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tokharian

 - 5 dictionary results

To⋅khar⋅i⋅an

  [toh-kair-ee-uhn, -kahr-]
Use tokharian in a Sentence
–noun
Tocharian.

To⋅char⋅i⋅an

  [toh-kair-ee-uhn, -kahr-]
–noun
1. a member of a central Asian people of high culture, who were assimilated with other peoples about the 11th century a.d.
2. 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.
–adjective
3. of or pertaining to the Tocharians or their language.
Also, Tokharian.

Origin:
1925–30; < Gk 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 Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tokharian
To·char·i·an also To·khar·i·an   (tō-kâr'ē-ən, -kär'-, -kār'-)   
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.


[From Latin Tocharī, the Tocharians, from Greek Tokharoi.]
To·khar·i·an   (tō-kâr'ē-ən, -kär'-, -kār'-)   
n.  Variant of Tocharian.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Tocharian 
in ref. to an extinct people and I.E. language of Chinese Turkestan, 1927, from Fr. tocharien, from Gk. Tokharoi (Strabo), name of an Asiatic people who lived in the Oxus valley in ancient times. Earlier Tocharish (1910), from Ger. 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).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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