Investigating the origin of the Chinese name for alfalfa

It is assured that alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) was introduced in Han dynasty. There are cognitive differences on whether Zhang Qian introduced alfalfa.. Based on the previous studies, research inductive method was used. The relationship between Zhang Qian and alfalfa introduction was analyzed from the motivation, experience and influence of Zhang Qian to the Western Regions and the image generation of Zhang Qian brought back alfalfa’s seeds. Till to now, there are four opinions about Zhang Qian introducing Alfalfa seeds, including : (1) Zhang Qian introduced alfalfa seeds;(2) Zhang Qian did not introduce alfalfa seeds;(3) the information of Zhang Qian transferring alfalfa;(4)for commemoration Zhang Qian to the Western Regions. Although there are not direct historical materials to support Zhang Qian brought alfalfa seed to Han dynasty, it believes and confirms that the introducing of alfalfa is inextricably interwoven with Zhang Qian’s western travel. Zhangqian brought relative information from western regions during the introduction, which was the basis of non-native theory, and after that, Chinese began to plant alfalfa in Han dynasty., According to historical literatures, it is clear that the Chinese diplomat brought alfalfa seeds back to China. Alfalfa, as the favorite forage to Ferghana horse, have been already planted in Dawan in Han dynasty. Despite the debate, Zhangqian played an important pioneering role in introducing alfalfa. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes, formally established during the Han Dynasty of China, which linked the regions of the ancient world in commerce. As the Silk Road was not a single thoroughfare from east to west, the term 'Silk Routes’ has become increasingly favored by historians, though 'Silk Road’ is the more common and recognized name. Both terms for this network of roads were coined by the German geographer and traveler, Ferdinand von Richthofen, in 1877 CE, who designated them 'Seidenstrasse’ (silk road) or 'Seidenstrassen’ (silk routes). The network was used regularly from 130 BCE, when the Han officially opened trade with the west, to 1453 CE, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with the west and closed the routes (Figure1). 1 International Symposium on Earth Observation for One Belt and One Road (EOBAR) IOP Publishing IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 57 (2017) 012053 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/57/1/012053 International Conference on Recent Trends in Physics 2016 (ICRTP2016) IOP Publishing Journal of Physics: Conference Series 755 (2016) 011001 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/755/1/011001 Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd According to historical records, the land and maritime silk roads of ancient China has had huge influence on promoting eastern and western cultural and economic exchange. Meanwhile, crops originated from Europe, West Asia, America and other areas started to be introduced to China. More than 20 species of crops were imported through the land silk road including grape and alfalfa forage as two of the firsts. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, introduced a lot of foreign crops are mainly through the Silk Road on the sea. The introduction of overseas crops has a profound impact on China's agriculture. Figure 1. Main routes of the Silk Road Alfalfa is not only an excellent forage worldwide, but also is a symbol of the cultural exchange between China and western regions, being regarded as a dazzling bright pearl on the Silk Road. Although alfalfa has more than 2000 years of cultivation history in China, scholars in pratacultural science, agricultural history, and China's history has different opinions on when alfalfa had been spread into China. China has a long history of alfalfa (Mu Xu in Chinese) cultivation. Because of the vast territories and the diverse ethnicities and dialects of the people in China, the Chinese names of alfalfa demonstrate diversity and hybridity, whether in people's interactions in the modern world, or in the vast literature of ancient classics, with the phenomenon of the long-term coexistence of official and alternative names. According to the Zhang Pingzhen’s research , alfalfa has more than 30 official names, alternative names, and nicknames in Chinese. In this paper, Xia Weiying [2] and Ding Guangqi’s [3] plant name authentication method would be used to explore the origin of the names of alfalfa in China. The formation of synonyms with the same sounds but different characters, or with different sounds, was also discussed, in order to understand the history of alfalfa names clearly and provide a theoretical basis of alfalfa history and culture in China. 1. Etymology of the Chinese word for alfalfa Under the Records of the Records of the Grand Historian·Ranked Biographies of Dayuan, alfalfa was brought from Dayuan (Fergana) by an envoy in the Han Dynasty. The Book of Han·Traditions of the Western Regions documented it as Mu Xu. Dayuan is the current Fergana basin in central Asia. In 1919, the famous American Sinologist Laufer [4] thought that the Dayuan language was an Iranian dialect, and that Mu Xu was a borrowed word from Iranian language. In 1961, the Polish Sinologist Chmielewki [5] doubted Laufer’s finding. According to Chmielewki, the word Mu Xu could not be found in the Iranian language and needed another etymology. He believed that the alfalfa found in the Han dynasty was likely from Kashmir. Kashmir also produced alfalfa, and the Han envoy had also seen alfalfa there. At that time, 2 International Symposium on Earth Observation for One Belt and One Road (EOBAR) IOP Publishing IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 57 (2017) 012053 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/57/1/012053