Agnean language
 | A request that this article title be changed to Tocharian A is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
| Agnean | |
|---|---|
| Tocharian A, Tokharian A, Eastern Tocharian, Karashahrian, Turfanian | |
| tkaṃ | |
 Tocharian inscription "This Buddha was painted by the hand of Sanketava" | |
| Native to | Karasahr and Turfan |
| Region | Tarim Basin |
| Ethnicity | Tocharians |
| Extinct | 850 AD[1] |
Indo-European
| |
Early form | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xto |
xto | |
| Glottolog | tokh1242 |
| IETF | xto |
 Tocharian languages A (blue), B (red) and C (green) in the Tarim Basin.[2] Tarim oasis towns are given as listed in the Book of Han (c. 2nd century BC), with the areas of the squares proportional to population.[3] | |
 Diachronic map showing the centum (blue) and satem (red) groups of Indo-European languages. Tocharian, on the right (East), is part of the centum group which initially formed a continuum, before the "satemization" appeared in the Eurasian Steppe.[4] | |
Agnean (tkaṃ),[5] also known as Tocharian A, Tokharian A, Eastern Tocharian, Karashahrian or Turfanian[6] is a dead language that was in use in the 1st millennium AD in the Karashahr and Turfan region of the Tarim Basin, present-day Xinjiang, Western China. First discovered from Buddhist texts dating back to around the 7th century AD,[7] it coexisted with a related language, Kuchean that together possibly with Kroränian form the Tocharian branch of the Indo-European languages. This language was notably used in what China's Han dynasty then called the Kiu-che Kingdom (known as the Kushan Empire).[8] It is believed that Agnean died out with the other Tocharian languages when the Uyghurs and the Yenisei Kyrgyz moved into the Tarim Basin.[9]
Writing
[edit]Agnean is known from around the 2000 manuscripts found.[10] From these series of texts which are majority Buddhist liturgical texts are transcribed in a script derived from Brahmi. Unlike Kuchean, there are no secular texts in Agnean. One possible explanation is that at the time these texts were written, Agnean survived only as a liturgical language and Kuchean would still have been a living language.[9]
Another hypothesis, however, is that this absence is simply explained by the very fragmentary attestation of Tocharian languages in general.
From the work of Georges-Jean Pinault and Melanie Malzahn in 2007, it is now recognized that it was also a living, spoken language.[11]
Morphology
[edit]Nouns
[edit]The Agnean word for horse (yuk) is declined as follows:[12]
| Case | Tocharian A | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Suffix | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | — | yuk | yukañ |
| Genitive | — | yukes | yukāśśi |
| Oblique | — | yuk | yukas |
| Instrumental | -yo | yukyo | yukasyo |
| Perlative | -ā | yukā | yukasā |
| Comitative | -aśśäl | yukaśśäl | yukasaśśäl |
| Allative | -ac | yukac | yukasac |
| Ablative | -äṣ | yukäṣ | yukasäṣ |
| Locative | -aṃ | yukaṃ | yukasaṃ |
Pronounciation
[edit]One of the innovations of Agnean is the presence of a sibilant consonant ṣ.[13]
Tocharian Glossary
[edit]Tocharian Words
[edit]The following are some examples of Agnean words with English words:[14]
| English | Agnean |
|---|---|
| always | skam |
| art | amok |
| away | lo |
| beyond | pät |
| cattle | śemäl |
| come | käm |
| despicable | appärmāt |
| enemy | yäslu |
| few | tsru |
| gift | el |
| go | kälk |
| god | ñkät |
| island | praṅk |
| lotus | oppal |
| net | sopi |
| or | pat |
| part | pāk |
| ready | ārṣal |
| root | tsmār |
| say | träṅk |
| serpent | ārwar |
| son | se |
| time | praṣt |
| water | wär |
The following is also a comparison of some numbers in Agnean and other Indo-European languages:[15]
| English | Agnean | Spanish | French | German | Persian | Armenian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | sas | uno | un | einz | yak | mi |
| two | wu | dos | deux | zwei | do | erku |
| three | tre | trs | trois | drei | se | erek' |
| four | stwar | cuatro | quatre | vier | cahar | cork' |
| five | pän | cinco | cinq | fünf | panj | hing |
| six | säk | seis | six | sechs | shesh | vec |
| seven | spät | siete | sept | sieben | haft | ewt'n |
| eight | okät | ocho | huit | acht | hasht | ut |
| nine | nu | nueve | neuf | neun | noh | inn |
| ten | säk | diez | dix | zehn | dah | tasn |
| hundred | känt | ciento | cent | hundert | sad | hariwr |
Maitreyasamitināṭaka
[edit]
The Maitreyasamitināṭaka is a Buddhist drama about the life of the Maitreya written in Agnean and is the most well-known Tocharian text about Maitreya.[16] It was translated into Old Uyghur (which is named Maitrisimit), which has been used to interpret Agnean. The Maitrisimit is not an exact translation as it was adapted to meet the requirements of Old Uyghur and the Maitreyasamitināṭaka was written in the campū style, which has a mixture prose and verse.[17]
The following is one of the translations of the Tocharian A manuscript of Maitreyasamitināṭaka:[18]
klā k. SA (23 syllables) (me)trakṣināṃ opṣlyā plāc weñeñc¨ˎkāvvintu yāmeñc¨ˎ///
- [… through Metrak’s opṣly they would tell a speech (and) make verses. ///:]
ñ¨[ˎ]•klyoMA[nT]ˎ (20 syllables) (k)ly(o)MAnTˎ metraKAṃ oñantyo tri ñemintwaṃ KAlymeyā spārtwe(ñc¨ˎ) ///
- [•noble /// beginning with noble Metrak in three jewels they would turn in the right manner ///:]
Pˎ metRAkyāp [w]. (18 syllables) ps. lāntuneṣi [abhi]ṣeKˎ artantRA•kus pat nu tanā SArki tu .i///
- [of Metrak /// they praise anointing of sovereignty•hereafter ///:]
s weñeñc¨ˎ klyo(señc¨ˎ klyoMAnt metra) ◯[k]ṣ(i)nā(ṃ) plāc¨ˎ metRA(kyāPˎ) yärkanTˎ ārtantRA pālantRA anumodin yāmeñc¨ˎ pukāk ṣakk ats [c]e ///
- [they would speak (panegyric(?) and hear) the speech (of noble Metrak,) praise (much) the
respect (of) Metrak, make gratification absolutely (and) surely ///:] t pi koriSˎ ṢAk-KAnTˎ (w)r(asañ¨ˎ taṃ)◯ne KAtkeñc¨ˎ kātka[ṣ PA](lketSˎ?) ārkiśoṣṣaṃ PAttāñKATˎ: śmantRA cem wrasañ¨ˎ tām praṣṭaśśä[l] ..///
- [(9)600 millions (people) would go across (in such a way). The brilliant(?) Buddha would stand
in the world : The people would come in (proper?) time ///:] kyo napeṃsaṃ : ṣo«me» metRA[ky](āPˎ) (kl)[yo]señc¨ ˎ MArkampaL*ˎ tSAlpeñc¨ˎ kloPA(ṣ ṣome?) yomneñc¨ˎ puttiśparnac¨ˎ vyākariTˎ: TAmyo metRAkyāp kā /// (PA)-
- [with … in (the world of?) people : Some would hear Dharma of Metrak, would be free (from)
suffering, (some?) would get the prophecy for the worth of Buddha : Then Metrak's ///:] ls[k]asuntāPˎ skaMˎ skenaLˎ : 1 (4x25) || sātāgiri tRAṅKAṢˎ kāsu weñā(ṢTˎ)++Rˎ TAmyo TAṣ metRAkyāp waSA[mp]ātṣiṃ opṣlyac poñcäṃ ārki(ṣṣaṃ) ///
- [one should endeavor always mindful … :•|| Sā tagiri says, “You said good … then so for opṣ aly
of attainment of Metrak (in) complete world:] (purṇak)e t(RA)ṅKAṢˎ ceṣ ṣome ñäktañ¨ˎ epreRAṢˎ kāKArpuRAṢ*ˎ dak(ṣ)i(ṇāpapatha)[c]¨ˎ yiñc¨ˎ ṣome nu pāṣānak [ṣu]lac¨ˎ yiñc¨ˎ || sātā(giri tRAṅKAṢˎ dakṣiṇāpathˎ KAlymeyaṃ bādhari prāmne)
- [(Pūrṇaka) says, “Some these gods, having descended from air space, go to Dakṣināpatha, some
also go to the mount Pāṣānaka” || Sāta(giri says, “In Dakṣiṇāpatha region(← direction) Brahmin Bādhari is):]
References
[edit]- ^ "The ASJP Database - Wordlist Tocharian A". asjp.clld.org. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
extinct since 850
- ^ Mallory & Mair 2000, p. 274.
- ^ Mallory & Mair 2000, p. 67, 68.
- ^ André Martinet, Des steppes aux océans : l'indo-européen et les indo-européens, Payot 1986.
- ^ (Lejeune 1938, p. 548)
- ^ "Tokharian A". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
- ^ Tadeusz Milewski (2004). Językoznawstwo (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. p. 136. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ Maillard 1973, p. 742.
- ^ a b Mallory, J. P. (2010). "Bronze Age Languages of the Tarim Basin". Expedition Magazine. Vol. 52, no. 3. Penn Museum. pp. 44–53. ISSN 0014-4738. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-09. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
- ^ "Tocharian Language". Encyclopædia Iranica. 2015-07-27. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
- ^ Doug Hitch (2012). Review of Variation and Change in Tocharian B, Michaël Peyrot. Vol. 132. Journal of the American Oriental Society. pp. 508–512. doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.132.3.0508. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 10.7817/jameroriesoci.132.3.0508. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- ^ Krause, Todd B.; Slocum, Jonathan. "Tocharian Online: Series Introduction". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 10 May 2025.
- ^ Levet 2006, p. 18.
- ^ Krause, Todd B.; Slocum, Jonathan. "Tocharian A: Base Form Dictionary". University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
- ^ J. P. Mallory (1989). In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth (PDF). Thames & Hudson. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ Athanaric Huard (2020). The end of Mahākāśyapa and the encounter with Maitreya Two Leaves of a Maitreya-Cycle in Archaic TB. HAL. Archived from the original on 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ Michaël Peyrot; Ablet Semet (2016). A comparitive study of the beginning of the 11th act of the Tocharian A Maitreyasamitināṭaka (PDF). pp. 355–356. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- ^ Tatsushi Tamai (2019). The Tocharian Maitreyasamitinaṭaka. pp. 288–289. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
Bibliography
[edit]- Lejeune, Michel (1938), 47. Mélanges de linguistique et de philologie offerts à Jacq. Van Ginneken., 1937. (in French), vol. 51, Revue des Études Grecques, pp. 548–549
- Maillard, Monique (1973), Essai sur la vie matérielle dans l'oasis de Tourfan durant le Haut Moyen Âge. (in French), École pratique des hautes études. 4e section, Sciences historiques et philologiques. Annuaire 1972-1973., pp. 741–744, doi:10.3406/ephe.1973.5679
- Levet, Jean-Pierre (2006), Tokharien ñäś et lituanien manęs : des jalons indo-euro-péens sur le chemin de l’eurasiatique ? (in French), Φιλολογία. Mélanges offerts à Michel Casevitz. Lyon : Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, pp. 13–21 (Collection of the House of the Ancient Mediterranean Orient. Literary and Philosophical Series, 35)
- Mallory, J.P.; Mair, Victor H. (2000), The Tarim Mummies, London: Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-05101-1.
Further reading
[edit]- Melanie Malzahn (2007). The Most Archaic Manuscripts of Tocharian B and the Varieties of the Tocharian B Language. Vol. 103. Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH. pp. 255–297.
- Georges-Jean Pinault; Klaus T. Schmidt; Werner Winter; Michaël Peyrot; Jens Elmegård Rasmussen; Thomas Olander (2003). Tocharian and Indo-European Studies. Vol. 10. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISSN 1012-9286. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2025-05-10.
- Klaus T. Schmidt; Werner Winter; Jens Elmegård Rasmussen (27 September 2012). Tocharian and Indo-European Studies vol.13. Vol. 13. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISSN 1012-9286. Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- Emiel Sieg; Wilhelm Schulze; Wilhelm Siegling (1931). Tocharische Grammatik (in German). Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht (Druck von Hubert). Retrieved 2025-05-11.
- Wolfgang Krause; Werner Thomas (1960). Tocharisches Elementarbuch: Grammatik (in German). Vol. 1. Carl Winter. Retrieved 2025-05-11.