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'Cathay' is an old name for East Asia often assumed to mean 'China' in English. "Catai" was originally the name used for northeastern Asia, including Mongolia and northern China during Marco Polo's time (China proper was not a very distinct concept in Europe at the time. Marco Polo 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 Cathainese.

Contents

Etymological progression

References in popular culture

See also

Etymological progression

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

★ Mongolian/Classical Mongolian: Hyatad (Хятад) / Kitad

★ Uyghur (Western China): خىتاي, Xitay

★ Kazakh: قىتاي, Қытай, Qıtay

★ Kazan Tatar (Central Russia): Qıtay

★ Russian: Kitay (Китай)

★ Medieval Latin: Cataya, Kitai

★ Spanish: Catay

★ Italian: Catai

★ Portuguese: Cataio

★ English: Cathay

References in popular culture

★ Cathay is mentioned several times by John Blackthorne, the protagonist in James Clavell's novel ''Shōgun''.

★ 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".

★ The Suede song 'The Power' from the album Dog Man Star includes the line, "through endless Asia / through the fields of Cathay".
In computer games:

★ There are regions named Cathay in the settings of the 7th Sea and Earthdawn roleplaying games.

★ Robert E Howard named a China-like civilization ''Khitai'' in his Hyborian Age backdrop for Conan the Barbarian.

★ Cathay is a region with Chinese inspirations in the Warhammer Fantasy setting.

See also

★ Cathay, North Dakota

★ Cathay Pacific

★ Kitai-gorod