So... what the heck was petunse / pih-tun-tsze / pai-tun-tsze / petuntse / patootie?

Question

Good china is made with kaolin, clay with an ample amount of kaolinite. Wiki's pretty clear that “kaolin” derives—via 18th-century French Jesuit mangling of gāolǐngtǔ (高嶺土)—from the village of Gaoling in Fuliang County near Jingdezhen in Jiangxi.¹²*

From its first appearance in English in 1727, though, it was paired with a second ingredient variously transcribed as petunse,³ pih-tun-tsze,⁴ pai-tun-tsze,⁵ petuntse,⁶ &c.

Wiki does have an article on that, too,⁷ but it's nonsensically sourced & can't link to a Chinese article or back up its claim that the actual Chinese term is báidūnzì (白墩子).^{[citation needed]}† Instead, most English sources just repeat different variations of old Encyclopaedia Britannica articles repeating updated forms of what the Jesuit called the stuff.

Meanwhile, 白墩子 doesn't appear at all on the actual Chinese Wiki and it only shows up on the shanzhai Chinese wiki as some Mongolian nitrate-laden salt.⁸ The Chinese Wiki article on hard-paste porcelain—the process they used at Jingdezhen—just says it involves gāolǐngtǔ and chángshí (長石).⁹ The Hong Kong Maritime Museum¹⁰ and a handful of other sites do mention the porcelain stone petunse but say it's a transcription of báidūncí (白墩瓷) instead. Under the heading pĭh tun tsze, Robert Morrison's 1819 Dictionary of the Chinese Language gives 白墪子 but with a 敢 and 子 in the top half of the central character instead of 敦... and with the note that "the characters are doubtful."¹¹

I assume the basic chemistry is right and a feldspar-rich stone was used to create Jingdezhen porcelain, but what is the way Chinese actually historically and presently talks about that stuff? & does anyone have any firm source for what term François Xavier d'Entrecolles was trying to transcribe?

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^{* Although strangely enough, the article on "Jingdezhen pottery" itself has absolutely no mention of the materials used to create it and seems focused on establishing the exact provenance and chronological order of the pieces in the British Museum collection. Go figure.
† Naturally, the page's Wikidata entry not only doesn't include any Chinese, it exclusively includes the atonal pinyin romanization baiduncai in its English list. Since that's the only appearance of "white lump vegetable" on the internet, though, it's obviously unintentional vandalism by someone misunderstanding the Jesuit ts as a modern pinyin c and is easy enough to fix. [Done.]}

Answer 1

in the book “天工開物” by 宋應星, published in 明 dynasty; volume 卷中, chapter 陶埏第七 白瓷、附靑瓷 mentioned:

白土・白堊土

. . . 皆饒郡浮梁景德鎭之產也・此鎭從古及今為燒器地・然不產白土・土出婺源・祁門・兩山一名高梁山・出粳米土・其性堅硬・一名開化山・出糯米土・其性粢軟・兩土和合・瓷器方成

most likely, “高嶺土” referred to the clay from “高梁山”

what is the way Chinese actually historically and presently talks about

so, the options are

• 白土
• 白堊土
• 粳米土
• 糯米土

have fun :)

Answer 2

Have you ever noticed that the Chinese are very frugal with words? For example, in England, we have towns like: Clacton on Sea, Southend on Sea.

Not so the Chinese, they just have the nameless: on Sea: 上海!

If you go walking in the sierra in Spain, well, nowadays, people don't look at the breathtaking scenery, they just stare at the screen of their mobile phone. In the past, before the advent of mobiles, that was not so.

How did you know where you were going back then? Well, locals often make little piles of stones, look for them. Often there will be a little, long, narrow stone on top, pointing the way. They tell you: this is a path to somewhere.

That is what “十里墩”、“白墩” are: path or road markers along the way. Piles of stones. People began to build villages near the 墩子, and often the village might just take, for reasons of frugality, the name of the 墩子.

五河县城东、淮河北岸有村名“十里墩”，
(In) East 五河 county, on the north bank of the river 淮 there is a village called “十里墩” (5 mile village)
在双忠庙镇、104国道边旧有“白墩乡”，
in 双忠庙 town, near the national highway 104 is an old village called “白墩乡” (white pile village)
根据史志推断，地名由来已久.
according to historical records, these names are very old.

There are probably many 白墩子 and many 白墩乡 in China.

In this case, 白墩子 has become the name of a whole region!

白墩子，湖盐产地。
白墩子，a lake salt producing area.
位于甘肃红水、靖远两县境内，
located within the borders of 甘肃红水 and 靖远
距省城四百七十里，
470 li from the capital city,
东至红水县的宽沟五十余里，
extending more than 50 li to宽沟 the east of 红水县
南至一条山七十里，
70 li to the south reaching the 一条山 mountain range (a very frugal name!)
东南至靖远县城三百六十里，
360 li southeast to 靖远县,
北至蒙古界十余里。
and more than 10 li to the Mongolian border in the north.
盐池东西长约五里，
the salt lake is about 5 li from east west,
南北宽十余里。所产盐含有硝质，多用作制造红丝水烟的原料。
from north to south the lake is more than 10 li.
所产盐含有硝质，
The salt which is produced there contains saltpeter (potassium nitrate)
多用作制造红丝水烟的原料
which is useful in the manufacture of red silk hookahs (water pipes).

And, presumably, porcelain!