Tocharian

To·char·i·an also To·khar·i·an  (t-kâr-n, -kär-, -kr-)

n.

1. A member of a people living in Chinese Turkistan until about the tenth century.

2. Either of the two Indo-European languages of this people, called Tocharian A and Tocharian B, recorded from the seventh to the ninth century.

3. A branch of the Indo-European language family consisting of the two Tocharian languages.

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[From Latin Tochar, the Tocharians, from Greek Tokharoi.]

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Tocharian, Tokharian [tɒˈkɑːrɪən]

n

1. (Historical Terms) a member of an Asian people with a complex material culture, sometimes thought to be of European origin, who lived in the Tarim Basin until overcome by the Uighurs around 800 a.d

2. (Linguistics / Languages) the language of this people, known from records in a N Indian script of the 7th and 8th centuries ad It belongs to the Indo-European family, is regarded as forming an independent branch, and shows closer affinities with the W or European group than with the E or Indo-Iranian group. The language is recorded in two dialects, known as Tocharian A and Tocharian B

[ultimately from Greek Tokharoi, name of uncertain origin]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Tocharian - a branch of the Indo-European language family that originated in central Asia during the first millennium A.D. Indo-European language, Indo-Hittite, Indo-European - the family of languages that by 1000 BC were spoken throughout Europe and in parts of southwestern and southern Asia East Tocharian, Turfan, Turfan dialect - a dialect of Tocharian Kuchean, Kuchean dialect, West Tocharian - a dialect of Tocharian