Il Milione: Italiaans boek voor halfgevorderden (B2)

Woordenlijst

Cambaluc · Cambaluc, Khanbaliq, Beijing ((sin. Khanbaliq, Pechino))

Nome medievale di Khanbaliq («la città del Kane») , la capitale imperiale che sorgeva dove oggi è Pechino.

Medieval name of Khanbaliq, the imperial capital that stood where Beijing is today.

Kublai had it built in stone as a sign of his power. Marco describes it square, with twelve gates, huge markets, a palace at the centre. It is not a steppe city: it is a sedentary capital that a nomad wanted, to leave a trace. Kublai's paradox in a single name.

Catai · Cathay, northern China ((sin. Cina del nord, Catay))

Nome medievale della Cina del nord, sotto il dominio mongolo. Deriva dai Khitani, popolo di steppa che governò la regione prima dei mongoli.

Medieval name of northern China under Mongol rule; became for Europe a synonym for China.

Cathay for Marco is the country of Kublai, his seat of power. For Europe it becomes synonymous with China. For centuries cartographers will draw «Cathay» to the north and «Mangi» (southern China) as two different countries. They were one and the same: only, Marco had known them separated.

Chandu · Xanadu, Shangdu ((sin. Xanadu, Shangdu))

Xanadu, la residenza estiva di Coblai. Un palazzo di canne dorate, smontabile, dentro un parco murato di quindici miglia.

Kublai's summer residence, a palace of gilded canes within a walled park of fifteen miles.

In the West the name has become legend: Coleridge in 1797, in a dream, turned it into poetry. Marco had seen it for real: white horses, hunting with the leopard, the ceremony of milk poured to the wind for the spirits. The first Xanadu in European history is his.

Cinghis Kane · Genghis Khan ((sin. Gengis Khan, condottiero))

Il primo grande Kane dei mongoli, fondatore dell'impero (1162 ca.–1227). Nel testo italiano medievale il nome ha molte grafie: Cinghis, Cinghiscan, Chinghis.

The first great Khan of the Mongols, founder of the empire (c. 1162–1227).

Marco cites Genghis as the ancestor of Kublai: from him comes the empire the book describes. By the thirteenth century his figure was already legend, and Marco receives him as a told story: he never saw him. The many spellings in the medieval text (Cinghis, Cinghiscan, Chinghis) show a name travelling by ear, from mouth to mouth, before it ever reached paper.

De woordenlijst bevat in totaal 60 woorden