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]
Nomenclature
According 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]
^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.
^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.
Penney, J. H. W. (2017). "74. The documentation of Tocharian". Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics. pp. 1298–1303.
doi:
10.1515/9783110523874-029.
ISBN978-3-11-052387-4.
Peyrot, Michaël. “Tocharian”. In: The Indo-European Language Family: A Phylogenetic Perspective. Edited by Thomas Olander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. pp. 83–101.
doi:
10.1017/9781108758666.006.
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.
JSTOR90004169.
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.
JSTOR90004088.
Further reading
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.
JSTOR602042.
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.
JSTOR602235.
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.
JSTOR601599.
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.
S2CID236875646.
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.
S2CID198766202.
Hilmarsson, Jörundur (1988). "West Tocharian lyauto 'hole, opening' and related words". Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics. 101 (1): 166–169.
JSTOR40848921.
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.
JSTOR41430701.
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.
ISBN978-3-7001-7304-5.
JSTORj.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.
ISBN978-90-04-36222-2.
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.
JSTOR40848492.
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.
JSTOR595385.
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.
JSTOR595658.