Re: a Tocharian theory (was Re: Kentum/satem)

 --- J Y S Czhang wrote:

> The Tocharians were Buddhists before the Chinese were, right?
All I know is that they *were* Buddhists, but when? Don't ask me!
All Tocharian materials we have (largely Buddhist in content) go back to
the years 450-750.

> Also, the Chinese word for "dog" is originally a Tocharian word, yes? The
> Tocharians introduced dogs or dog-breeding to China, yes?
The word for "dog" in Tocharian (both A and B) is: ku.

>     In recent years the Uyghurs (Uighurs) have been claiming that they are
> descendants of the Tocharians. Personally I find this highly doubtful. If
> anything, the Uyghurs' ancestors were Turkic and if these Turkic people had
> any thing at all to do with the Tocharians, it maybe that they wiped them out
> as a people - either by genocide or by interbreeding... or some combination
> thereof.
This is all very vague. All we know for sure is, that there WERE Tocharians
(probably under a different name, by the way) until 750, while afterwards they
disappeared into Finnair. How come? I think, there are only three possibilities:
- the Turks overwhelmed and killed them;
- the Turks overwhelmed and assimilated them;
- they were all abducted by aliens.
I hope the third option is true (then we might suddenly get humanoid visitors
from a planet called "Tocharistan"), but I'm afraid the second is more
probable.

There is a theory that the recently discovered Takla Makan mummies were
Tocharians. An interesting idea, because the mummies were tall, reddish-
blonde and look much more European than Asiatic.
You can see them at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html

Jan


=====
"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought,
wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that
happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great
comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." --- J.
Michael Straczynski

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