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Amber in the east

Language Log 2026-01-13

Well, now, for all those doubting Thomases who insist that there was no contact between western Eurasia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia in antiquity:

"The Amber Trade along the Southwestern Silk Road from 600 BCE-220 CE." Lü, Jing et al. Palaeoentomology 8, no. 6 (December 29, 2025): 679-682. https://www.mapress.com/pe/article/view/palaeoentomology.8.6.10.

 
An ant inside Baltic amberUnpolished amber stones

Abstract

Amber holds significant historical importance in China, symbolizing not only the glory of ancient Chinese art and culture but also reflecting the development of cross-regional trade in antiquity. Evidence shows that Burmese and Baltic amber became widely popular during the Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) and could be imported through various routes (Liu et al., 2023a, b; Zhao et al., 2023; Li et al., 2025). During this period, the Euro-Asia Steppe Trade Road was predominantly used for the import of Baltic amber, while the Maritime Silk Route might also facilitate the amber trade (Li et al., 2025). Additionally, the Southwestern Silk Route is regarded as a crucial pathway for amber trade in ancient Southern China. This overland route stretched from Central China through the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, extending to Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries (Elias, 2024). The ancient Ailao Regional States, serving as a key node along the Southwestern Silk Road, encompassed southwestern Yunnan (China), northern Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and eastern Assam (India) (Sun, 2016). Notably, the territory of Ailao Regional States included the Burmese amber deposits in the northern Myanmar, which was also recorded in the Han historical records as the amber origin (Fan, 1965). In addition, several amber artifacts from the same period have been discovered in the Dian Kingdom, which is primarily located in Yunnan and borders the Ailao Regional States (Zhao, 2016). While there is considerable evidence suggesting that the Southwestern Silk Route played a significant role in the amber trade, there is a lack of empirical evidence detailing its specific functions in the transportation of amber.

 

Etymology

From Middle English ambre, aumbre, from Old French aumbre, ambre, from Arabic عَنْبَر (ʕanbar, “ambergris”), from Middle Persian (ʾnbl /⁠ambar⁠/, “ambergris”). Compare English lamber, ambergris. Displaced Middle English smulting (from Old English smelting (“amber”)), Old English eolhsand (“amber”), Old English glær (“amber”), and Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade”).

    • The nucleotide sequence "UAG" is named "amber" for the first person to isolate the amber mutation, California Institute of Technology graduate student Harris Bernstein, whose last name ("Bernstein") is the German word for the resin "amber".

(Wiktionary)

The English word amber derives from Arabic ʿanbar عنبر from Middle Persian (ʾnbl /ambar⁠/, "ambergris") via Middle Latin ambar and Middle French ambre. The word referred to what is now known as ambergris (ambre gris or "gray amber"), a solid waxy substance derived from the sperm whale. The word, in its sense of "ambergris", was adopted in Middle English in the 14th century.

In the Romance languages, the sense of the word was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin) from as early as the late 13th century. At first called white or yellow amber (ambre jaune), this meaning was adopted in English by the early 15th century. As the use of ambergris waned, this became the main sense of the word.

The two substances ("yellow amber" and "gray amber") conceivably became associated or confused because they both were found washed up on beaches. Ambergris is less dense than water and floats, whereas amber is denser and floats only in concentrated saline, or strong salty seawater though less dense than stone.

The classical names for amber, Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron) and one of its Latin names, electrum, are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun". According to myth, when Phaëton, son of Helios (the Sun), was killed his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber. The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity.

(Wikipedia)

Electrifying!

Warms the cockles of your heart.

 

Selected readings

  • "China Babel" (3/26/24) — with numerous important references
  • "Celto-Sinica" (12/30/25)
  • “Correspondences between Old Chinese and Proto-Celtic Words”, by Julie Lee Wei, Sino-Platonic Papers, 373 (December, 2025), 1-85.
  • "Volts before Volta" (1/3/26)
  • “The Baghdad Battery: Experimental Verification of a 2,000-Year-Old Device Capable of Driving Visible and Useful Electrochemical Reactions at over 1.4 Volts", by Alexander Bazes, Sino-Platonic Papers, 377 (January, 2026), 1-20.
  • "Battery-Powered Prayers" (1/8/26)
  • "The Trans-Eurasian Exchange: The Prehistory of Chinese Relations with the West", by Andrew Sherratt, published posthumously in Victor H. Mair, ed., Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World (Honolulu:  University of Hawaii Press, 2006), pp. 30-61.
  • Joyce C. White and Elizabeth G. Hamilton, “The transmission of early bronze technology to Thailand: new perspectives”, Journal of World Prehistory 22 (2009), 357–97 (Google Scholar)
  • Hajni Elias, H, "The Southwest Silk Road: artistic exchange and transmission in early China," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 87 (2024), 319–344. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X24000120
  • "The Wool Road of Northern Eurasia" (4/12/21) — comment:
  • Annie Gottlieb reminds me that there was also an Amber Road. I had written about that in various places, and was fascinated by the fact that there is clear evidence for flourishing trade along this route from the Baltic to the Mediterranean already during Neolithic times (although recent scholarship emphasizes the last three thousand years). 
  • — traceable right over the Alps.
  • That further reminded me of this lecture that was given in my department on July 13, 2017: "Wine Road before the Silk Road: Hypotheses on the Origins of Chinese and Eurasian Drinking Culture". It was delivered by Peter Kupfer, Professor, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
  • Liu, Q., Zhang, Y.H.., Li, X.P., Qin, X. & Li, Q.H. (2023b) Some amber artifacts excavated from tombs of the Han Dynasty in Hunan Province. Journal of Gems and Gemmology, 25, 146–157. https://doi.org/10.15964/j.cnki.027jgg.2023.04.013
  • Luo, E.H. (2000) Chinese “Southwestern Silk Road” in the Han and Jin Dynasties. Journal of Sichuan University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 1, 84–105. [In Chinese]
  • Na, X.X. (2020) The research of the gemmological characteristics and colour grading of Burmese amber. Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 34–40. [In Chinese]
  • Shi, Z.T., Xin, C.X. & Wang, Y.M. (2023) Spectral characteristics of unique species of Burmese amber. Minerals, 13, 151. https://doi.org/10.3390/min13020151
  • Sun, J. (2016) The spatio-temporal patterns and geographical imagination of ethnic groups in the Southwest of China, among Qin and Han Dynasties. China Social Sciences Press, Beijing, 530 pp. [In Chinese]
  • The Archaeological Team of Guizhou Provincial Museum (1979) The tombs of the Han Dynasty in Xingyi and Xingren, Guizhou Province. Cult Relics, 5, 20–33. [In Chinese]
  • Zhao, D. (2016). Exotic beads and pendants in Ancient China: From Western Zhou to Eastern Jin Dynasty. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 103–107. [In Chinese]
  • Zhao, T., Peng, M.H., Yang, M.X., Lu, R., Wang, Y.M. & Li, Y. (2023) Effects of weathering on FTIR spectra and origin traceability of archaeological amber: The case of the Han Tomb of Haihun Marquis, China. Journal of Archaeological Science, 153, 105753. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2023.105753
  • "Of a Persian spymaster and Viking Rus' in medieval East Asia: Scythia Koreana and Japanese Waqwaq" (6/1/25) — from Scandinavia to Korea and Japan; strikingly illustrated
  • Victor H. Mair, "Language and Script:  Biology, Archaeology, and (Pre)history", International Review of Chinese Linguistics, 1.1 (1996), 31-41 (large format, twin columns) — hard to get hold of, but well worth the effort

    plus hundreds of Language Log posts documenting east-west contact in ancient times by Lucas Christopoulos, Brian Pellar, Sara de Rose, and others.

[Thanks to Ted McClure]