Cassowary, Ostrich, Rhea: Questions and Suggestions Related to the ema in Portuguese and Chinese Texts of the 16th and 17th Centuries
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: 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.
Source: Archipel
Author: Roderich Ptak
Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4295152075