Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

"And as you know, the word for "horse" is absent in the Tocharian language."

I promise I'll wait for your next post from now on, but this I'll respond to: There is a Tocharian word for "horse".
yakwe (Toch B), yuk (Toch A), reconstructed PToch yä́kwë
(as are other words related to horsemanship: saddled, hoof, horse seller, wild horse, little horse...)

Thanks for the come-back. I had checked Pullyblank and Mallory (1989) and couldn't find Tocharian for "horse." But to quote Rett Butler in the 1939 film, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Or better still, Abraham Lincoln, "Some Yuezhi spoke Tocharian some of the time, but not all Yuezhi spoke Tocharian all of the time." I'll go with Lincoln. At this time of year, I work 10-hour shifts; and between them I need to eat and sleep... which doesn't leave much time for RAT.