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

44 L. I-IGETI 698 (Nacco); Peg. (Yule 169: nacchi; Dr. 57: «Brokát»); Polo (nac; Pelliot I, 483); Lauf. 496. P vax «filum sericum vei bombycinum vei aliud; tapetum vei stratum elegáns et pictum» (Yull. II, 1297); A vax «étoffe de soie brochée d'or, brocart» (Dozy II, 648); nasicivs «gold brocate with pearls»; P nasiz

: nasic; C nasiq

: nasic (the reading vaSic put forward by Grönbech is possible only in Mongol) (91:28). — Heyd (nachetti) II, 698; Peg. (Yule 169: nachetti; Dr. 57: «Goldbrokat»); Polo (

nasici

, nasiti

, Pelliot I, 332); Lauf. 496. P nasi] «vestis serica auro testa» (Yull. II, 1314); A nasij «étoffe de soie brochée d'or» (Dozy II, 666); cf. A nasi) «tissé», nata)a «tisser (une étoffe)» (BK II, 1247)

6

1; scartala «scarlet cloth»; P scarlat: sqarlàt; C yscarlat: isqarlat (92:5) — Heyd II, 607 (grana da tignere scarlatti, graine d'écarlate»); Lauf. 496 — 498 (makes distinction between the derivatives of P saqirldt and saqalàt in the western languages); Pelg. I, 114. P saqirlàt «warm wollen cloth; purpet; broadcloth» (Stg. 686); cremixi «scarlet»; P cremixi: qirmizi; C cremixi: qirmizi (Grönbech considers the Coman form a mechanical repetition of the Latin) (92:29). — Pelg. " Nachus and nasicius often occur side by side in our sources, and several researchers treat them together. W. Bang was the first to consider them in his Vber den angeblichen Untroitus natorum et nascitorum in den Genueser Steuerbüchern*: Bulletin de l'Académie Roy. de Belgique, 1912, pp. 27 — 32. P. Pelliot, Une ville musulmane dans la Chine du Nord sous les Mongols

: Journ. As. 1927 II, pp. 261 — 279. In this study Pelliot states that one of the trades of the 3000 Muslims transferred from around Samarqand was brocade making. (These people were settled in the North Chinese city of Hsün-ma-lin.) According to Chinese records these textiles were called na-shih-shih (

nàsiS and na-shih-ss

ű (naSis

) in Mongol. Pelliot enlarged upon the explanation of nag and nasif at this time (p. 269, note 1). Pelliot wished to elaborate on these two terms in his work Notes on Marco Polo, and even referred to the planned entry, Nac and Mascici (I, p. 332). Unfortunately, he never carried out his plan. Actually, Bretschneider, Mediaeval Researches II, pp. 124 — 125 already mentioned the data of Marco Polo and Pcgolotti, and also referred to the Secret History of the Mongols, which includes naqut «a kind of gold brocate», and naiidut «a silk stof

f interwoven with gold» among the «presents» sent from Baghdad to Khan Ögöd' ji. The Mongol text actually reads: Siramal altatan naqut nacidut (Ligeti, Histoire secrete des Mongols, in: Monumenta Linguae Mongolicae Collecta I, Budapest 1971, p. 247). Haenisoh (Wörterbuch, p. 113) mistranslates naqut as «Golderz». Naqut is the Mongol plural of naq. Nacidut, in turn, is the Mongol plural of nacit, which also occurs in the. Secret History (Mongolian text: Monumenta T, p. 204), in the passage containing the message of Chinghis to the Uighur Iduqut, instructing him on what presents he should bring before him. Naíit is also a plural, derived from na6i(, na(i] or some other related form. Since it is an irregular form, it needs further interpretation. Otherwise, double plurals are not rare in the above mentioned passage of the Secret History. Dozy, Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes II, p. 648 contents that nax (referring to its Persian equivalent) was made in Tebriz, meaning, among other things, «étoffe de soie brochée d'or». Dozy II, p. 666 also contains the form nasi) of the same meaning. In both cases reference is made (via Defrérnery) to Marco Polo's data.