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Saka language
Extinct Eastern Iranic language spoken from 100 BC to 1,100 AD / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language.[2] The two kingdoms differed in dialect, their speech known as Khotanese and Tumshuqese.
Saka | |
---|---|
Khotanese, Tumshuqese | |
Native to | Kingdom of Khotan, Tumshuq, Murtuq, Shule Kingdom,[1] and Indo-Scythian Kingdom |
Region | Tarim Basin (Xinjiang, China) |
Ethnicity | Saka |
Era | 100 BC – 1,000 AD |
Dialects |
|
Brahmi, Kharosthi | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | kho |
ISO 639-3 | Either:kho – Khotanesextq – Tumshuqese |
kho (Khotanese) | |
xtq (Tumshuqese) | |
Glottolog | saka1298 |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Khotanese_animal_zodiac_BLI6_OR11252_1R2_1.jpg/640px-Khotanese_animal_zodiac_BLI6_OR11252_1R2_1.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Khotanese_Verses_BLE4_IOLKHOT50_4R1_1.jpg/640px-Khotanese_Verses_BLE4_IOLKHOT50_4R1_1.jpg)
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The Saka rulers of the western regions of the Indian subcontinent, such as the Indo-Scythians and Western Satraps, spoke practically the same language.[3]
Documents on wood and paper were written in modified Brahmi script with the addition of extra characters over time and unusual conjuncts such as ys for z.[4] The documents date from the fourth to the eleventh century. Tumshuqese was more archaic than Khotanese,[5] but it is much less understood because it appears in fewer manuscripts compared to Khotanese. The Khotanese dialect is believed to share features with the modern Wakhi and Pashto.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Saka was known as "Hvatanai" (from which the name Khotan) in contemporary documents.[13] Many Prakrit terms were borrowed from Khotanese into the Tocharian languages.