Cathay Hisao Migo (, a Japanese botanist) published a paper describing "Iris cathayensis" (meaning "Chinese iris") in the "Journal of the Shanghai Science Institute". Below is the etymological progression from Khitan to Cathay as the word travelled westward: In many Turkic and Slavic languages a form of "Cathay" (e.g., , "Kitay") remains the usual modern name for China. In Javanese, the word ꦏꦠꦻ (Katai, Katé) exists, and it refers to 'east asian', literally mean 'dwarf' or 'short-legged' in today's language. "Travels in the Land of Kublai Khan" by Marco Polo has a story called "The Road to Cathay". In the English
Cathay his "Book on the Administration of the State", apparently as two separate countries (presumably, referring to the Liao and Song Empires, respectively). The name's currency in the Muslim world survived the replacement of the Khitan Liao dynasty with the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the early 12th century. When describing the fall of the Jin Empire to the Mongols (1234), Persian history described the conquered country as "Khitāy" or "Djerdaj Khitāy" (i.e., "Jurchen Cathay"). The Mongols themselves, in their "Secret History" (13th century) talk of both Khitans and Kara-Khitans. In about 1340 Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, a merchant from Florence, compiled the