SINA LATINA:

LATIN MATERIALS ON CHINESE

TOPICS

LATIN NAMES FOR CHINA AND

THE CHINESE

Sres, -um: In use from at least 1st cent. B.C, Greek loan word
probably deriving ultimately from (Latin for silk is sricum, -
n), so means `the silk people; the adjectival form Srica (sc.
terra) could be used to refer specifically to the land. But
classical writers seem to have used Sres also to refer to other
peoples along the `Silk Road or even in other regions.

Snae, rum: Referred to both people and place, via Greek

Snai or Thnai from Sanskrit Cna or a common source that
may have been the dynastic names Qin ( ) or Jing ( ), or
ina , the indigenous name for the Yelang polity in Yunnan,
through which Chinese products often reached India. Ptolemy
(c.150 A.D.) distinguishes Snai in southern China from the
more northerly Srica but by the Middle Ages Snae was
standard usage for China as a whole, with the singular Sna
used less often. Early modern texts sometimes used China
(e.g. in the title of Kirchers 1667 Latin publication China
Illustrata) but this is not found in recent Latin writing.

A passage in the Book of Han ( ) refers to soldiers in the army of a Xiongnu (Hun?) chieftain adopting
a `fish-scale formation when defending their fortress in Kazakhstan against a Han attack in 36 B.C. It has
been suggested this was the Roman testd tactic and that the soldiers were amongst Roman prisoners
captured after their defeat by the Parthians at Carrhae (in modern Turkey) in 53 B.C. and sent to defend
Parthias eastern frontier in present-day Turkmenistan. These men were supposedly later taken into
Chinese service and founded the village of Liqian (< legi?) in Gansu, However, although a number of
villagers now appear to have Caucasian ancestry this could easily be simply the result of ethnic intermarriage along the Silk Road

Eastern trade as described in `The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a

Greek text compiled in the 1st century A.D. Chapter 64 states: `Under
the very north (i,e north from the Malay Peninsula), the sea outside
ending in a land called Thys, there is a very large inland city called
Thinae, from which raw silk yarn and silk cloth are brought on foot
through Bactria to Barigaza (Bharuch in Gujarat).

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO POMPONIUS

MELA (43 A.D.?)
Latin text at http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost01/Pomponius/pom_orbi.html

Eurasia and Africa completely surrounded by sea but

Asia and Africa imagined much smaller than in reality.
A hypothetical continent south of the equator but
assumed to be inaccessible because of the unbearably
hot zone separating it from Africa.
The Caspian Sea as a gulf connected to the Arctic
Ocean.
The `Seres in the middle of Asias eastern coast.

"In the ninth Yongyuan year (97 A.D.) during the reign of Emperor He, Protector General Ban
Chao sent Gan Ying ( ) to Da Qin ( , the Roman Empire). He reached Tiaozhi
(probably the kingdom of Characene, whose capital was Charax Spasinou) and Sibin (?
Susiana, western Persia) next to a large sea. He wanted to cross it, but the sailors of the
western frontier of Anxi [Parthia] said to him:
`The ocean is huge. Those making the round trip can do it in three months if the
winds are favourable. However, if you encounter winds that delay you, it can take two years.
That is why all the men who go by sea take stores for three years. The vast ocean urges men to
think of their country, and get homesick, and some of them die.
When [Gan] Ying heard this, he discontinued (his trip).

Tashkurgan (`Stone Fortress) in Xinjiang, the furthest point east on the Silk Road reached by the
Macedonian Maes Titianus, who probably made his journey in the late 1st century or early 2nd
century A.D. The Seleucid Empire (one of the Hellenistic successor kingdoms to Alexander the
Greats empire) had already been brought to an end by the Romans in 64 B.C.

The inhabited world as known to the Greek geographer Ptolemy (c. 90

168 A.D.) and engraved by Johannes Schnitzer in 1482

South-East Asia as drawn in the 15th century from Ptolemys coordinates. `Sinae is clearly shown north of the Gulf of Tonkin, with
`Sericae pars (`part of Serica) further north

The Hou Han Shu records the arrival in 166 A.D. (about 15 years after the
publication of Ptolemys maps) of an embassy from (i.e. Antonius), king of
Da Qin (i.e. Rome). The ambassadors travelled by sea, probably entering
China through Tonkin and must have been sent either by Antonius Pius (died
161) or his successor, Marcus Aurelius Antonius.

The route of Johannes de Plano Carpini, one of several friars sent by Pope Innnocent III
as envoys to the Mongol court. The Latin text of his report on his 1245-47 journey is
available at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hakluyt/voyages/carpini/latin.html#section2

The route of the mission to the Tartar (Mongol) kingdom undertaken by the Franciscan
friar William of Rubruck (Willielmus de Rubruquis) in 1253-54 on the orders of King Louis
IX of France. His Latin account of his travels predates Marco Polos Italian memoirs and is
a more sober and better-ordered document. Unlike Marco Polo, he took a route north of
the Caspian Sea and was able to provide final confirmation that this was an inland sea,
not, as many in the Middle Ages still believed, a gulf connected to the Arctic ocean. He
also accurately described the essence of Chinese writing: `faciunt in una figura plures

The Nestorian Christian monk Rabban Bar Sauma, born in or near Beijing but of Turkic
(probably Uyghur) descent, lived for many years in Baghdad, as he was prevented by fighting
between Arabs and Mongols from completing an intended pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1287, he
was sent as an ambassador to Europe by the Mongol Khan Arghun, who, though nominally
subordinate to the Mongol emperor in Beijing, functioned largely as independent ruler of a
kingdom centred on modern Iran. Though unable to achieve the desired alliance against the
Arabs, Sauma met the pope and the kings of France and England, and left a Syriac account of

One of the most important manuscripts of the memoirs of Marco Polo, who
visited China in the late 13th century, is a Latin version found in Toledo
cathedral in Spain

John of Monte Corvino, a Franciscan missionary despatched to China in 1294,

established the first resident western Christian mission in Khanbaliq (Beijing), dying
there in 1328. Despite opposition from the Nestorian Christian community, he enjoyed
the protection of Kublai Khans successor, Timur, and made numerous converts. The
Christians were, however, expelled after the Ming supplanted the Mongols in 1369.

Ordoric, a Franciscan monk born in Italy but of Czech descent, travelled extensively
in India, SE Asia and China between 1318 and 1330, accompanied for ay least part
of the time by an Irish companion, Brother James. His Latin memoir of his journey is
reproduced in Henry Yules Cathay and the Way Thither and available at
http://archive.org/stream/cathayandwaythi00marigoog#page/n356/mode/2up For a
short account of his life, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odoric_of_Pordenone He

Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who had originally been sent to India, entered China through
Macao in 1583 and, relying both on his own technical knowledge and his adoption of Chinese
ways, went on to become in influential figure in court circles. De Christiana Expeditione apud
Sinas Suscepta, a compilation of his reports, edited by fellow-Jesuit Nicolas Trigault and

Emperor Kangxi (reigned 1662 1723 ) with the German Jesuit astronomer
Adam Schall and colleagues. A major reason for the Jesuits influence at the
Chinese court in the 17th century was their mastery of the latest developments
in European astronomy, which had by this time surpassed both the Chinese

Historica Narratio, a compilation of Schalls own reports from China, was

published in 1665, and is at http://books.google.at/books?id=VqJGAAAAcAAJ.
The book is discussed in David Morgans essay `D Adami Schall Historic
Nrrtine: Qu Mod Snae Sint Latnae Factae

Kirchers CHINA ILLUSTRATA (1667)

The highly-learned author, who also wrote on micro-biology, Egyptology and
classical antiquities and has been described as `the last man who knew
everything, had not himself visited China but drew on the reports sent back
to Europe by his fellow Jesuits

In 1702 Arcade Huang ( ), a mission-educated Chinese Christian was brought to Europe

by Bishop Artus de Lionne (left), becoming Chinese interpreter to Louis XIV and cataloguer of
Chinese works in the palace library. He is said to have drafted a Chinese-Latin dictionary and,
after his premature death in 1716, his pioneering work on a grammar of Chinese was
completed by tienne Fourmont, who published it with Latin explanations in 1742.

`Nobilis

filia a xiao kie passa verecundiam ad vindicandum postea

De vino cognoscitur homo quid vult intus corde, quid amat, movet
passiones, potest solvere tristiam (error for tristitiam), delere
mestitiam, sed nocet aetati, facit hominem prudentem in stultum,
mutat faciem mansuetam in tyrannam, uno verbo est medicina
cogens hominum (error for hominem) ad insaniam. Haec verba
hortantur ut homines cum temperantia bibant vinum.

Noble daughter a xiao kie suffered shame for the sake of later
vindication (?) From wine one knows what a man wants in his heart,
what he loves, what moves his passions; it can dissolve sadness, put
an end to unhappiness, but it is harmful to life, makes a sensible man
into a fool, turns a gentle countenance into a tyrannical one, in a
word it is a drug driving a man into insanity. These words urge that
men should drink wine in moderation

Text quoted in 1811 by French Orientalist Abel Rmusat from a translation by

`Abel Yn from Beijing of a Chinese short story. The translator and Arcade
Huang are mentioned by Rmusat as rare examples of Chinese who showed
any interest in foreign language and the lines themselves were the only
example of Latin written by a Chinese at this time that could be discovered for
use in this PowerPoint

German Orientalist Julius Mohl, and the title page of his

1834-39 edition of the I-Ching ( ), based on earlier
work by Jesuit scholars.

Literary scholar, Christian apologist and childrens author C.S. Lewis, who
conducted a correspondence in Latin over several years with an Italian priest,
wrote in 1953 `d clde ill Sric (aka` !)

David Morgan (1959 - 2013), enthusiastic proponent of `living Latin,

conducting a class. As well as his on-line modern Latin dictionary he
wrote an article in Latin on Adam Schalls Historica Narratio de Initio et
Progessu Missionis Societatis Iesu apud Chinenses (Vienna, 1665)

THYIADII
(Chia Tao)
Anachoretam quemdam quaerit poeta,
neque tamen invenit
Pinus subter, ab assecla
Deserti dominum jure requirimus.
Is vero procul hinc pater:
Herbas jam medicas ipse per ardua
Terrarum, atque virentia
Collecturus abit, nubibus abditus
Spissis, inquit, et are.
Quo secedat... io! me penitus latet.

One of the translations or expansions of classical Chinese poetry

recently produced by Italian Classicist and Sinologist Massimo
Scorsone
(see http://www3.unisi.it/semicerchio/upload/sc34_scorsone.pdf )