Re: Made some progress...

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> Makes me think of "Tocharian" (which makes me wonder: what is the origin of the
> name "Tocharian" for those Eastern IE languages?).
        On the basis of references in Old Turkic manuscripts to
        the speakers of this language as the "Twghry," (pronounced
        /toxri/) these people were identified as the Tocharoi, a
        tribe mentioned in classical Greek writings as having lived
        in Bactria (eastern Iran and Afghanistan) in the second
        century A.D. Thus, the language was called Tocharian [....]
        Although it is customarily pronounced /tokarian/ by English
        speakers, a more correct pronunciation is /toxarian/. [...]
        Whether or not the speakers of these dialects were truly
        the Tocharoi is open to debate. [...]  Attempts to
        positively identify the Tocharians have thus far proved
        unsuccessful. However, the name of the language stuck and
        has survived to this day in the literature on the subject.
                --http://www.oxuscom.com/eyawtkat.htm

This is a very interesting short article, BTW, which would certainly
belong in the Conlang Journal except for the unfortunate fact that
its contents are true....

--
John Cowan          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan        jcowan@reutershealth.com
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There are
no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that
they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful. --The Hobbit

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