Tocharian nostalgia.

Georges-Jean Pinault (1)

1 Mondes Iranien et Indien - UMR 7528

New edition of two fragments in Tocharian A (A 43 and 52= THT 676 and 685), which belong to the same leaf. The passage contains an episode of the Mahātyāgavan jātaka, which is known through several texts in Sanskrit, even though it does not belong to the collection of jātakas in Pali. The Tocharian text is closely parallel to a chapter of the Xian yu jing, and its central episode is documented by several paintings found in the region of Kucha. The paper provides a translation and glossary of the Tocharian A text. Among the newly identified words, the noun Toch. A naṣt refers to the shell of a turtle. It is proposed to trace back this word to Proto-Indo-European *nós-t- 'home', from the root *nes- 'to return home safely'. Further cognates are Gk. νóστος 'return' and Vedic ástam 'home'.

Mots clés: Indo-European etymology; Tocharian Buddhism; Tocharian literature; Tocharian manuscripts; Buddhists narratives; Buddhist paintings; Silk Road; Kucha paintings; Tocharian etymology

Domaines: Linguistique; Littératures; Art et histoire de l'art

Georges-Jean Pinault. Tocharian nostalgia.. Tocharian and Indo-European Studies , 2015, 16 (2015), pp.131-179. ⟨halshs-01447388⟩