Tocharian

 
Pronunciation: /təˈkɛːrɪən, -ˈkɑːrɪən/

noun

  • 1a member of a central Asian people who inhabited the Tarim Basin in the 1st millennium ad.
  • 2 [mass noun] either of two extinct languages ( Tocharian A and Tocharian B) spoken by the Tocharians, the most easterly of known ancient Indo-European languages, surviving in a few documents and inscriptions and showing curious affinities to Celtic and Italic languages.

adjective

  • relating to the Tocharians or their languages.

Origin:

from French tocharien, via Latin from Greek Tokharoi, the name of a Scythian tribe (almost certainly unrelated to the Tocharians)