Tokharian
[toh-kair-ee-uh n, -kahr-]
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Tocharian
or To·khar·i·an
[toh-kair-ee-uh n, -kahr-]
- a member of a central Asian people of high culture, who were assimilated with other peoples about the 11th century a.d.
- the language of the Tocharians, an extinct Indo-European language, having an eastern dialect (Tocharian A) and a western dialect (Tocharian B), records of which date from a.d. c600–c1000.
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- of or relating to the Tocharians or their language.
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Origin of Tocharian
1925–30; < Greek Tóchar(oi) a Central Asian people (thought to have been the language's speakers when its remains were first discovered) + -ian
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tokharian
Historical Examples
He also identifies them with the red-haired, blue-eyed people of the Chotscho frescoes and the speakers of the Tokharian language.
Tokharian
- a variant spelling of Tocharian
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Tocharian
Tokharian
- 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 ad
- 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
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Word Origin
C20: ultimately from Greek Tokharoi, name of uncertain origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for tokharian
Tocharian
in reference to an extinct people and Indo-European language of Chinese Turkestan, 1927, from French tocharien, from Greek Tokharoi (Strabo), name of an Asiatic people who lived in the Oxus valley in ancient times. Earlier Tocharish (1910), from German tocharisch. The identification of this culture with the people named by Strabo was suggested in 1907 by F.W.K. Müller and "is obviously erroneous" (Klein).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper