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CAMBYUSKAN is the king of Sarre in Tartary and father of Algarsyf, Cambalus, and Canacee in The Squire's Tale. F.P. Magoun, Jr., identifies Sarre in the steppes of southern Russia as part of the western Mongol empire and suggests that Cambyuskan is not Genghis Khan (Chinggis Khan), who ruled 1162-1227. John M. Manly suggests that Chaucer may have used Marco Polo's account of his travels, from which he may have taken the name. [Algarsif: Cambalo: Canacee2: Elpheta]

Cambyuskan occurs twice in medial positions, SqT 58, 345, and five times in final rhyming position, SqT 12, 28, 42, 266, 661.


F.P. Magoun, Jr., A Chaucer Gazetteer, 151; J.M. Manly, "Marco Polo and the Squire's Tale." PMLA 11 (1896): 349-362; Riverside Chaucer, ed. L. Benson, 891.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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