Tocharian languages

E3582

The Tocharian languages were an extinct branch of the Indo-European family once spoken in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, known from early medieval manuscripts and notable for their archaic linguistic features.

All labels observed (8)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (53)

Predicate Object
instanceOf branch of Indo-European languages
extinct language family
alternativeName Tocharian languages
surface form: Arśi-Kuči languages

Tocharian languages
surface form: Tokharian languages
arealContactWith Gandhari Prakrit
Middle Iranian languages
Southwestern Turkic
surface form: Old Turkic
attestedIn Buddhist texts
commercial documents
manuscripts
monastic documents
branchOf Indo-European language family
discoveredBy Albert von Le Coq
Aurel Stein
extinctionPeriod by the end of the first millennium CE
geographicDistribution Tarim Basin
surface form: Karashahr region

Tarim Basin
surface form: Kucha region

Tarim Basin
surface form: Turfan region
hasPart Tocharian languages self-linksurface differs
surface form: Tocharian A

Tocharian languages self-linksurface differs
surface form: Tocharian B
historicalRegion Xinjiang
identifiedAsIndoEuropeanBy Emil Sieg
Wilhelm Siegling
ISO639-5Code txh
languageFamily Indo-European language family
lexicalBorrowingFrom Iranian languages
Middle Indic languages
Sanskrit
notableFeature agglutinative case system
archaic Indo-European morphology
centum Indo-European phonology
innovative verbal system
lack of grammatical gender in nouns
use of clitic pronouns
periodOfUse 1st millennium CE
religiousContext Buddhism
researchField Indo-European studies
historical linguistics
scriptUsed Brahmi script
Brahmi script
surface form: Central Asian Brahmi
spokenIn Central Asia
Tarim Basin
oases of the northern Tarim Basin
status extinct
subclassOf Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European languages
textualGenre Buddhist canonical translations
administrative records
medical texts
secular documents
timeOfAttestation 6th century CE
7th century CE
8th century CE
writingSystemType abugida

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (23)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Indo-European language family hasSubfamily Tocharian languages
Indo-European language family hasExtinctBranch Tocharian languages
Tocharian languages hasPart Tocharian languages self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Tocharian A
Tocharian languages hasPart Tocharian languages self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
Tocharian languages alternativeName Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tokharian languages
Tocharian languages alternativeName Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Arśi-Kuči languages
Indo-Europeans gaveRiseTo Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian peoples
Tarim Basin ancientLanguages Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian
Proto-Indo-European hasDescendant Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Proto-Tocharian
Wilhelm Siegling fieldOfWork Tocharian languages
Wilhelm Siegling studied Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian A
Wilhelm Siegling studied Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
Emil Sieg fieldOfWork Tocharian languages
Emil Sieg studied Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian A
Emil Sieg studied Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
Kingdom of Kucha language Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
Kingdom of Kucha languageFamily Tocharian languages
Kuqa languageHistorically Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
PIE ancestorOf Tocharian languages
subject surface form: Proto-Indo-European
PIE hasBranch Tocharian languages
subject surface form: Proto-Indo-European
this entity surface form: Tocharian
Turfan manuscripts hasLanguage Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian A
Turfan manuscripts hasLanguage Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian B
Turfan manuscripts associatedWithCulture Tocharian languages
this entity surface form: Tocharian