The Orthography of Marco Polo's Toponyms

Stephen G. Haw

doi:10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.171.2.0479

The Orthography of Marco Polo's Toponyms

Stephen G. Haw

Seiten 479 - 502

DOI https://doi.org/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.171.2.0479

When Marco Polo and Rustichello began their collaboration in writing the Description of the World, they were faced with a number of problems. Not the least of these was the question of writing toponyms (and other foreign words) for which there was no accepted orthography in Latin script. The many Chinese toponyms in the book, which were originally written with a non-alphabetic script, presented particular difficulties. The romanisation of Chinese has been an issue which has only recently been more or less satisfactorily resolved. Here, an exploratory foray is made into the complexities of the toponyms in Marco Polo's text, some of which are subjected to preliminary analysis. It is concluded that Marco's transcriptions seem generally accurate when compared with reconstructions of Yuan-period pronunciations of Chinese. It also seems clear that Marco heard a variety of pronunciations, including dialect pronunciations, which are reflected in the orthography. It appears that the toponyms are intended to be pronounced according to Italian phonology, even though Rustichello's original text was written in French. It is suggested that Pelliot's opinion that there was only one original orthography may not be correct, as there are indications that the orthographies used in the Zelada manuscript and Ramusio's edition may have been revised by Marco himself or under his direction.

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1 Manuscripts and editions of Marco Polo's book

2 BNF MS fr. 1116 = Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de Manuscrits, français 1116, Livre qui est appelé le Divisiment dou monde, de Marc Pol (Manuscript F).

3 BNF MS fr. 2810 = Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de Manuscrits, français 2810, Marco Polo, Livre des merveilles, etc. (Manuscript FA2).

4 BNF MS fr. 5631 = Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de Manuscrits, français 5631, Les voyages de Marco Polo, traduits en français par « Grigoires », avec ce titre: « Ci commencent les rebriches de cest livre, qui est appellez le Devisement du monde …» (Manuscript FA1).

5 BNF MS fr. 5649 = Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de Manuscrits, français 5649, Le livre de Marco Polo ou des merveilles du monde, appelé aussi dans le présent manuscrit « le livre du grant Kaan de Cathay» (Manuscript FC4).

6 BNF MS it. 434 = Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département de Manuscrits, italien 434, Marco Polo, Il milione (Manuscript TA3).

7 MP/Baldelli Boni = Il Milione di Marco Polo, testo di lingua del secolo decimoterzo, ora per la prima volta pubblicato ed illustrato dal Conte Gio. Batt. Baldelli Boni. Vol. 1. Firenze 1827 (edn of Manuscript TA1).

8 MP/Barbieri = Marco Polo: Milione, redazione Latina del manoscritto Z, ed. A. Barbieri, 2nd edn. Parma 2008.

9 MP/Barbieri-Andreose = Marco Polo: Il «Milione» veneto, ms. CM 211 della Biblioteca Civica di Padova, ed. A. Barbieri/A. Andreose. Venezia 1999 (edn of Manuscript VA3).

10 MP/Benedetto = Marco Polo: Il Milione, prima edizione integrale, ed. L.F. Benedetto. Firenze 1928.

11 MP/Eusebi-Burgio = Marco Polo: Le devisement dou monde, testo, secondo la lezione del codice fr. 1116 della Bibliothèque Nationale de France, a cura di Mario Eusebi, glossario, a cura di Eugenio Burgio, 2 vols. Venezia 2018.

12 MP/Gennari = «Milione», Redazione VB. Edizione Critica Commentata. Tesi di dottorato di Pamela Gennari. Università Ca' Foscari Venezia 2009.

13 MP/Kinoshita = Marco Polo: The Description of the World, trans. S. Kinoshita, Indianapolis 2016 (English translation of MS F).

14 MP/Moule-Pelliot = A. C. Moule/P. Pelliot: Marco Polo: the Description of the World. 2 vols. London 1938.

15 MP/Pauthier = Le livre de Marco Polo, citoyen de Venise, conseiller privé et commissaire impérial de Khoubilaï-Khaân, trans. M. G. Pauthier, 2 vols. Paris 1865.

16 MP/Pipino = Marka Pavlova z Benátek: Milion, trans. J. V. Prášek. Prague 1902.

17 MP/Ramusio = Marco Polo: L'Historia delle cose de Tartari, & diversi fatti de'loro Imperatori. In: G.-B. Ramusio (ed.): Navigationi et Viaggi, vol. 2. Venice 1559, pp. 1-60.

18 MP/Yule-Cordier = The Book of Ser Marco Polo concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, trans. and ed., with notes, by Colonel Sir Henry Yule, 3rd edn, rev. H. Cordier, 2 vols. London 1903.

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The Orthography of Marco Polo's Toponyms

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