On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c7.s5.5

v1.c7.s5.5

Up to Yuan-chuang's time K'ang seems to have been the only name by which this country was known to the Chinese generally. Other names had been introduced into literature but they could not be said to have been generally adopted. One of these new names was Samokan (薩末鍵) the same with that used by Yuan-chuang, and another was Si-wan (or man)-kin (悉萬斤), neither of which seems to be explained.¹ After Yuan-chuang’s time we find other names such as Sin-ssŭ-kan (尋思干), and Sie-mi-ssŭ-kan (薛迷思干), and these are said to stand for the Turkish Semez-kand meaning “Fat land.”² Siman is another form of the word for *fat* and the Simankin mentioned above may also mean Fat-Land. But Sie-mi-ssŭ-kan is also interpreted as meaning Sun-Land from Sams one of the names for the Sun in Arabic. This last term is also given by some writers as a designation for Tashkend rather than for Samarkand. The interpretation already mentioned as given for the name Samarkand apparently takes the Sanskrit form Samara-kanda as the correct one. The word Samara means a concourse, a *flocking together*, and Yuan-chuang’s Samokan may be for another Sanskrit word with a similar meaning viz. Samāgama.