��<html> <head> <h1 id="top"><font size="7"><font face="cambria"><center>WORLD ATLAS OF POETIC TRADITIONS</center></font></font></h1> <div class="topnav"> <a class="active" href="https://littlebleenhat.github.io">Map</a> <a href="about.html">About us</a> <a href="what.html">What is poetry?</a> <a href="meter.html">Poetic meter</a> <a href="rhyme.html">Rhyme, alliteration, parallelism</a> <a href="other.html">Catalogue of devices</a> <a href="list.html">List of languages and poems</a> </div> <style> .topnav { position: center; background-color: SeaGreen; overflow: hidden; } </style> <style> .topnav a { float: left; color: #f2f2f2; text-align: center; padding: 14px 16px; text-decoration: none; font-size: 17px; } </style> <style> .topnav a:hover { background-color: #ddd; color: black; } </style> <style> /* Set the size of the div element that contains the map */ #map { height: 535px; /* The height is 535 pixels */ width: 100%; /* The width is the width of the web page */ } </style> <h2> </h2> </head> <body> <style> p { margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; } li { margin-right: 50px; margin-left: 50px; margin-bottom: 10px; } .boxed { border: 1px solid black;; } .row { display: flex; } .column { flex: 50%; } p mark.red { color:#ff0000; background: none; } mark.blue { color:#0000A0; background: none; } mark.orange{ color:#FFA500; background: none; } mark.lightblue{ color:#3399FF; background: none; } mark.redback{ color: none; background:#FFA500; } mark.olive{ color:#556B2F; background: none; } mark.pink{ color:#FF1493; background: none; } mark.turquoise{ color: #20B2AA; background: none; } mark.grey{ color: #778899; background: none; } mark.marroon{ color: #A0522D; background: none; } table, th, td { border: 1px solid black; } tr#irish { background-color: #f1f1c1; } </style> <div class="boxed"><font size="4.5"><font face="times new roman"><center><b>In this page:</b></p> <p><a href="#Organizing">Organizing methods: <a href="#Meter">Meter</a> / <a href="#Alliteration">Alliteration and rhyme</a> / <a href="#Parallelism">Parallelism</a></p> <p><a href="#Bibliography">Bibliography</a></p> </font></font></center></div> <h1><font size="7"><font face="times new roman"><center><b>TOCHARIAN</b></center></font></font></h1> <ul type="circle"> <li>Affiliation: Indo-European > <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocharian_languages">Tocharian</a></li> <li>Area: Northern Tarim Basin; went extinct in the ninth century</li> <li>ISO 639-3 code: xto (Tocharian A) / xtb (Tocharian B)</li> </ul> <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Bezeklik_caves%2C_Pranidhi_scene_14%2C_temple_9.JPG" style="float:left; margin-left:20px; margin-right:15px"/ > <p><font size="6"><font face="times new roman"><b>Introduction</b></font></font></p> <p>Until it was supplanted by Turkic languages in the tenth century, Tocharian was the easternmost of all Indo-European languages. Its speakers, the Tocharians, dwelled in the oasis cities of the Tarim Basin, linking East and West together in the great web of commerce now called the Silk Road.</p> <p>Though the rise of the Arabs and the eclipse of Indian Buddhism would later make Central Asian trade a prerogative of Islam, Buddhism was initially a Silk Road religion. The Tocharians soon converted to the Dharma and began writing in an Indian-derived alphabet. Because of the extremely dry climate of the Tarim Basin, several thousand of their manuscripts have survived intact; the topics they cover range from the tedium of everyday life to the intricacies of Buddhist theology.</p> <p>This surviving literature includes a number of poems, although all but a single love poem (reproduced below) are, in one way or another, about the Buddhist religion. The Tocharians appear to have had a thriving tradition of poetic scholarship of which only fragments survive. This was no doubt at least partly influenced by the poetry of the Indians from whom they learned to write, and in terms of <i>content</i>, Tocharian poetry veers closely to Indian archetypes. However, what survives of the <i>methods</i> of Tocharian poetry is extremely different from Sanskrit, and the extent of Indian influence on Tocharian verse remains actively debated.</p> <p>Tocharian really consists of two related languages: Tocharian A and Tocharian B, the latter much better-attested. The two languages were already very different by the time of the first surviving Tocharian writings, by which point Tocharian A may already have been extinct as a language of daily use. Not much Tocharian A poetry survives, and the following discussion draws primarily on B (hence why this page is xtb.html, not xto.html).</p> <br> <br> <br> <p id="Organizing"><font size="6"><font face="times new roman"><b>Organizing methods</b></font></font></p> <p id="Meter"><font size="5"><font face="times new roman"><b>Meter</b></font></font></p> <p>Tocharian poetry is governed by a <a href="meter.html#StressSyllable"><i>syllable-stress meter</i></a> like that of English, although Tocharian, unlike English, gives precedence to total syllable count over the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Tocharian meter works based on the following principles, which (unlike in English) apply to the entire stanza, not a single line:</p> <ul type="circle"> <li>Tocharian poems consist of stanzas which consist of four lines. There is only one exception, No. 17 in the list below.</li> <li>Each line in each stanza has a fixed number of syllables determined by the meter.</li> <li>A caesura rule: each line must be divisible into at least two units of (near-)equal length which cannot be spanned by a single word.</li> <li>The caesura rule should be identically applied for all lines of equal length in a stanza. A stanza consisting of twelve-syllable lines cannot be split into three four-syllable units in one place and a five-syllable unit and a seven-syllable unit in another.</li> <li>The final syllable of a unit or subunit must not be a stressed one.</li> </ul> <p>These are strict rules. Then there are less strict ones:</p> <ul type="circle"> <li>Units of more than six syllables should be divided into two subunits.</li> <li>One of the two syllables before the final syllable must be a stressed one. Preferably this should be the penultimate syllable.</li> <li>In a four-syllable unit or subunit, if the penultimate syllable is stressed, there is a tendency for the first syllable to be stressed as well.</li> </ul> <p>The most common meter in Tocharian poetry demands four fourteen-syllable-line stanzas, divided into two seven-syllable units and four subunits of three and four syllables. The following would be the ideal pattern of stressed (<b>S</b>) and unstressed (U) syllables, with units and subunits marked:</p> <center><p><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p>But the following would also be permitted, if considered less elegant:</p> <center><p>U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p>U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p>U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <center><p>U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <p>But a mix of the two is verboten.</p> <p>Pinault 2008 identifies seventeen "principal" types of meter. No. 6 (4x14) was the most popular, and No. 4 (4x12), No. 9 (4x18) and No. 10 (4x25) were also common. No. 11, 12, 13, and 14 were all rare, with No. 14 being attested exactly once.</p> <ol> <li>4x9 meter, units (5 <b>||</b> 4) or (4 <b>||</b> 5)</li> <li>4x10 meter, units (6 <b>||</b> 4) or (5 <b>||</b> 5)</li> <li>4x11 meter, units (6 <b>||</b> 5) or (5 <b>||</b> 6)</li> <li>4x12 meter, units and subunits (4 <b>||</b> 4 <b>||</b> 4) or (5 <b>||</b> 4 | 3) or (5 <b>||</b> 3 | 4)</li> <li>4x13 meter, units (5 <b>||</b> 5 <b>||</b> 3) or (5 <b>||</b> 4 <b>||</b> 4)</li> <li>4x14 meter, units and subunits (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3)</li> <li>4x15 meter, units and subunits (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 3 | 5), sometimes also (3 | 5 <b>||</b> 4 | 3) or (6 <b>||</b> 4 <b>||</b> 5)</li> <li>4x17 meter, units (6 <b>||</b> 6 <b>||</b> 5) or (5 <b>||</b> 7 <b>||</b> 5)</li> <li>4x18 meter, units and subunits (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4), but (3 | 4) is also permitted for both seven-syllable units</li> <li>4x25 meter, (5 <b>||</b> 5 <b>||</b> 4 | 4 <b>||</b> 4 | 3), but (3 | 4) is permitted for the final seven-syllable unit</li> <li>10+11+10+11 meter, odd lines (4 <b>||</b> 6) or (5 <b>||</b> 5), even lines (4 <b>||</b> 4 | 3)</li> <li>10+19+10+19 meter, odd lines (5 <b>||</b> 5), even lines (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3 <b>||</b> 5)</li> <li>14+11+11+11 meter, first line (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3) but (3 | 4) allowed for both, other lines (3 | 4 <b>||</b> 5) or (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 5) or (6 <b>||</b> 5) or (5 <b>||</b> 6)</li> <li>12+15+12+15 meter, odd lines (5 <b>||</b> 4 | 3), even lines (5 <b>||</b> 4 <b>||</b> 6)</li> <li>20+22+10+15 meter, first line (5 <b>||</b> 5 <b>||</b> 5 <b>||</b> 5), second line (4 | 4 <b>||</b> 4 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3), third line (5 <b>||</b> 5), fourth line (4 | 4 <b>||</b> 4 | 3), but (3 | 4) also allowed for even lines.</li> <li>21+21+18+13 meter, first lines (5 | 3 <b>||</b> 4 | 3 <b>||</b> 6), third line (4 | 5 <b>||</b> 4 | 5), final line (4 | 3 <b>||</b> 6), but (3 | 4) and (3 | 5) also permitted for seven- and eight-syllable units</li> <li>4x13+21 meter, last line (4 | 4 <b>||</b> 4 | 4 <b>||</b> 5), otherwise same as No. 5 </ol> <p>The following is a typical example of meter No. 9, written by a sinner who repents and begs the Buddha for forgiveness. Stressed syllables are bolded. The translation is mine, mostly from Pinault 2008's French, but with Adams 2013's English also consulted.</p> <center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Turpan-bezeklik-pinturas-d01.jpg" width="683" height="512" / ></center> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><i> <div class="row"> <div class="column"> <p><b>M</b> cce nta kca <b>cme</b>lane <b>�em</b> ra <b>klyau</b>ssi k�l<b>p</b>wa, <b>twr</b> cpos<b>ta�</b>�e</p> <p>Krent k�c<b>cin</b>tsa meE<b>ki</b>tse yo<b>lai</b>�esa <b>m</b> cce nta ac<b>kr</b> <b>[m</b>wa.</p> <p><b>Kw+</b>pe-on<b>mi</b>ccem <b>pw</b>rasa <b>tsa</b>ksau <b>[mo�</b>�ai [au<b>lac</b>cai <b>m</b> cprut<b>ka</b>c�-�.</p> <p><b>Cic</b>ce <b>sai</b>m�[ klo<b>yo</b>mar. <b>Nauy</b>to-� <b>y</b>mor, <b>kn</b>toyt�r-�, <b>kcn</b>ti <b>t</b>koy-�.</p> </div> <div class="column"> <p>Not once in my births did I ever hear a name as thine;</p> <p>Lacking a good teacher, I never stood back from evil.</p> <p>In the flames of shame and remorse I burn the basis of life it shall block me no more.</p> <p>I fall to the refuge of thy realm. May my deed vanish; may it be rubbed off of me; may I find forgiveness.</p> </div> </div> </i></font></font> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from H.149.26/30</font></p> <p>Now, let's look at the meter here.</p> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b>&emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center>U &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p>Out of the twenty units, all of them follow the "unstressed syllable at end of (sub)unit" rule, and the one exception, <i>M cce nta kca</i>, might look like one only on paper; Tocharian readers are often assumed to have stressed syllables they normally wouldn't if the meter demanded it. Nineteen follow the "one of the two syllables behind final syllable stressed" rule, and eight out of twelve four-syllable units are (S U S U).</p> <p>Tocharian poets were capable of toying with meter quite ingeniously. More than a thousand years ago, an unknown worshipper scribbled the following enigmatic poem on the walls of a now long-abandoned Buddhist shrine:</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><i> <div class="row"> <div class="column"><blockquote> <p><b>Sal</b>peC <b>pi[</b>-cmela a�i<b>y</b>tce <b>pu</b>warsa</p> <p><b>Koyn</b> ka<b>k</b>yc po ka<b>pn</b>tacci <b>k</b>ri po</p> <p><b>Tc</b>t�r pe<b>laik</b>ne [au<b>lan</b>masa k�<b>ryau</b> se</p> <p><b>Tne</b>ka pre<b>ksau</b>-me <b>k</b> snai <b>meC</b>tsi kl�C<b>tsa�</b>cer?</p> </div></blockquote> <div class="column"> <p>Those of the five births burn in the fire of inconstancy</p> <p>All having opened their mouths, all are pits of greed</p> <p>He establishes the law and bought it with lives</p> <p>Here indeed I ask you, "How do you sleep without a care?" </div> </div> </font></font></i> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from G-Su-1</font></p> <p>This poem is in the (5 <b>||</b> 4 | 3) variant of Meter No. 4. Let's look at it just a bit longer.</p> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b>&emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b>&emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p><center><b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; || &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U &emsp; | &emsp; U &emsp; <b>S</b> &emsp; U</p></center> <p>Notice anything? Lines 1 and 2, and lines 3 and 4, have the same meter in the first and third units. But lines 2 and 3 have the same meter in the second unit, and so do lines 1 and 4 with only a minor difference in the very first syllable (which, again, might exist only on paper). The result is a <i>meter scheme</i> akin to a rhyme scheme, an interlocking web of meters; the meter of line 1 parallels both lines 2 and 4, the meter of line 2 both lines 1 and 3...</p> <br> <p id="Alliteration"><font size="5"><font face="times new roman"><b>Alliteration and rhyme</b></font></font></p> <p>Its irritable lack of a real title aside, G-Su-1 has a lot more going for it than its meter alone. Tocharians preferred alliteration to rhyme, and G-Su-1 is an excellent example of it.</p> <p>First, the final stressed syllables of each line's two units alliterate, or at least sound similar. Line 2 goes even further with its alliteration in /k/. This is <i>horizontal alliteration</i>.</p> <p>There is also <i>vertical alliteration</i>. The final word in each line's five-syllable unit starts with /p/, as does the final word of lines 1 and 2. The first word of the three-syllable subunit begins with /k/ in lines 2, 3, and 4; /k/ also heads the four-syllable subunit of lines 2 and 4. Finally, lines 3 and 4 begin with /t/. So there is an alliterative web as well as a metrical one:</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><i> <div class="row"> <div class="column"><blockquote> <p><b>Sal</b>peC <mark class="red"><b>p</mark>i[</b>-cmela || a�i<b>y</b>tce | <mark class="red"><b>p</mark>u</b>warsa</p> <p><b><mark class="lightblue">K</mark>oyn</b> <mark class="lightblue">k</mark>a<b><mark class="lightblue">k</mark></b>yc <mark class="red">p</mark>o || <mark class="lightblue">k</mark>a<b>pn</b>tacci | <b><mark class="lightblue">k</mark></b>ri <mark class="red">p</mark>o</p> <p><b><mark class="orange">T</mark>c</b>t�r <mark class="red">p</mark>e<b><mark class="turquoise">l</mark>aik</b>ne || [au<b>lan</b>masa | <mark class="lightblue">k</mark>�<b><mark class="turquoise">r</mark>yau</b> se</p> <p><b><mark class="orange">T</mark>ne</b>ka <mark class="red">p</mark>re<b>k<mark class="marroon">s</mark>au</b>-me || <b><mark class="lightblue">k</mark></b> snai <b>meC</b>tsi | <mark class="lightblue">k</mark>l�C<b><mark class="marroon">ts</mark>a�</b>cer?</p> </div></blockquote> <div class="column"> <p>Those of the five births burn in the fire of inconstancy</p> <p>All having opened their mouths, all are pits of greed</p> <p>He establishes the law and bought it with lives</p> <p>Here indeed I ask you, "How do you sleep without a care?" </div> </div> </font></font></i> <p>Alliteration may be yet more complex. Below, the two surviving fragments of the only non-religious Tocharian poem, the later half of stanza 2 and the first three-fourths of stanza 3 in what was probably a four-stanza poem. The reconstruction is Adams's; the translation, again, consults both Adams and Pinault.</p> <center><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/King_Ajatasaru%2C_His_Queen%2C_and_His_Minister_Varshakara%2C_Kizil%2C_Maya_Cave%2C_%28Cave_224%29%2C_c._251-403_AD%2C_wall_painting_-_Ethnological_Museum%2C_Berlin_-_DSC01710.JPG" width="777" height="475" / ></center> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"> <div class="row"> <div class="column"><blockquote> <p><b>II.</b></p> <i><p>M �i cisa noc [omo �em wnolme lre tka m ra postaC cisa lre m�sket�r-�.</p> <p>Cicce laraum�e cicce rta�ye pelke kalttarr [ol�mpa cce m te stlle [ol-w�r�ai.</i></p> <br> <p><b>III.</b></p> <p><i>Taiysu p�lskanoym sanai caryompa [yau karttse-[aulu-w�r�ai snai tserekwa snai nte.</p> <p>Ymor-�+kte ce cau �i palskne [arsa tusa ysaly ersate cicy ara[ �i s�lkte,</p> <p>Wya ci lauke tsyra �i[ wetke klyautka-� pke po l�klentas cice tsrwo, sampte.</i></p> </blockquote></div> <div class="column"> <p><b>II.</b></p> <p><i>Heretofore there was no human being dearer to me than thee; likewise hereafter there will be no one dearer to me than thee.</p> <p>Love for thee, affection for thee breath of all that is life and they shall not come to an end so long as there lasts life.</p></i> <br> <p><b>III.</b></p> <p><i>Thus did I always think: "I will live well, the whole of my life, with one lover: no force, no deceit."</p> <p>The god Karma alone knew this thought of mine; so he provoked quarrel; he ripped out my heart from thee;</p> <p>He led thee afar; tore me apart; made me partake in all sorrows and took away the consolation thou wast.</p></i> </div> </div> </font></font> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from B-496</font></p> <p>The first thing we recognize in Adams's reconstruction is an <i>-te</i> end rhyme in stanza 3, something somewhat atypical for Tocharian poetry; rhymes were much less common than alliteration. Less conspicuous is the elaborate alliteration scheme. Tocharian has six sibilant sounds, [s] /s/ (the English "s"), [c] /�/ (the English "sh"), [[] /U/, [ts] /ts/ (the English "ts"), [tsy] /tsj/, and [c] /tU/.</p> <p>In stanza 3, we find that:</p> <ul type="circle"> <li>There are more sibilants: stanza 2 has an average of eight sibilants per line, stanza 3 nearly ten.</p> <li>In the even units of each line (and up to the first word of the third unit), no adjacent sibilant is the same.</li> <li>The even units of each line begin with the same sibilant, if [tsy] (a rare cluster in Tocharian) can be thought to alliterate with [c].</li> <li>The last sibilant in each line is [s].</li> </ul> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><center> <p>Taiysu p�lskanoym <b>||</b> <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>anai <b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b>aryompa <b>||</b> <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark>yau karttse- | [aulu-w�r�ai <b>||</b> <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>nai <b><mark class="lightblue">ts</mark></b>erekwa | <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>nai nte.</p> <p>Ymor-�+kte ce <b>||</b> <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b>au �i pal<b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>kne <b>||</b> <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark>arsa tusa | ysaly ersate <b>||</b> <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b>i<b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b>y ara<b><mark class="marroon">[</mark></b> �i | <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>�lkte,</p> <p>Wya ci lauke <b>||</b> <b><mark class="turquoise">tsy</mark></b>ra �i<b><mark class="marroon">[</mark></b> wetke <b>||</b> klyautka-� pke | po l�klentas <b>||</b> <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b>i<b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b>e <b><mark class="lightblue">ts</mark></b>rwo, | <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b>ampte.</p> </center></font></font> <br> <center><font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"> <p> <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="lightblue">ts</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b></p> <p> <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b></p> <p> <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="turquoise">tsy</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="marroon">[</b></mark> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b>||</b> &emsp; <b><mark class="turquoise">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="blue">c</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="lightblue">ts</mark></b> &emsp; <b><mark class="red">s</mark></b></p> </center></font></font> <br> <p id="Parallelism"><font size="5"><font face="times new roman"><b>Parallelism</b></font></font></p> <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Meditating_Monk%2C_Cave_of_the_Seafarers_%28Cave_212%29%2C_Kizil%2C_341-417_AD%2C_wall_painting_-_Ethnological_Museum%2C_Berlin_-_DSC01693.JPG" height="328" width="226" style="float:right; margin-left:15px; margin-right:20px"/ > <p>Tocharian poetry features repetition fairly frequently. In the poem below, one of the few whose authors bothered to sign their work, we have each line falling on the same word or morpheme, <i>prskau</i> "I fear" and <i>-ne</i> "in" (Av+ci is a Buddhist hell reserved for the worst of sinners, such as those who murder their own parents, where sinners burn in hellfire for 3.4 billion billion years):</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"> <blockquote><div class="row"> <div class="column"> <i><p>Arai srukaly�e! Cisa nta kca m <b>prskau</b>,</p> <p>Pontas srukelle; k �i[ ceske ta� <b>prskau</b>?</p> <p>S-arai �i palsko: cisa prskau pon preken<b>ne</b></p> <p>Twe Eke kalatar-� Api[ w�r�ai nreyenta<b>ne</b></p></i> </div> <div class="column"> <i><p>O death! Absolutely none but you I fear;</p> <p>But all must die; should I alone have fear?</p> <p>Such, alas, my thought: I fear you every moment</p> <p>You, you will bring me to Av+ci... to the hells</p></i> </div> </div></blockquote> </font></font> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from B-298, "the writing of the monk Dharmacandra"</font></p> <p>Parallelism can be more intricate. In the following Tocharian A poem, each line repeats a declension of the noun <i>tsraci</i> "strong person" either at the beginning or end of each unit (the first line the plural genitive <i>tsraci[[i</i> "of the strong ones", the second line the plural allative <i>tsracisac</i> "toward the strong ones", the third line has both the plural nominative <i>tsraci�</i> "the strong ones [subject]" and the plural genitive, and the final line the abstract noun <i>tsraccune</i> "strength".) The final line lacks this parallelism, signalling that this stanza is at a close (revised from Adams's translation):</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><i> <blockquote><div class="row"> <div class="column"> <p><b>Tsraci[[i</b> mk nicpalntu || <b>tsraci[[i</b> mk [kaC c�acce�;</p> <p>N�mse�c y�sluc <b>tsracisac</b> || kumse�c y�rkant <b>tsracisac</b>;</p> <p><b>Tsraci�</b> waste wrasa[[i || <b>tsraci[[i</b> m praski nac;</p> <p>T�myo ksu <b>tsraccune</b> || pkaC pruccamo �i p�lskaC.</p> </div> <div class="column"> <p><b>The strong's</b> riches are great, <b>the strong's</b> retainers many;</p> <p>Foes bow <b>toward the strong</b>, honors come <b>toward the strong</b>;</p> <p><b>The strong</b> protect creatures, <b>the strong's</b> fears are none;</b></p> <p>Therefore <b>strength</b> is good, the best of all, I think.</p> </div> </div></blockquote> </font></font></i> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from A-1a2/4</font></p> <p>This is not the limit of the genius of Tocharian parallelism. The following line consists only of six words, four adjectives and two nouns:</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"><i> <blockquote><div class="row"> <div class="column"> <p>M�kceu ykecca kektse�e || tu kenacce satcl�e</p> </div> <div class="column"> <p>Wherever the body exhalation there on earth</p> </div> </div></blockquote> </font></font></i> <font face="times new roman"><p style="text-align: right">Poem from B-41a3</font></p> <p>Translated word-by-word, the poem makes very little sense. Tocharian adjectives accord to either the masculine or feminine gender of nouns, which I mark below with red for feminine and blue for masculine. "Place-ly" is my attempt to translate <i>ykecca</i>, the adjectival form of <i>ike</i> "place":</p> <font face="times new roman"><font size="4.5"> <blockquote><div class="row"> <div class="column"> <p>M�kceu ykecca kektse�e || tu kenacce satcl�e</p> </div> <div class="column"> <p><mark class="red">Whatever</mark> <mark class="blue">place-ly body</mark> || <mark class="blue">that</mark> <mark class="red">earthly exhalation</mark></p> </div> </div></blockquote> </font></font> <p>First, note the careful balance in the genders and parts of speech of the six words: (M F F || F F M), (Adjective Adjective Noun || Adjective Adjective Noun).</p> <p>The brilliance of the poem rests on the fact that the second adjectives of both units, <i>ykecca</i> and <i>kenacce</i>, are both formed with the adjectival suffix <i>-acca/e</i> as applied to nouns: <i>ykecca</i> from the feminine noun <i>ike</i> "place", <i>kenacce</i> from the masculine <i>keC</i> "earth". But here's the twist. Though built on a feminine noun, <i>ykecca</i> is the masculine form of the adjective; <i>kenacce</i> is feminine.</p> <p>The result is that the poet has, out of six words, made <i>four</i> noun phrases:</p> <center><img src="toch.png" height="192" width="802"/ ></center> <p id="Bibliography"><font size="5"><font face="times new roman"><b>Bibliography</b></font></font></p> <ul> <li><i>Chrestomathie tokharienne: Textes et grammaire</i>, Georges-Jean Pinault. Peeters, 2008.</li> <li>"More Thoughts on Tocharian B Prosody", Douglas Q. Adams. <i>Tocharian and Indo-European Studies</i>, 2013.</li> </ul> <br/ > <br/ > <div class="boxed"> <center><font size="4.5"><font face="times new roman"> <p><b><a href="#top">Return to top</a></b></p> </div> <br/ > <br/ > </body> </html>