French Words of Chinese Origin

Abstract

When we consult an etymological dictionary, particularly a dictionary of a living tongue, we should prefer not to find such broad statements as 'stammt angeblich aus dem Chinesischen' or 'Emprunt du chinois' with no effort made to record the precise etyma. It so happens that there are ten modern French words, no longer considered foreign by the French speaker, which are supposedly of Chinese origin. These are ailante, cangue, cannequin (or caniquis), ginseng, jonque, kao-ling, moxa, poussa, typhon, and thd. Except in the case of typhon Ernst Gamillscheg contents himself with the German phrase which I have quoted.His important source, the Dictionnaire g6n6ral of Hatzfeld, Darmesteter, and Thomas, is more specific than this at times, but even there we often find no etymon cited or an occasional inaccurate statement such as 'ailante, emprunt6 du chinois ailanto', whereas ailanto cannot possibly be claimed as a native Chinese word. In Chinese this tree is called ch'u