I. ch. lxi.) [Keshikhteng,
a tribe (pu; mong. aimak) of the Chao Uda League (meng; mong.
chogolgan) among the twenty-four tribes of the Nei Mung-ku (Inner
Mongols). (See Mayers' Chinese Government, p. 81.) - H. C.] In Kovalevsky,
I find the following: -
(No. 2459) "Keshik, grace, favour, bounty, benefit, good fortune,
charity."
(No. 2461) "Keshikten, fortunate, happy, blessed."
(No. 2541) "Kichyeku, to be zealous, assiduous, devoted."
(No. 2588) "Kushiku, to hinder, to bar the way to," etc.
The third of these corresponds closely with Polo's etymology of "knights
devoted to their lord," but perhaps either the first or the last may
afford the real derivation.
In spite of the different initials ([Arabic] instead of [Arabic]), it can
scarcely be doubted that the Kalchi and Kalakchi of Timur's Institutes
are mere mistranscriptions of the same word, e.g.: "I ordered that 12,000
Kalchi, men of the sword completely armed, should be cantoned in the
Palace; to the right and to the left, to the front, and in the rear of the
imperial diwan; thus, that 1000 of those 12,000 should be every night upon
guard," etc. The translator's note says of Kalchi, "A Mogul word
supposed to mean guards." We see that even the traditional number of
12,000, and its division into four brigades, are maintained.
