resin of Ferula persica,
said to be similar to galbanum and to be gathered in the mountains
of Luristan. According to FLI^CKIGER and HANBURY, Z the botanical
origin of Sagapenum is unknown; but there is no doubt that this word
(o-ayairrivov in Dioscorides, in, 95, and Galenus; sacopenium in Pliny,
xn, 56), in mediaeval pharmacy often written serapinum, is derived
from the Persian word.

The galbanum employed in India is imported from Persia to Bom-
bay. WATT 3 distinguishes three kinds known in commerce, Levant,
Persian solid, and Persian liquid. The first comes from Shiraz, the
second has an odor of turpentine, and the third is the gaoshir or jawa-
shir; the latter being a yellow or greenish semi-fluid resin, generally
mixed with the stems, flowers, and fruits of the plant. It is obtained from
the stem, which, when injured, yields an orange-yellow gummy fluid.
Generally, however, the galbanum of commerce forms round, agglu-
tinated tears, about the size of peas, orange-brown outside, yellowish-
white or bluish-green inside. The odor is not disagreeable, like that
of asafcetida, and the taste is bitter.

Galbanum consists of about 65 per cent resin, 20 per cent gum, and
from 3 to 7 per cent volatile oil.

1 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 84.

2 Pharmacographia, p. 342.

3 Commercial Products of India, p. 535.



OAK-GALLS

\

24. Oak-galls (French noix de galles, Portuguese galhas) are globular
excrescences caused by the gall-wasp (Cynips quercus folii) puncturing
the twigs, leaves, and buds, and depositing its ova in several species
of oak (chiefly Quercus lusitanica var. infectoria), to be found in Asia
Minor, Armenia, Syria, and Persia. In times of antiquity, galls were
employed for technical and medicinal purposes. In consequence of
their large percentage (up to 60 per cent) of tannic or Gallo-tannic
acid, they served for tanning, still further for the dyeing of wool and
the manufacture of ink. 1 Both Theophrastus 2 and Dioscorides 3 men-
tion galls under the name KT//CIS. Abu Mansur describes galls under
the Arabic name a/s. 4

The greater part of the galls found in Indian bazars come from
Persia, being brought by Arab merchants. 5 The Sanskrit name
mdjuphala (phala, "fruit") is plainly a loan-word from the Persian
mdzu.

In Chinese records, oak-galls are for the first time mentioned under
the term wu-$i-tse $ 'ft ? as products of Sasanian Persia. 6 They
first became known in China under the T'ang from Persia, being intro-
duced in the Materia Medica of the T'ang Dynasty (Tan pen ts'ao).
The Tan pen Zu Jl # i states that they grow in sandy deserts, 7 and
that the tree is like the tamarisk (pen 116 ). A commentary, cited as
kin cu ^ tt, adds that they are produced in Persia, while the Cen lei
pen ts'ao* says that they grow in the country of the Western 2un
(Iranians). The Yu yah tsa tsu g gives a description of the plant as
follows: " Wu-&-tse $& J5 ~? are produced in the country Po-se (Persia),

1 BLUMNER, Technologic, Vol. I, 26. ed., pp. 251, 268.

2 Hist, plant., III. vm, 6.

3 1, 146 (cf. LECLERC, Traite* des simples, Vol. II, p. 457). See also Pliny, xm
63; xvi, 26; xxiv, 109.

4 ACHUNDOW, Abu Mansur, p. 98.

5 W. AINSLIE, Materia Indica, Vol. I, p. 145; WATT, Commercial Products of
India, p. 911.

6 Sui su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b.

7 According to another reading, "in sandy deserts of the Western Zun" (that
is, Iranians).

8 Ch. 14, p. 20.

9 Ch. 1 8, p. 9.

367



368 SlNO-lRANICA

where they are styled J^ ftS mo-tsei, *mwa-d2ak. 1 The tree grows to
a height of from six to seven feet, 2 with a circumference of from eight to
nine feet. The leaves resemble those of the peach, but are more oblong.
It blossoms in the third month, the flowers being white, and their
heart reddish. The seeds are round like pills, green in the beginning,
but when ripe turning to yellow-white. Those punctured by insects
and perforated are good for the preparation of leather; those without
holes are used as medicine. This tree alternately produces galls one
year and acorns ($C 9 -f pa-lu tse, *bwa6-lu; Middle Persian *ballu,
barru [see below], New Persian balut), the size of a finger and three
inches long, the next." 3 The latter notion is not a Chinese fancy, but
the reproduction of a Persian belief. 4

The Geography of the Ming (Ta Min i fun &') states that galls are
produced in the country of the Arabs (Ta-Si) and all barbarians, and
that the tree is like the camphor-tree (Laurus camphor a), the fruits
like the Chinese wild chestnuts (mao-li IP 3fl) .

The Chinese transcriptions of the Iranian name do not "all repre-
sent Persian mazu" as reiterated by Hirth after Watters, but repro-
duce older Middle-Persian forms. In fact, none of the Chinese render-
ings can be the equivalent of mazu.

(1) IP ftfi (Yu yan tsa tsu) mo-tsei, *mwa-dz*ak (dzak, zak), answers
to a Middle Persian *madz"ak (madzak or mazak).

(2) M ^ mo-&, *mak-zak, = Middle Persian *maxzak.

(3) & ^ wu-&, *mwu-zak, = Middle Persian *muzak.

(4) iS. ^f mu-U y *mut-zak, = Middle Persian *muzak. Compare
with these various forms Tamil matakai, Telugu matikai, and the
magican of Barbosa.

(5) Jj! 3 5 mo-t'u, *mwa-du, = Middle Persian *madu.

^ $ & $a-mu-lii (in Cao 2u-kwa), *sa-mut-lwut, answers to Iranian

1 Instead of tsei, some editions write & tso (*dzak, dzak), which is phonetically
the same.

2 The text has 3Jt, which should be corrected into K-. for tne tree seldom rises
higher than six feet.

8 The text of the following last clause is corrupted, and varies in the different
editions; it yields no acceptable sense. HIRTH'S translation (Chao Ju-kua, p. 215)
is not intelligible to me. WATTERS (Essays on the Chinese Language, p. 349) is
certainly wrong in saying that "the Chinese do not seem to know even yet the
origin of these natural products" (oak-galls); this is plainly refuted by the above
description. The T'u $u tsi Veh (XX, Ch. 310) and Ci wu min Si t'u k'ao (Ch. 35,
p. 21) even have a tolerably good sketch of the tree, showing galls on the leaves.

4 E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 127.

6 The character 3fc Va in Cao Zu-kwa, and thus adopted by HIRTH (p. 2 15), is
an error.



OAK-GALLS 369

$ah-balut ("the edible chestnut," Castanea vulgaris), which appears in
the Bundahisn (above, p. 193), as correctly identified by Hirth; but
iff 3L p'u-lu and pa-lii of the Yu yan tsa tsu (see above) would indicate
that the Chinese heard bulu and balu without a final /, and such forms
may have existed in Middle-Persian dialects. In fact, we have this
type in the dialect of the Kurd in the form berru, and in certain Kurd
dialects baril and barru. 1

1 Cf. J. DE MORGAN, Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. V, p. 133. The Iranian
term means literally "acorn of the Shah, royal acorn," somehow a certain analogy
to Greek Ai6s /SAXavos ("acorn of Zeus"). The origin of Greek Kaar&vaiov or
K&CTTOLVOV is sought in Armenian kask ("chestnut") and kaskeni ("chestnut-tree";
see SCHRADER in Hehn, Kulturpflanzen, p. 402). According to the Armenian Geog.
raphy of Moses of Khorene, the tree flourished in the Old-Armenian provinc e
Duruperan (Daron); according to Galenus, near Sardes in Asia Minor; according to
Baud, on Cyprus; according to Abu Mansur, also in Syria; while, according to the
same author, Persia imported chestnuts from Adherbeijan and Arran; according to
Schlimmer, from Russia (E. SEIDEL, Mechithar, p. 152). It is striking that the
Chinese did not see the identity of the Iranian term with their / Jj f the common
chestnut, several varieties of which grow in China.