Cathay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. "Catai" was originally the name given to northern China by Marco Polo (he referred to southern China as Manji). "Catai" itself derives from the word Khitan (契丹 Qìdān), the Chinese name of a tribe ruling predominantly in northern China during Polo's visits. Travels in the Land of Kubilai 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" are about as old as each other 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.

[edit] Etymological progression

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

Uyghur (Western China): Hyty
Mongolian/Classical Mongolian: Hyatad (Хятад) / Kitad (this is actually the plural form of Kitan in Classical Mongolian, i.e. "Khitans")
Kazan Tatar (Central Russia): Qıtay
Russian: Kitay (Китай)
Medieval Latin: Cataya, Kitai
Italian: Catai
Portuguese: Cataio
English: Cathay

[edit] See also

Mongolia in world languages
Cathay, North Dakota
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Trophy
Kitai-gorod
Robert E Howard named a China-like civilization Khitai in his Hyborian Age backdrop for Conan the Barbarian.
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
Cathay is a region with Chinese inspirations in the Warhammer Fantasy setting.
There are regions named Cathay in the settings of the 7th Sea and Earthdawn roleplaying games.
Edna St. Vincent Millay mentions Cathay in her poem "To The Not Impossible Him".