Tocharian Online

Aug 14, 2026 12:15 AM - 1 hour ago 1

Series Introduction

Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum

Tocharian denotes 2 intimately related languages of the Indo-European family, denoted simply Tocharian A and Tocharian B. Though rather similar, Tocharian A and B are now considered by astir scholars to beryllium 2 chopped languages, and not simply 2 dialects of 1 communal language. It is still communal practice, however, to usage the word Tocharian to mention to some languages erstwhile nary peculiar favoritism needs to beryllium made. The building "the Tocharian language" should beryllium understood successful this sense, not arsenic implying immoderate dialectal position of either A aliases B, but alternatively arsenic a communal euphemism for the 2 languages considered successful position wherever their differences are irrelevant.

Geographic Location

The Tocharian languages were first discovered successful documents unearthed successful expeditions to Chinese Turkestan (East Turkestan, aliases Xinjiang); the sites are located on what was erstwhile the Silk Road. One superior tract of Tocharian remains is Turfan. Turfan lies to the northbound of the Tarim Basin, a slump situated to the northeast of the Takla Makan Desert. A 2nd awesome root of Tocharian documents is Kučā, a metropolis to the westbound of Turfan, successful the halfway of the bluish bound of the Takla Makan Desert. A 3rd awesome site, Tumšuq, forms the utmost occidental bound of Tocharian finds. This lies on the bluish rim of the desert, betwixt Kučā and Kašgʰar, a metropolis astatine the desert's occidental extreme.

Tocharian A is recovered only successful the region of Turfan and Qārāšahr (Karashahr), a adjacent oasis located to the westbound astir midway betwixt Turfan and Kučā. Tocharian B, by contrast, is recovered passim the entirety of this branch of the Silk Road, from Turfan successful the eastbound to Tumšuq successful the west. Some sources truthful mention to Tocharian A arsenic East Tocharian aliases Turfanian, since Turfan is astatine the easternmost grade of the Tocharian sites. Occasionally it is termed Agnean, referring to the Sanskrit nickname Agni for Qārāšahr. In this context, Tocharian B is referred to arsenic West Tocharian (though it is recovered successful the east, too) aliases Kuchean.

Tocharian Texts

The Tocharian documents each day to a play astir betwixt the sixth and eighth hundreds of years AD. The materials are predominantly translations of Buddhist texts which were successful communal circulation successful Central Asia. This of people is simply a double-edged sword: connected the 1 hand, the well-known contented assists successful the process of decipherment; connected the different hand, it provides very small accusation astir the group who said the language. There are, however, immoderate texts that are not translations of Buddhist progenitors, including monastic and business letters, caravan passes, and graffiti. These secular documents are each written successful Tocharian B, starring immoderate scholars to reason that Tocharian A, by the clip the surviving documents were written, whitethorn already person been an extinct language, preserved only arsenic the liturgical connection -- overmuch arsenic Latin was, successful Europe. The comparative paucity of specified secular documents, however, needfully makes specified conclusions tentative.

Most of the Tocharian texts were successful root parts of monastic room collections, aliases near successful monasteries arsenic votive offerings. Often, parts of these documents were picked up by the upwind and swept retired into the desert, making the number of complete Tocharian documents rather mini and making the mode of betterment astatine times haphazard. The Tocharian documents are not recovered successful isolation. Tocharian manuscripts from monastery libraries people dishonesty broadside by broadside pinch Sanskrit manuscripts of the aforesaid era. At times texts successful different languages, specified arsenic Old Persian and Uyghur, are recovered alongside the Tocharian texts. Occasionally documents successful gāndʰārī, a Middle Indic language, are recovered successful the aforesaid areas, but they day to an earlier era. The texts themselves were predominantly written successful a version of the northbound Indian Brāhmī script, which was besides utilized for the adjacent Middle Iranian connection Tumshuqese. There are nevertheless immoderate Tocharian B documents that employment Manichean book (used to dispersed writings of the Manichean religion, which originated successful the Mesopotamian region).

The Name "Tocharian"

The sanction "Tocharian" (German Tocharisch) was projected first by F. W. K. Müller successful 1907, and a twelvemonth later by the renowned brace of Tocharianists Sieg and Siegling. This sanction is now thought to beryllium a misnomer, but nevertheless remains owed to sheer inertia and the deficiency of a definitive replacement.

The root of the sanction goes backmost to the find of an Old Turkic (Uyghur) matter Maitrisimit nom bitig, a translator of the Buddhist Sanskrit Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka. The colophon of the activity states (Adams, pp. 2-3):

"The ineffable book Maitreya-samiti which the Bodhisattva guru ācārya Āryacandra, who was calved successful the state of Nagaradeśa, had composed successful the Twγry languages retired of the Indian language, and which the guru ācārya Prajñarakṣita, who was calved successful Il-bliq, translated from the Twγry connection into the Turkish language."

Thus a definite Āryacandra composed the original activity present referred to arsenic Maitrisimit nom bitig. This is the aforesaid sanction arsenic the composer of the Indic Maitreyasamiti-Nāṭaka, truthful that the recognition of the original matter appears to beryllium solid. Apparently this activity was past translated into toxrï (Twγry), and from that translated by the coming author, Prajñarakṣita, into Old Turkic (Uyghur).

Sieg and Siegling assumed that the intermediary language, toxrï, was the connection which is the taxable of these lessons, and that this connection toxrï is identical to Greek To'kʰaroi and Sanskrit Tukʰāra, denoting inhabitants of Bactria. In immoderate scholarly accounts, the inhabitants of this area were known arsenic the Indo-Scythians, and truthful Sieg and Siegling projected the sanction Tocharisch for the connection of the Indo-Scythians.

Research and recently discovered documents person proven this recognition to beryllium untenable. The connection of the Indo-Scythians is now termed Bactrian, and this connection has near a number of loanwords successful the languages now termed Tocharian. Tocharian, however, seems not to person near immoderate linguistic traces successful Bactrian, truthful these 2 cultures were apt ne'er successful nonstop contact.

What is clear is that toxrï is the sanction of Tocharian from the constituent of position of the Turkic people. This term, however, does not look successful the Tocharian languages themselves. In Tocharian A we find ārśi arsenic a word apt denoting the Tocharians themselves. In Tocharian B we find the adjective kuśiññe, derived from kuśi (also kuci), the sanction of a dynasty and authorities besides known from Chinese documents. The Turkic group besides mention a connection küšän (also küsän) from the Tarim Basin. One bilingual archive listing first Sanskrit and past Tocharian B has the brace tokʰarikaḥ : kucaññe iṣṭʰake, but this is not arsenic adjuvant arsenic 1 would hope, since tokʰarika (Gk. To'kʰaroi ?) is not the sanction of immoderate known people.

The Position of Tocharian successful Indo-European

In position of geography, Tocharian is the easternmost of each the ancient Indo-European languages. Tocharian besides appears to beryllium a alleged centum language, meaning that the Proto-Indo-European palatovelars became existent velars. This, coupled pinch its geographical location, came arsenic a daze to the humanities linguistics community. The different centum languages included the Celtic, Germanic, Italic, and Hellenic branches of Indo-European -- each located to the westbound of the ancient Indo-European reside community. Tocharian frankincense collapsed down the geographical mentation of the centum-satem dialectal division, which held that the centum speakers formed a occidental dialect group successful the original Indo-European community, and the satem speakers, an eastbound group.

Though surely Indo-European successful heritage, Tocharian shows a number of departures from its humanities source. In particular, it is notable for having a reduced phonetic inventory successful comparison to different Indo-European languages, the Tocharian extremity consonants (e.g. p, t, k) being each voiceless (e.g. nary equivalents to English b, d, g). Tocharian likewise seems to person mislaid a number of original cases of the Indo-European noun, and past developed a caller and enlarged system. These cases thin to person what linguists telephone an agglutinative building akin to that recovered successful Japanese aliases successful Turkic languages (among others), and this mixed pinch the reduced inventory of extremity consonants leads galore scholars to judge that Tocharian went done a agelong play of extended interaction pinch occidental and cardinal Asian connection groups specified arsenic Uralic, Turkic, and Mongolian. (The supra method position will beryllium explained successful the people of the lessons, but the scholar whitethorn astatine immoderate clip usage the Table of Contents to find chat of a peculiar topic.)

Acknowledgements

These lessons person benefitted from the assistance of a number of first-rate scholars, successful peculiar Professor Douglas Q. Adams of the University of Idaho and Professor Georges-Jean Pinault of the École Pratique des Hautes Études successful Paris. These scholars person graciously offered their assistance successful various ways, including the action and translator of texts and answering the author's galore questions connected points of Tocharian grammar. They person shown awesome support and enthusiasm for the project, and the lessons are acold amended for their generous input. No little important person been the galore suggestions for betterment made by Dr. Stephie Nikoloudis. The writer extends to each of them his sincerest thanks. For various reasons, however, the writer has occasionally not been capable to travel their advice, overmuch to his ain peril; he is of people solely responsible for immoderate errors of omission aliases committee that stay successful these lessons.