TOCHARIAN LANGUAGES : Comprehensive Encyclopedia

Tocharian or Tokharian is one of the most obscure branches of the group of Indo-European languages. It consisted of two languages, Tocharian A (Turfanian, Arsi, or East Tocharian) and Tocharian B (Kuchean or West Tocharian). These languages were spoken roughly from the 6th to 8th centuries; before they became extinct, their speakers were absorbed into the expanding Uyghur tribes.

Both languages were once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, now the Xinjiang province of China. The name of the language is taken from the Tocharians (Greek: Τόχαροι, "Tokharoi") of the Greek historians (Ptolemy VI, 11, 6). These are sometimes identified with the Yuezhi and the Kushans, and the term Tokharistan usually refers to 1st millennium Bactria. A Turkic text refers to the Turfanian language (Tocharian A) as twqry. Interpretation is difficult, but F. W. K. Müller has associated this with the name of the Bactrian Tokharoi. In Tocharian, the language is referred to as arish-käna and the Tocharians as arya.

Phonetics

Phonetically, Tocharian is a "Centum" (pronounced [kentum]) Indo-European language, characterized by the merging of palato-velar consonants with plain velars (*k, *g, *gh), which is generally associated with Indo-European languages of the West European area (Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek). In that sense, Tocharian seems to have been an isolate in the "Satem" phonetic world of Indo-European-speaking East European and Asian populations.

Vowels

Consonants

Note that the above consonantal values are largely based on the writing of Sanskrit/Prakrit loanwords. A retroflex value for /ʂ/ is particularly suspect as it has nothing to do with /r/ historically, being derived from palatalized /s/; it was probably a low-frequency sibilant /ʃ/ (like German spelling [sch]), as opposed to the higher-frequency sibilant /ɕ/ (like Mandarin Pinyin spelling [x]).

Writing system

Wooden plate with inscriptions in Tocharian. Kucha, China, 5th-8th century. Tokyo National Museum.

Tocharian abugida (vowels).

Tocharian abugida (consonants).

Tocharian is documented in manuscript fragments, mostly from the 8th century (with a few earlier ones) that were written on palm leaves, wooden tablets and Chinese paper, preserved by the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin. Samples of the language have been discovered at sites in Kucha and Karasahr, including many mural inscriptions.

Tocharian A and B are not intercomprehensible. Properly speaking, based on the tentative interpretation of twqry as related to Tokharoi, only Tocharian A may be referred to as Tocharian, while Tocharian B could be called Kuchean (its native name may have been kuśiññe), but since their grammars are usually treated together in scholarly works, the terms A and B have proven useful. The common Proto-Tocharian language must precede the attested languages by several centuries, probably dating to the 1st millennium BC.

The alphabet the Tocharians were using is derived from the North Indian Brahmi alphabetic syllabary (abugida) and is referred to as slanting Brahmi. It soon became apparent that a large proportion of the manuscripts were translations of known Buddhist works in Sanskrit and some of them were even bilingual, facilitating decipherment of the new language. Besides the Buddhist and Manichaean religious texts, there were also monastery correspondence and accounts, commercial documents, caravan permits, and medical and magical texts, and one love poem. Many Tocharians embraced Manichaean duality or Buddhism.

Cultural significance

"Tocharian donors", with light hair and light eye color, dressed in Sassanian style, 6th century CE fresco, Qizil, Tarim Basin. These frescoes are associated with annotations in Tocharian and Sanskrit made by their painters.

The existence of the Tocharian languages and alphabet was not even guessed at, until chance discoveries in the early 20th century brought to light fragments of manuscripts in a then-unknown alphabetic syllabary (abugida) that turned out to belong to a hitherto unknown branch of the Indo-European family of languages, which has been named 'Tocharian'.

Tocharian has upset some theories about the relations of Indo-European languages and is revitalizing linguistic studies. The Tocharian languages are a major geographic exception to the usual pattern of Indo-European branches, being the only one that spread directly east from the theoretical Indo-European starting point in the Pontic steppe.

Tocharian probably died out after 840, when the Uyghurs were expelled from Mongolia by the Kirghiz, retreating to the Tarim Basin. This theory is supported by the discovery of translations of Tocharian texts into Uyghur. During Uyghur rule, the peoples mixed with the Uyghurs to produce much of the modern population of what is now Xinjiang.

Modern English	Tocharian A	Tocharian B	Irish	Latin	Ancient Greek	Sanskrit	*Proto-Indo-European
Tocharian vocabulary (sample)
one	sas	ṣe	aon	ūnus	heis	eka	*hoinos or *sems
two	wu	wi	dó	duo	duo	dvāu	*duoh₁
three	tre	trai	trí	trēs	treis	tri	*treyes
four	śtwar	śtwer	ceathair	quattuor	téssares	catvāras	*k^wetwores
five	päñ	piś	cúig	quīnque	pente	pañka	*penk^we
six	ṣäk	ṣkas	sé	sex	héx	ṣáṣ	*(s)weḱs
seven	ṣpät	ṣukt	seacht	septem	heptá	saptá	*septm
eight	okät	okt	hocht	octō	októ	aṣṭa	*oḱtoh₃
nine	ñu	ñu	naoi	novem	ennéa	náva	*newn
ten	śäk	śak	deich	decem	deka	daśa	*deḱm
hundred	känt	kante	cead	centum	hekatón	śatám	*ḱmtom
father	pācar	pācer	athair	pater	patēr	pitáṛ	*ph₂tēr
mother	mācar	mācer	máthair	mater	mētér	mātáṛ	*me₂tēr
brother	pracar	procer	bráthair	frāter	phrátēr¹	bhrātāṛ	*bhre₂tēr
sister	ṣar	ṣer	siúr	soror	éor¹	svasṛ	*swesor
(horse)³	yuk	yakwe	each	equus	híppos	áśva	*eḱwo-
cow	ko	keu	bó	bos²	boûs	gāús	*g^wou-
(voice)²	vak	vek	focal¹	vōx	épos¹	vāk	*wek^w-
to milk	malk	mälk	bligh	mulgēre	amélgein	marjati¹	*melg-
name	ñom	ñem	ainm	nomen	ónoma	nāman	*nomn

¹ = Cognate, with shifted meaning ² = Borrowed cognate, not native. ³ = English meaning, unrelated word

References

"Tokharian Pratimoksa Fragment Sylvain Levi". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 1913, pp. 109-120.
Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair. The Tarim Mummies. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. (ISBN 0500051011)
Schmalsteig, William R. "Tokharian and Baltic." Lituanus. v. 20, no. 3, 1974.
Krause, Wolfgang and Werner Thomas. Tocharisches Elemantarbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1960.

TOCHARIAN LANGUAGES

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