During the Wei period, "dai" was one of their most sacred words, implying a religious-political sanctuary or the emperor's palace. The characters "ya" 邪 and "ma" 馬 mean "nasty" and "horse", reflecting the contempt Chinese felt for a barbarian country, and it is most unlikely that Chen Shou would have used a sacred word after these two characters. It is equally unlikely that a copyist could have confused the characters, because in their old form they do not look nearly as similar as in their modern printed form. Yamadai was Fan Yeh’s creation. (1994:249)