Tocharian B

Tocharian B, also known as Kuchean 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.^[4] The oldest stage is attested only in Kucha. There is also the middle ('classicalʼ), and the late stage.^[5]

NativetoKucha

RegionTarim Basin

EthnicityTocharians

Extinct850 AD^[1]

Quick facts Native to, Region ...

Tocharian B
Kuchean
Kuśiññe
Tocharian inscription "This Buddha was painted by the hand of Sanketava."
Native to	Kucha
Region	Tarim Basin
Ethnicity	Tocharians
Extinct	850 AD^[1]
Language family	Indo-European Tocharian Tocharian B
Early form	Proto-Tocharian
Writing system	Tocharian script Manichaean script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`txb`
Linguist List	`xtb` Tocharian B
Glottolog	`tokh1243`
Tocharian languages A (blue), B (red) and C (green) in the Tarim Basin.^[2] Tarim oasis towns are given as listed in the Book of Han (c. 2nd century BC), with the areas of the squares proportional to population.^[3]
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Nomenclature

According to Peyrot, the self-designation for the language was kuśi 'Kuča'.^[6] In scholarly works, it is known as Tocharian B, sometimes referred to as West Tocharian or Kuchean.^[7]

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.^[8] 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".^[9]

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".^[10]

References

Bibliography

Adams, Douglas Q. (July 1983). "Studies in Tocharian Vocabulary II: Words Pertaining to the Lower Limbs in Tocharian B". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 103 (3): 611–613. doi:10.2307/602042. JSTOR 602042.
Adams, Douglas Q. (October 1983). "Studies in Tocharian Vocabulary III: Three Tocharian B Terms for Parts of the Upper Body". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 103 (4): 759–760. doi:10.2307/602235. JSTOR 602235.
Adams, Douglas Q. (April 1986). "Studies in Tocharian Vocabulary IV: A Quartet of Words from a Tocharian B Magic Text". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 106 (2): 339–341. doi:10.2307/601599. JSTOR 601599.
Arndt, Walter W.; Brosman Jr., Paul W.; Coenen, Frederic E.; Friedrich, Werner P., eds. (1967). "On the Interrelationship of the Tocharian Dialects". Studies in Historical Linguistics in Honor of George Sherman Lane: Festschrift for George S. Lane (PDF). Vol. 58. The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 105–134. doi:10.1353/book.75772. hdl:20.500.12657/39808. ISBN 978-1-4696-5703-5. JSTOR 10.5149/9781469657035_arndt.13.
Chao-Jung; 慶昭蓉; Enami Kazuyuki; 江南和幸; Okada Yoshihiro; 岡田至弘 (2020). "Paper in Eighth-Century Kucha: Discovery of Cotton Fibres within Chinese and Kuchean Documents". Central Asiatic Journal. 63 (1–2): 71. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.63.1-2.0071. S2CID 236875646.
Chen; 陳瑞翾 (2018). "Vignettes of Buddhist Asceticism: Jottings on Six Fragments in Tocharian B". Central Asiatic Journal. 61 (2): 217. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.61.2.0217. S2CID 198766202.
Hilmarsson, Jörundur (1988). "West Tocharian lyauto 'hole, opening' and related words". Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics. 101 (1): 166–169. JSTOR 40848921.
Kim, Ronald I. (2009). "Another Look at Tocharian B ṣarya". Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics. 122: 111–117. doi:10.13109/hisp.2009.122.1.111. JSTOR 41430701.
Malzahn, Melanie (2012). "Now you see it, now you don't – Bewegliches -o in Tocharisch B". Multilingualism and History of Knowledge, Vol. 2: Linguistic Developments Along the Silkroad: Archaism and Innovation in Tocharian. Vol. 12. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. pp. 33–82. doi:10.2307/j.ctt3fgk5q.5. ISBN 978-3-7001-7304-5. JSTOR j.ctt3fgk5q.5.
Ogihara, Hirotoshi (2018). "Two Fragments of Tocharian B laissez-passers Kept in the Berlin Collection". Great Journeys across the Pamir Mountains. pp. 33–45. doi:10.1163/9789004362253_004. ISBN 978-90-04-36222-2.
Pinault, Georges-Jean. "Surveying the Tocharian B Lexicon". In: Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, vol. 114, no. 2, 2019, pp. 91–97. https://doi.org/10.1515/olzg-2019-0030
Stumpf, Peter (1976). "Westtocharisch se-seṃ: zwei Paradigmen oder nur eines?". Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung. 90 (1/2): 114–127. JSTOR 40848492.
Winter, Werner (October 1955). "A Linguistic Classification of 'Tocharian' B Texts". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 75 (4): 216–225. doi:10.2307/595385. JSTOR 595385.
Winter, Werner (August 1961). "Lexical Interchange between 'Tocharian' A and B". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 81 (3): 271–280. doi:10.2307/595658. JSTOR 595658.
Woolner, A. C. (1925). "Sanskrit Names of Drugs in Kuchean". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 57 (4): 623–638. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00168807. JSTOR 25220813. S2CID 162418763.

Nomenclature

Overview

Documentation

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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