Kucha - Tocharian Languages

Tocharian Languages

The language of Kucha, as evidenced by surviving manuscripts and inscriptions, was Tokharian (Tocharian), an Indo-European language. Later, under the Uighur domination, the Kingdom of Kucha gradually became Turkic speaking.

In the early 20th century inscriptions and documents in two new related (but mutually unintelligible) languages were discovered at various sites in the Tarim Basin written in Central Asian Brahmi script. It was soon found that they belonged to the Indo-European family of languages and had not undergone the Satem sound change. The only records of East Tokharian, or "Tokharian A" (from the region of Turfan and Karashahr), and West Tokharian, or "Tokharian B" (mainly from the region of Kucha, but also found in Turfan and elsewhere), are of relatively late date – approximately 6th to 8th century CE (though the dates are contested); but the people arrived in the region much earlier. Their languages became extinct before circa 1000 CE. Scholars are still trying to piece together a fuller picture of these languages, their origins, history and connections, etc.