VERNACULARS OF THE SILK ROAD - A TOCHARIAN B-OLD UYGHUR BILINGUAL

Edition and commentary of two fragments from the Turfan collection of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, U 5208 and U 5207. They belong to a bilingual Tocharian B - Old Uyghur manuscript, written in late Brahmi script, which can be dated to late 10th century or early 11th century. The text, which was written on the verso of a Chinese manuscript, consists of bilingual sets of Tocharian B words or short phrases immediately followed by their Old Uyghur rendering. Due to the joint efforts of one Turcologist and two Tocharologists the complete text is edited for the first time. Besides remarks about spelling habits and phonetic peculiarities, the article discusses and explains each individual set. In these fragments several new words can be retrieved, which have wider connections in Central Asia.