Cathay

Cathay

Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. "Catai" was originally the name used for northern China during Marco Polo's time (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 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" 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 or a Cataian.

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

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.
* 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 510445 BC, Cathay is a pivotal setting.
* 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 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".

ee also

* Kitai-gorod


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  • Cathay — ou Catai était l ancien nom donné à la Chine en Asie occidentale et en Europe. Il fut popularisé en Occident par Marco Polo qui désigna sous ce nom la Chine du Nord dans son Livre des Merveilles. C est une transcription du nom Kitai ou Khitans,… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cathay — Cathay, auch Cataya, Cathaia, Kathai oder Kitai und ähnlich, ist der alte, von Marco Polo in seinem Buch verwendete Name für China, insbesondere Nordchina. Die Bezeichnung leitet sich vom Reich der Kitan ab. Heute wird er als Namensbestandteil… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cathay — Cathay, ND U.S. city in North Dakota Population (2000): 56 Housing Units (2000): 37 Land area (2000): 0.183090 sq. miles (0.474200 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.003658 sq. miles (0.009474 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.186748 sq. miles (0.483674 sq …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Cathay, ND — U.S. city in North Dakota Population (2000): 56 Housing Units (2000): 37 Land area (2000): 0.183090 sq. miles (0.474200 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.003658 sq. miles (0.009474 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.186748 sq. miles (0.483674 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Cathay — Ca*thay , n. China; an old name for the Celestial Empire, said have been introduced by Marco Polo and to be a corruption of the Tartar name for North China (Khitai, the country of the Khitans.) [1913 Webster] Better fifty years of Europe than a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cathay — ou Catay (le) nom donné à la Chine par Marco Polo …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Cathay — 1560s, poetic name for China, from M.L. Cataya, from Turk. Khitay, from Uighur Khitai, name of a Tatar dynasty that ruled Beijing 936 1122 …   Etymology dictionary

  • Cathay — [ka thā′, kəthā′] [ML Cataya < Uighur Khitay, a Mongol people who ruled in Beijing (936 1122)] former name for CHINA …   English World dictionary

  • Cathay — /ka thay /, n. Literary or Archaic. China. [ < ML Cat(h)aya < Turkic; cf. Tatar Kïtai] * * * Former name for China, especially northern China. The word is derived from Khitay, the name of a seminomadic people who dominated northern China in the… …   Universalium

  • Cathay Organisation — Holdings Limited is one of Singapore s leading leisure and entertainment groups. It has the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore. The group has operations in Singapore and Malaysia. HistoryThe early years Cathay Organisation was… …   Wikipedia

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