《西游录》与《长春真人西游记》所载“马首形瓜”名称考——兼论甜瓜与哈密瓜名称源流

Textual Research on “Horse-head Melon” in Trip to West and Changchun Zhenren's West Trip: Tracing the Names of Muskmelon and Hami Melon

蒙元时期的文献《西游录》、《长春真人西游记》中都记载今中亚地区有一种体型巨大、味美甘甜的瓜,因其大如马首,耶律楚材曾称其为"马首瓜",但对其确切名称却无明确记载,并缺乏相关考证研究。论文将结合多种文献记载和相关研究成果,对"马首形瓜"名称进行辨析、考证。认为此瓜当为今天农学术语中所称厚皮甜瓜的一种,即现在所泛称的哈密瓜的品种之一。同时论文对甜瓜、哈密瓜名称的渊源和演变进行系统梳理。

Both Trip to West and Taoist Master Changchun Zhenren＇s West Trip, two iamous literatures in Yuan Dynasty, documented one big sweet melon that was called by Yeh-lu Ch＇u^-ts＇ai （1190 - 1244） ＂horse-head melon＂ because of its shape like a horse head. But it had no definite name in ancient records. In light of lack of textual research on this kind of melon till now, this paper will verify its name with reference to relative literatures, and draws a conclusion that the documented melon is one of the thick-skinned muskmelons in current agricultural terminology and its folk name nowadays is Hami Melon. And the origins and evolvements of the names of muskmelon and Hami melon will also be traced.