[Download] "Instrumenta Tocharica (Book Review)" by The Journal of the American Oriental Society # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Instrumenta Tocharica (Book Review)
- Author : The Journal of the American Oriental Society
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 174 KB
Description
Instrumenta Tocharica. Edited by MELANIE MALZAHN. Indogermanische Bibliothek, vol. 1. Heidelberg: WINTER, 2007. Pp. 342, with 4 figs. [euro] 49. For most of the century since their decipherment, the study of the Tocharian languages has been notorious for its insularity and sectarianism. Among the spoils of the expeditions sent to Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan) by the Great Powers, the Tocharian manuscripts were divided among collections in Berlin, Paris, London, St. Petersburg, and Tokyo, where they often languished for decades, and many are still awaiting publication. This dispersal enormously complicated the identification and cataloguing of text fragments, and was further exacerbated by the rivalry between the French and German Indological schools. Many manuscripts were assigned multiple numbers according to ever-changing systems of classification, making it difficult at best for the uninitiated to track down textual references. Although Tocharian historical linguistics flourished in Europe and the U.S. after World War II and especially the 1960s, Tocharian philology, more than that of any other old Indo-European language, remained a virtually closed field to outsiders.