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THE OLIVE

43. The Yu yan tsa tsu 1 has the following notice of an exotic plant:
"The ts'i-t'un ^ ^ (*dzi-tun, *zi-tun) tree has its habitat in the coun-
try Po-se (Persia), likewise in the country Fu-lin (Syria). In Fu-lin it
is termed ^ M ts*i-t*i* (*dzi, zi-ti). The tree grows to a height of twenty
or thirty feet. The bark is green, the flowers are white, resembling
those of the shaddock (yu tt, Citrus grandis), and very fragrant.
The fruit is similar to that of the yan-t'ao Ul fft (Averrhoa carambold)
and ripens in the fifth month. The people of the Western countries
press an oil out of it for frying cakes and fruit, in the same man-
ner as sesame seeds (ku-$en E 0) 3 are utilized in China."

The transcription ts*i-t*un has been successfully identified by HiRTH 4
with Persian zeitun, save that we have to define this form as Middle
Persian; and Fu-lin ts*i-Vi with Aramaic zaita (Hebrew zayitf). This
is the olive-tree (Olea Europaea). 5 The Persian word is a loan from
the Semitic, the common Semitic form being *zeitu (Arabic zeitun) . It
is noteworthy that the Fu-lin form agrees more closely with Grusinian
and Ossetic zet'i, Armenian jet, dzet ("olive-oil"), zeit ("olive"), Arabic
zaitf than with the Aramaic word. The olive-tree, mentioned in
Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193), grows spontaneously in Persia and
Baluchistan, but the cultivated species was in all likelihood received
by the Iranians (as well as by the Armenians) from the Semites. The
olive-tree was known in Mesopotamia at an early date: objects in
clay in the form of an olive belonging to the time of Urukagina, one
of the pre-Sargonic rulers of Lagash, are still extant. 7

1 Ch. 18, p. ii.

2 A gloss thus indicates the reading of this character by the fan ts'ie | ^.

3 See above, p. 292.

4 Journal Am. Or. Soc., Vol. XXX, 1910, p. 19.

5 See, for instance, the illustrated article "olivier" in DUJARDIN-BEAUMETZ
and EGASSE, Plantes me'dicinales indigenes et exotiques (p. 492, Paris, 1889), which
is a very convenient and commendable reference-book, particularly valuable for
its excellent illustrations. Cf. also S. KRAUSS, Talmudische Archaologie, Vol. II,
p. 214; S. FRAENKEL, Die aramaischen Fremdworter im Arabischen, p. 147.

6 W. MILLER, Sprache der Osseten, p. 10; HUBSCHMANN, Arm. Gram., p. 309.

7 HANDCOCK, Mesopotamian Archaeology, p. 13. The contributions which
A. ENGLER has made to the olive in Hehn's Kulturpflanzen (p. 118) are just as sing-
ular as his notions of the walnut. Leaves of the olive-tree have been found in Pliocene
deposits near Mongardino north-west of Bologna, and this is sufficient for Engler
to "prove" the autochthonous character of the tree in Italy. All it proves, if the

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4l6 SlNO-lRANICA

ScHLiMMER 1 says that Olea europaea is largely cultivated by the
inhabitants of Mendjil between Besht and Ghezwin in Persia, and
that the olives are excellent; nevertheless the oil extracted is very bad
and unfit to eat. The geographical distribution of the tree in Iran
has well been traced by F. SPIEGEL. 2

The word ts'i-t'un has been perpetuated by the lexicographers of
the Emperor K'ien-lun (1736-95). It makes its appearance in the
Dictionary of Four Languages, in the section " foreign fruit." 3 For
the Tibetan and Mongol forms, one has chosen the transcriptions
c'i-tun sin (transcribing tse ?) and tilun jimin respectively; while it is
surprising to find a Manchu equivalent ulusun, which has been correctly
explained by H. C. v. d. Gabelentz and Sakharov. In the Manchu-
Chinese Dictionary Ts*ih wen pu hui, published in 1771, we find the

fact be correct, is that a wild olive once occurred in the Pliocene of Italy, which
certainly does not exclude the idea and the well-established historical fact that the
cultivated olive was introduced into Italy from Greece in historical times. The
notice of Pliny (xv, i) weighs considerably more in this case than any alleged
palseontological wisdom, and the Pliocene has nothing to do with historical times
of human history. The following is truly characteristic of Engler's uncritical stand-
point and his inability to think historically: "Since the fruits of the olive-tree are
propagated by birds, and in many localities throughout the Mediterranean the con-
ditions for the existence of the tree were prepared, it was quite natural also that the
tree settled in the localities suitable for it, before the Oriental civilized nations
made one of the most important useful plants of it." If the birds were the sole
propagators of the tree, why did they not carry it to India, the Archipelago, and
China, where it never occurred? The distribution of the olive shows most clearly
that it was brought about by human activity, and that we are confronted with a
well-defined geographical zone as the product of human civilization, Western
Asia and the Mediterranean area. There is nothing in Engler like the vision and
breadth of thought of a de Candolle, in whose Origin of Cultivated Plants we read
(p. 280), "The question is not clearly stated when we ask if such and such olive-
trees of a given locality are really wild. In a woody species which lives so long and
shoots again from the same stock when cut off by accident, it is impossible to know
the origin of the individuals observed. They may have been sown by man or birds
at a very early epoch, for olive-trees of more than a thousand years old are known.
The effect of such sowing is a naturalization, which is equivalent to an extension
of area. The point in question is, therefore, to discover what was the home of the
species in very early prehistoric times, and how this area has grown larger by dif-
ferent modes of transport. It 'is not by the study of living olive-trees that this can
be answered. We must seek in what countries the cultivation began, and how it
was propagated. The more ancient it is in any region, the more probable it is that
the species has existed wild there from the time of those geological events which took
place before the coming of prehistoric man." Here we meet a thinker of critical
acumen, possessed of a fine historical spirit, and striving for truth nobly and honestly;
and there, a dry pedant, who thinks merely in terms of species and genera, and is
unwilling to learn and to understand history.

1 Terminologie, p. 406.

2 Eranische Altertumskunde, Vol. I, pp. 257-258.
8 Appendix, Ch. 3, p. 10.



THE OLIVE 417

following definition of ulusun in Chinese: "Ts'i-fun is a foreign fruit,
which is produced in the country Po-se (Persia). The bark of the tree
is green, the flowers are white and aromatic. Its fruit ripens in the fifth
month and yields an oil good for frying cakes." This is apparently based
on the notice of the Yu yan tsa tsu. The Manchu word ulusun (-sun
being a Manchu ending) seems to be an artificial formation based on
Latin oleum (from Greek elaiori), which was probably conveyed through
the Jesuit missionaries.

The olive remained unknown to the Japanese; their modern bo-
tanical science calls it oreifu M ?!l ^, which reproduces our "olive." 1
The Japanese botanists, without being aware of the meaning of ts'i-tun,
avail themselves of the characters for this word (reading them ego-no-ki)
for the designation of Sty rax japonica. 2

The so-called Chinese olive, kan-lan ffi 91, has no affinity with the
true olive of the West-Asiatic and Mediterranean zone, although its
appearance comes very near to this fruit. 3 The name kan-lan applies
to Canarium album and C. pimela, belonging to the order Burseraceaej
while the olive ranks in that of the Oleaceae. 4 Ma Ci, who, in his K'ai

1 MATSUMURA, No. 2136.

2 Ibid., No. 3051.

3 The kan-lan tree itself is suspected to be of foreign origin; it was most probably
introduced from Indo-China into southern China. Following are briefly the reasons
which prompt me to this opinion. I. According to Li Si-cen, the meaning of the
name kan-lan remains unexplained, and this comment usually hints at a foreign word.
The ancient pronunciation was *kam-lam or *kam-ram, which we still find in
Annamese as kam-lan. The tree abounds in Annam, the fruit being eatable and
preserved in the same manner as olives (PERROT and HURRIER, Mat. me"d. et phar-
macope"e sino-annamites, p. 141). Moreover, we meet in Pa-yi, a T'ai language
spoken in Yiin-nan, a word (maty-k'am, which in a Pa-yi-Chinese glossary is rendered
by Chinese kan-lan (the element mak means "fruit"; see F. W. K. MULLER, T'oung
Pao, Vol. Ill, p. 27). The relationship of Annamese to the T'ai languages has been
clearly demonstrated by H. MASPERO, and it seems to me that Chinese *kam-lam
is borrowed from Annam-T'ai. There are many more such Chinese botanical names,
as I hope to show in the near future. 2. The plant appears in Chinese records
at a comparatively recent date. It is first described in the Nan cou i wu li of the
third century as a plant of Kwan-tun and Fu-kien and in the Nan fan ts'ao mu Iwan
(Ch. c, p. 3 b). It is mentioned as a tree of the south in the Kin lou tse of the Em-
peror Yuan of the Liang in the sixth century (see above, p. 222). A description of
it is due to Liu Sun in his Lin piao lu i (Ch. B, p. 5 b). In the materia medica it
first appears in the K'ai pao pen ts'ao of the end of the tenth century. 3. The tree
remained always restricted to the south-eastern parts of China bordering on Indo-
China. According to the San fu hwan t'u, it belonged to the southern plants brought
to the Fu-li Palace of the Han Emperor Wu after the conquest of Nan Yue (cf.
above, p. 262).

4 The fruit of Canarium is a fleshy drupe from three to six cm in length, which
contains a hard, triangular, sharp-pointed seed. Within this are found one or more
oily kernels. The flesh of the fresh, yellowish-green fruit, like that of the true olive,
is somewhat acrid and disagreeable, and requires special treatment before it can



418 SlNO-lRANICA

pao pen ts'ao (written between A.D. 968 and 976), describes the kan-lan,
goes on to say that "there is also another kind, known as Po-se kan-lan
('Persian kan-lan'), growing in Yun cou I ffl, 1 similar to kan-lan in
color and form, but different in that the kernel is divided into two sec-
tions; it contains a substance like honey, which is soaked in water and
eaten." The San se cou ci 2 mentions the plant as a product of San-se
ou in Kwan-si. It would be rather tempting to regard this tree as the
true olive, as tentatively proposed by STUART ; 3 but I am not ready to
subscribe to this theory until it is proved by botanists that the olive-
tree really occurs in Kwan-si. Meanwhile it should be pointed out that
weighty arguments militate against this supposition. First of all, the
Po-se kan-lan is a wild tree: not a word is said to the effect that it is
cultivated, still less that it was introduced from Po-se. If it had been
introduced from Persia, we should most assuredly find it as a culti-
vation; and if such an introduction had taken place, why should it be
confined to a few localities of Kwan-si? Li Si-Sen does not express an
opinion on the question; he merely says that the fan jfr Ian, another
variety of Canarium to be found in Kwan-si (unidentified), is a kind
of Po-se kan-lan, which proves distinctly that he regards the latter
as a wild plant. The T'ang authors are silent as to the introduction of
the olive; nevertheless, judging from the description in the Yu yan tsa
tsu, it may be that the fruit was imported from Persia under the T'ang.
Maybe the Po-se kan-lan was so christened on account of a certain
resemblance of its fruit to the olive; we do not know. There is one
specific instance on record that the Po-se of Ma Ci applies to the
Malayan Po-se (below, p. 483) ; this may even be the case here, but the
connection escapes our knowledge.

S. JuLiEN 4 asserts that the Chinese author from whom he derives
his information describes the olive-tree and its fruit, but adds that
the use of it is much restricted. The Chinese name for the tree is not
given. Finally, it should be pointed out that Ibn Batuta of the four-
be made palatable. Its most important constituent is fat, which forms nearly one-
fourth of the total nutritive material. Cf. W. C. BLASDALE, Description of Some
Chinese Vegetable Food Materials, p. 43, with illustration (U. S. Department of
Agriculture, Bull. No. 68, 1899). The genus Canarium comprises about eighty
species in the tropical regions of the Old World, mostly in Asia (ENGLER, Pflan-
zenfamilien, Vol. Ill, pt. 4, p. 240).

1 Name under the T'ang dynasty of the present prefecture Nan-nin in Kwan-si
Province.

2 Ch. 14, p. 7 b (see above, p. 409).
8 Chinese Materia Medica, p. 89.

4 Industries de 1'empire chinois, p. 120.



THE OLIVE 419

teenth century positively denies the occurrence of olives in China. 1
Of course, this Arabic traveller is not an authority on Chinese affairs:
many of his data concerning China are out and out absurd. He may
even not have visited China, as suggested by G. Ferrand; notwith-
standing, he may be right in this particular point. Likewise the Arch-
bishop of Soltania, who wrote about 1330, states, " There groweth
not any oil olive in that country." 2

1 YULE, Cathay, Vol. IV, p. 118.

2 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 96.



CASSIA PODS AND CAROB

44. In his Pen ts'ao $i i, written during the first half of the eighth
century, C'en Ts'an-k'i has this notice regarding an exotic plant:
"A-lo-p*o M f& tft (*a-lak-bwut) grows in the country Fu-lin (Syria),
its fruit resembling in shape that of the tsao kia -Ib 5^ (Gleditschia or
Gymnocladus sinensis), save that it is more rounded and elongated.
It is sweet of taste and savory." 1

In the Cen lei pen ts'ao 2 we read that "a-lo-p*o grows in the country
Fu-si ft ffi"; that is, Bhoja, Sumatra. Then follows the same descrip-
tion as given above, after C'en Ts'aii-k'i. The name p'o-lo-men tsao
kia 1 H Fl & 35t is added as a synonyme. Li Si-Sen 3 comments that
P'o-lo-men is here the name of a Si-yii B ^ ("Western Regions")
country, and that Po-se is the name of a country of the south-western
barbarians; that is, the Malayan Po-se. The term p'o-lo-men tsao kia,
which accordingly would mean "Gleditschia of the P'o-lo-men coun-
try," he ascribes to C'en Ts'an-k'i, but in his quotation from this
author it does not occur. The country P'o-lo-men here in question is
the one mentioned in the Man Zu*

A somewhat fuller description of this foreign tree is contained in
the Yu yah tsa tsuf as follows: "The Persian tsao kia (Gleditschia) has
its habitat in the country Po-se (Persia), where it is termed hu-ye-
yen-mo & & @ R, while in Fu-lin it is styled a-li-k'u-fa M M tt. 6
The tree has a height of from thirty to forty feet, and measures from
four to five feet in circumference. The leaves resemble those of Citrus
medica (kou yuan $) $0 , but are shorter and smaller. During the cold
season it does not wither. 7 It does not flower, and yet bears fruit. 8
Its pods are two feet long. In their interior are shells (ko ko IS IB).
Each of these encloses a single seed of the size of a finger, red of color,

1 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 31, p. 9 b, where the name of the plant is wrongly
written a-p'o-lo. The correct form a-lo-p'o is given in the Cen lei pen ts'ao.

2 Ch. 12, p. 56 (ed. of 1587).

3 Pen ts'ao kan mu, Ch. 31, p. 9 b.

4 See below, p. 468.

6 Ch. 1 8, p. 12. Also Li Si-Sen has combined this text with the preceding one
under the heading a-p'o-lo (instead of a-lo-p'o).

6 The Pen ts'ao kan mu (Ch. 31, p. 9 b), in quoting this text, gives the Po-se
name as hu-ye-yen and the Fu-lin name only as a-li.

7 This means, it is an evergreen.

8 This is due to erroneous observation.

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