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
Đại Cathay Đại Cathay Đại Cathay, whose real name was Lê Văn Đại was a notorious 1960s Saigon mobster, and was considered as the top or “number one” of the “Four Great Kings” of Saigon's criminal underworld before 1975. The Four Great Kings of the Saigon criminal underworld at the time referred to the four most powerful mobsters in the city, immortalized by the saying: 1st) Đại Cathay, 2nd) Huỳnh Tỳ, 3rd) Ngô Văn Cái, 4th) Ba Thế. Dai Cathay was born in 1940 as the son of Lê Văn Cự, who was a gangster in the market area of Cầu Muối.