Cassowary, Ostrich, Rhea: Questions and Suggestions Related to the ema in Portuguese and Chinese Texts of the 16th and 17th Centuries

China imported various kinds of exotic birds from Southeast Asia. Among the names for such birds one finds the combinations huoji and ema / nima. Most scholars think they stand for cassowaries. The name ema (plus similar forms) also appears in early Portuguese texts where it sometimes refers to the...

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書誌詳細
出版年:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/archipel,
第一著者: Ptak, Roderich
フォーマット: Article ou chapitre numérique
言語:Anglais
出版事項: Archipel 2022
オンライン・アクセス:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
その他の書誌記述
要約:China imported various kinds of exotic birds from Southeast Asia. Among the names for such birds one finds the combinations huoji and ema / nima. Most scholars think they stand for cassowaries. The name ema (plus similar forms) also appears in early Portuguese texts where it sometimes refers to the ostrich and the rhea. The present article discusses several references to the ema in these sources, as well as in the Sino-Jesuit context. It offers some suggestions concerning the circulation of that term from or via Southeast to China and Macau. This may have involved the port of Patani on the Malayan Peninsula. However, the precise origin of the term and many other points remain open issues.