[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Greeks in Bactria and India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938) › c33.35 # The Greeks in Bactria and India c33.35 The Greeks in Bactria and India c33.35 - **Language:** English ### [c33.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33.35) In fact, the Greeks never had a settled name for the Tochari (even the two contemporary historians use different forms) but only a medley of forms which fall into three classes; and the reason, whatever it was, must go deeper than such Greek linguistic phenomena as metathesis or shifting of the aspirate. It might mean that members of the horde themselves pronounced their name in different ways, and, if so, one possibility (there are probably others) would be that in the language of the Tochari we are dealing with a dying aspirate, as the sh sound died in classical Greek; compare the mute h in modern French, and the dying aspirate in wh in Britain to-day, where in the Gaelic-speaking Highlands one still hears ‘which’ and ‘when’, while in England it is common enough to hear ‘wich’ and ‘wen’. A curious point may be noticed here. It has recently been claimed² that, beside A and B, a third ‘Tocharian’ dialect, C, existed in the Shan-Shan kingdom (near Khotan) in the third century A.D.; and some words contain the spirant kh, which would be equivalent to the Greek χ in Τόχαροι. Since A and B contain no aspirates, these words have been put down as foreign;³ but I wonder whether in some cases they may not be the remains of a dying aspirate? - [Previous: c33.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33.34) - [Next: c33.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33.36) - [Up: c33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.tarn-1938.c33.35) · Pramāṇa