É. Apor (ed.): Codex Cumanicus. Ed. by Géza Kuun with a Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus by Lajos Ligeti. (Budapest Oriental Reprints, Ser. B 1.)
L. Ligeti: Prolegomena to the Codex Cumanicus
10 L. I-IGETI chant to take two skilful Coman interpreters with him, and a Coman-speaking woman interpreter might come in handy too. 1 5 Of interest for us in Pegolotti's itinerary are the chapters on the journey up to Almalik, and on the Coman language and interpreters. Mention should be made of Gyárfás' «office vocabulary» as well. What kind of offices used the Persian—Coman dictionary of the Codex Cumanicus? The Cedex itself provides the answer, notably its chapter «Nobilitas hominum et mulierum» (p. 90). As is known, the Genoans as well as the Venetians called their senior official in the Black Sea colonies (and elsewhere like in Tebriz) consul. The corresponding words in the Codex are: P qadi [chadi] «judge», C Seriyat [seriat]. In the same chapter also see: L potestas, P Sana [saana], C yaryvci [yarguzi] «Biirgermeister» ; L torcimanus, P kalamaöi [ta1 5 The terms of «office activities» in the Codex contain an intriguing material group; «N(om)i(n)a arti(um) et que per(ti)ne(n)t eis» (p. 80). The Persian and Coman equivalents of L scriba can be found here. The chapter makes it clear that the task of the «scribe» or «notary» was to execute the documentation of trading activities: it is preceded by «money» ( pecunia ) and followed by «debtors» and «creditors» (depitores , creditores), «ledgers» ( manuale ), ink, touchstone» (lapis auri), «business paper» (litera) and «writing paper» (papirum) The chapter is headed by Italo-Latin bancherius, the Coman equivalent of which (saraf) Grönbech interpreted inaccurately as «Geldwechsler». As for commodity goods, the LatinPersian-Coman list of the Codex deserves a small monograph (including the careful interpretation and etymology of each word). The Florentine Francesco Balducci Pegolotti was neither a merchant nor a traveller, but he carefully collected information from them. His work La Pratica della Mercatura has long been in the focus of attention. For an up-todate treatment of this subject see Sir Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither III, London 1914, pp. 137-173. Cf. also H. Cordier, Histoire de la Chine II, Paris 1920, pp. 430 — 432. The latest edition of Pegolotti's work: Allan Evans, Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, La Pratica della Mercatura, ed. by —. Cambridge Mass. 1936. Cf. also R. S. Lopez, Venezia e le grande linee espansione commerciale nel secolo XIII, in: La civiltà veneziana del secolo di Mano Polo, Florence 1952, pp. 39 — 82. Let me add here that in Pegolotti's book, the name of the Chinese paper money baleS was referred to by Pelliot in T'oung Poo XXVII, pp. 190 -192. He asserts here that baleé is identical with the distorted form of Turkish yastuq, mentioned by missionaries visiting the Mongols. Both words originally meant «cushion». Let me stress that the prime meaning of balii is not «paper money», cf. P bàliS «a cushion, a pillow; a weight of gold (eight miskáls and two dànaks)» (Stg.). On the role of Tana, see Elene C. Skriinskaja, Storia della Tana, in: Studi veneziani X (1968), pp. 3 -46. \V. Heyd's Histoire du commerce du Levant au Moyen Age II, Leipzig 1885, pp. 555 -711 is very instructive on the commodity goods of trade in the Levant. Comprehensive studies have often referred to the export and import goods of Black Sea trade; cf. Bratianu, Pecherches, p. 247 (with further references), Spuler, Die Goldene Horde, p. 407 sqq. D. Drüll used her findings to explain the «business» words of the Codex (pp. 39 -92). A relatively late goods list is of special importance (E. Schütz has drawn attention to it): Devon Khachikian, Le registre d'un marchand arménien en Perse, en Inde et au Tibet (1682 — 1692), in: Annales 1967 (Paris), pp. 231 - 278. This study was translated from English into French, but retains the original English spelling of the names of articles taken from the native tongue. This list also contributes interesting data on the Persian names of the Codex.
