Editing Tocharian languages (section)

{{Short description|Extinct Indo-European languages in Asia}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Tocharian
| region        = [[Tarim Basin]]
| ethnicity     = [[Tocharians]]
| extinct       = 9th century AD
| map           = Tocharian languages overview map.svg
| mapcaption    = {{legend|#f07568|outline=#e0584e|directly attested (Tocharian A and B)}}
{{legend|none|outline=#e0584e|loanword traces (Tocharian C)}}
| familycolor   = Indo-European
| protoname     = [[Proto-Tocharian language|Proto-Tocharian]]
| child1        = [[Tocharian A]] (Agnean)
| child2        = [[Tocharian B]] (Kuchean)
| glotto        = tokh1241
| glottorefname = Tokharian
| altname       = Tokharian
}}

{{Indo-European topics}}

The '''Tocharian''' (sometimes ''Tokharian'') '''languages''' ({{IPAc-en|US|t|oʊ|'|k|ɛər|i|ə|n|,|_|-|ˈ|k|ɑːr|-}} {{respell|toh|KAIR|ee|ən|,_|-|KAR|-}};<ref>{{Citation |mode=cs1 |title=[[:MWOD:Tocharian| Definition of TOCHARIAN]]|work=Merriam–Webster Dictionary<!-- requires url, but for the fans: |access-date=2019-10-18-->}}</ref> {{IPAc-en|UK|t|ɒ|'|k|ɑːr|i|ə|n}} {{respell|to|KAR|ee|ən}}),<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/tocharian |title=Tocharian definition and meaning |website= Collins English Dictionary|access-date=2019-10-18}}</ref> also known as the '''''Arśi-Kuči''''', '''Agnean-Kuchean''' or '''Kuchean-Agnean''' languages, are an extinct branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]] spoken by inhabitants of the [[Tarim Basin]], the [[Tocharians]].<ref name="DD">{{Cite book |last=Diringer |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.57042/page/n349/mode/2up |title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind |date=1953 |publisher=Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications |edition=Second and revised |location=London |pages=347–348 |language=en |orig-date=1948}}</ref> The languages are known from manuscripts dating from the 5th to the 8th century AD, which were found in [[oasis]] cities on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (now part of [[Xinjiang]] in Northwest China) and the [[Lop Desert]]. The discovery of these languages in the early 20th century contradicted the formerly prevalent idea of an east–west division of the Indo-European language family as [[centum and satem languages]], and prompted reinvigorated study of the Indo-European family. Scholars studying these manuscripts in the early 20th century identified their authors with the ''Tokharoi'', a name used in ancient sources for people of [[Bactria]] ([[Tokharistan]]). Although this identification is now believed to be mistaken, "Tocharian" remains the usual term for these languages.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walter |first=Mariko Namba |date=1998 |title=Tokharian Buddhism in Kucha: Buddhism of Indo-European Centum Speakers in Chinese Turkestan before the 10th Century C.E. |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp085_tokharian_buddhism_kucha.pdf |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |language=en |volume=85 |pages=2–4}}</ref><ref name="DD" />

The discovered manuscripts record two closely related languages, called [[Agnean language|Tocharian A]] (also ''East Tocharian'' or ''Turfanian'') and [[Kuchean language|Tocharian B]] (''West Tocharian'' or ''Kuchean'').<ref>{{cite web | url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/prdb/tocharian/0 | title=Tocharian |website =the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |via= Credo Reference |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/tokol | title=Introduction to Tocharian }}</ref> The subject matter of the texts suggests that Tocharian A was more archaic and used as a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] liturgical language, while Tocharian B was more actively spoken in the entire area from [[Turfan]] in the east to [[Tumshuq]] in the west. A body of loanwords and names found in [[Prakrit]] documents from the [[Lop Nur]] basin have been dubbed Tocharian C (''Kroränian''). A claimed find of ten Tocharian C texts written in [[Kharosthi]] has been discredited.<ref name="adams-tocharian-c-again">{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Douglas Q. |date=25 September 2019 |title='Tocharian C' Again: The Plot Thickens and the Mystery Deepens |url=https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44503 |access-date=25 September 2019 |website=Language Log |language=en}}</ref>

The oldest extant manuscripts in Tocharian B are now dated to the fifth or even late fourth century AD, making it a language of [[late antiquity]] contemporary with [[Gothic language|Gothic]], [[Classical Armenian]], and [[Primitive Irish]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Ronald I. |title=100 Jahre Entzifferung des Hethitischen. Morphosyntaktische Kategorien in Sprachgeschichte und Forschung. Akten der Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft vom 21. bis 23. September 2015 in Marburg |date=2018 |publisher=Reichert Verlag |editor-last=Rieken |editor-first=Elisabeth |location=Wiesbaden |page=170 (footnote 44) |chapter=One Hundred Years of Re-Reconstruction: Hittite, Tocharian, and the Continuing Revision of Proto-Indo-European |access-date=13 September 2019 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/37844928}}</ref>