Cathay

Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan ^[1] (Chinese: 契丹, Qìdān), the name of a nomadic people who 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 Uyghur Manichaean document circa 1000.^[2] Soon the name became 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 "Qatā Khan", i.e. the ruler of Qatā; Qatā or Qitā appears in writings of al-Biruni and Abu Said Gardezi in the following decades.^[2] 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 two separate countries^[2] (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 Khitāy or Djerdaj Khitāy(i.e., "Jurchen Cathay").^[2] The Mongols themselves, in their Secret History (13th century) talk of both Khitans and Kara-Khitans.^[2]

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).^[3]. Rashid al-Din, ibn Battuta, Marco Polo all were referring to Northern China as Cathay, while Southern China was Mangi, Manzi, Chin, or Sin.^[3]

In some languages, most notably Russian, Cathay (Китай, see below) is still the modern name for China.

Etymological progression

Below is the etymological progression from Khitan to Cathay as the word travelled westward:

• Mongolian/Classical Mongolian: Khyatad (Хятад) / Kitad
• Uyghur (Western China): خىتاي, Xitay
• Kazakh: قىتاي, Қытай, Qıtay
• Kazan Tatar (Central Russia): Qıtay
• Russian: Kitay (Китай)
• Bulgarian: Kitay (Китай)
• Medieval Latin: Cataya, Kitai
• Spanish: Catay
• Italian: Catai
• Portuguese: Cataio
• English, German, Dutch, Scandinavian: Cathay

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.

References in popular culture

• Cathay is mentioned several times by John Blackthorne, the protagonist in James Clavell's novel Shōgun.
• The flag carrier of Hong Kong was named Cathay Pacific because the founders envisioned that one day, the airline would cross the Pacific Ocean from China.
• Ezra Pound published a collection of poems entitled Cathay: For the Most Part from the Chinese of Rihaku, from the notes of the late Ernest Fenollosa, and the Decipherings of the Professors Mori and Ariga, London: Elkin Mathews, 1915.
• Hart Crane mentions Cathay in his poem The Bridge.
• Edna St. Vincent Millay mentions Cathay in her poem "To The Not Impossible Him".
• Cathay is the name of a short story by Steven Millhauser in his collection of short stories "in the penny arcade"
• The Suede song "The Power" from the album Dog Man Star includes the line, "through endless Asia / through the fields of Cathay".
• In Gore Vidal's novel Creation, which takes place between 510–445 BC, Cathay is a pivotal setting.
• In Thomas Costain's novel 'The Black Rose' (1945), Cathay is the destination of the protagonist. Also made into a movie, the novel takes place in the 12 century.
• Robert E. Howard named a China-like civilization Khitai in his Hyborian Age backdrop for Conan the Barbarian.
• In the 2007 Animated Film Sword of the Stranger, the antagonists are a group of Chinese warriors referred to as the Cathay.
• Brian Eno's song "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More" wonders, "How does she intend to live when she's in far Cathay?" from his album, Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)

In role playing games:

• There are regions named Cathay in the settings of the 7th Sea and Earthdawn role playing games.
• Cathay is a region with Chinese inspirations in the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
• In White Wolf Game Studio's Kindred of the East a popular epithet for an Eastern vampire is "Cathayan".
• Cathay Bank Corp is a successful bank with multiple branches throughout the United States and overseas.

See also

• Kitai-gorod

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 on Google Books.

Footnotes