The spread of iron in Central Asia: on the etymology of the word for “iron” in Iranian and Tocharian

Abstract Tocharian B eñcuwo “iron” and A añcu * have been connected to the Iranian words for “iron”, notably Khwarezmian hnčw . On basis of insights into patterns borrowings from Khotanese Tocharian, it is argued that must borrowed a preform hīśśana- “iron”. Further, new etymology proposed accounts variation this word in Iranian. The fact Khotanese, not archaic steppe dialect source many other loanwords suggests contacts between latter took place before iron became widespread region.