|
|
|
|
Cathay
|
| |
|
| |
Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan (Q́dan), the name of a barbarian tribe that founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own (Kara-Khitan Khanate) centered around today's Kyrgyzstan for another century thereafter.
Originally, "Catai" was the name applied by Central and Western Asians and Europeans to northern China; it obtained wide currency in Europe after the publication of Marco Polo's book (he referred to southern China as Manji).
rm of the name Cathai is attested in an Uighur Manichaean document circa 1000.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Cathay' Start a new discussion about 'Cathay' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan (Q́dan), the name of a barbarian tribe that founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own (Kara-Khitan Khanate) centered around today's Kyrgyzstan for another century thereafter.
Originally, "Catai" was the name applied by Central and Western Asians and Europeans to northern China; it obtained wide currency in Europe after the publication of Marco Polo's book (he referred to southern China as Manji).
History
A form of the name Cathai is attested in an Uighur Manichaean document circa 1000. Soon the name becomes known in Muslim Central Asia as well: when in 1026, the Ghaznavid court (in Ghazna, in today's Afghanistan) was visited by envoys from the Liao ruler, he was described as a "Qata Khan", i.e. the ruler of Qata; Qata or Qita appears in writings of al-Biruni and Abu Said Gardezi in the following decades. The Persian scholar and administrator Nizam al-Mulk (1018–1092) mentions Khita and China in his Book on the Administration of the State, apparently as to separate countries (presumably, referring to the Liao and Song Empires, respectively).
The name's currency in the Muslim world survived the replacement of the Khitan Liao Dynasty with the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in the early 12th century. When describing the fall of the Jin Empire to the Mongols (1234), Persian history described the conquered country as Khitay or Djerdaj Khitay(i.e., "Jurchen Cathay"). The Mongols themselves, in their Secret History (13th century) talk of both Khitans and Kara-Khitans.
As European and Arab travelers started reaching the Mongol Empire, they described the Mongol-controlled Northern China as "Cathay" (in a number of spelling variants) as well. The name occurs in the writings of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (ca. 1180 - 1252) (as Kitaia), William of Rubruck (ca. 1220 - ca. 1293) (as Cataya or Cathaia).. Rashid al-Din, ibn Battuta, Marco Polo all were referring to Northern China as Cathay, while Southern China was Mangi, Manzi, Chin, or Sin.
Etymological progression
Below is the etymological progression from Khitan to Cathay as the word travelled westward:
Use in English
Travels in the Land of Kublai Khan by Marco Polo has a story called "The Road to Cathay". In the English language, the word Cathay was sometimes used for China, although increasingly only in a poetic sense, until the 19th century when it was completely replaced by "China". However the terms "China" and "Cathay" have histories of approximately equal length in English. The term may still be used poetically or in certain proper nouns, such as Cathay Pacific Airways or Cathay Hotel. A person from Cathay (i.e., a Chinese) was also written in English as a Cathayan or a Cataian.
See also
Literature
Karl A. Wittfogel and Feng Chia-Sheng, History of Chinese Society: Liao (907-1125). in Transactions of American Philosophical Society (vol. 36, Part 1, 1946). Available .
|
| |
|
|
