ALPINIA OFFICINARUM, Hance. History, Uses, &c.

The Chinese call the Galangals Kaon-leang-keang and Liang-keang. From the first of these names the Arabs have derived their name Khulanjan or Khowlanján, which is applied to the greater and lesser galangal, and is the source of the European name for these drugs. The same name occurs in the Nighanta’s, which makes it evident that the Hindus first became acquainted with Chinese galangal through the Arabs. The earliest notice of the drug occurs in Persian literature (cf. Burhan), where it is stated that Khusrú-dárú, “Chosros remedy,” was introduced in the time of Noshirwan (6th century). It probably reached Persia by the Central Asian trade route, as we find that it is still used by the Tartars to flavour their tea. Paulus Ægineta (7th century) calls it γαλάγγας, and latter Greek writers χαιλίζεν, γαλάβκας and κολουτζία. Ibu Khurdádbah (9th century), in enumerating the productions of a country called Sila, names galangal, and Edrisi, three hundred years later, mentions it as brought from India and China to Aden. Ibu Sina and other early Arabian physicians also notice it shortly as a stomachic and stimulant. Curious stories as to its source were current in those days; Haji Zein states that in Yunán a kind of hawk is said by travellers to build its nest of the roots of the Khúlanján upon the sea-shore, and that the only way of obtaining the drug is to rob these nests; this the merchants do, and, after washing the roots, cut them up into short pieces.