Tocharian_B

Kuchean language

Kuchean language

Extinct Indo-European languages in Asia

Kuchean (also known as Tocharian B or West Tocharian) was a Western member of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European languages, extinct from the ninth century. Once spoken in the Tarim Basin in Central Asia, Tocharian B shows an internal chronological development; three linguistic stages have been detected.[1] The oldest stage is attested only in Kucha. There is also the middle ('classicalʼ), and the late stage.[2]

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...

Nomenclature

Acorrding to Peyrot, the self-designation for the language was kuśi 'Kuča'.[3] In scholarly works, it is known as West Tocharian or Kuchean.[4]

Overview

According to scholar Michael Peyrot, Tocharian B is dated between the 5th and 10th centuries AD, and was spread from Kuča to Yānqi and Turfan.[5] Paul Widmer, following Tamai's and Adams's studies, situates Tocharian B roughly between 400 and 1200, its oldest layer dating from ca. 400 to 600, around "Kucha and environs".[6]

Documentation

According to J. H. W. Penney, Tocharian B is reported to be documented as Buddhist religious literature, and as secular material "pertaining to everyday life".[7]

References

  1. [1]
    Peyrot 2008, p. [page needed].
  2. [2]
    Peyrot, Michaël (2015). "Tocharian Language". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  3. [3]
    Peyrot, Michaël. “Tocharian”. In: The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Edited by Thomas Olander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. p. 83. doi:10.1017/9781108758666.006.
  4. [4]
    Fortson, Benjamin W. (2004). Indo-European Language and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. p. 351. ISBN 1-4051-0316-7.
  5. [5]
    Peyrot, Michaël. “Tocharian”. In: The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Edited by Thomas Olander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. p. 83. doi:10.1017/9781108758666.006.
  6. [6]
    Widmer, Paul (2017). "79. The dialectology of Tocharian". Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics (PDF). pp. 1392–1393. doi:10.1515/9783110523874-034. ISBN 978-3-11-052387-4.
  7. [7]
    Penney, J. H. W. (2017). "74. The documentation of Tocharian". Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. p. 1299. doi:10.1515/9783110523874-029. ISBN 978-3-11-052387-4.

Bibliography

Studies
Tocharian literature
  • Lundysheva, Olga and Maue, Dieter. "An Old Uyghur text fragment related to the Tocharian B “History of Kuchean kings”". In: Religion and State in the Altaic World: Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC), Friedensau, Germany, August 18–23, 2019. Edited by Oliver Corff, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730562-010
  • Peyrot, Michaël; Wilkens, Jens (September 2014). "Two Tocharian B fragments parallel to the Hariścandra-Avadāna of the Old Uyghur Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (3): 319–335. doi:10.1556/aorient.67.2014.3.6. JSTOR 90004169.
  • Wilkens, Jens; Pinault, Georges-Jean; Peyrot, Michaël (March 2014). "A tocharian B parallel to the legend of kalmāṣapāda and sutasoma of the old uyghur daśakarmapathāvadānamālā". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 67 (1): 1–18. doi:10.1556/aorient.67.2014.1.1. JSTOR 90004088.

Further reading
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Tocharian_B, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.