My French diary recalled an Asian nomad (6)
I believe the answer is:
mongol
'an asian nomad' is the definition.
(Mongols were historically nomadic)
'my french diary recalled' is the wordplay.
'my french' becomes 'mon'.
'diary' becomes 'log' (I've seen this before).
'recalled' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'log' back-to-front is 'gol'.
'mon'+'gol'='MONGOL'
(Other definitions for mongol that I've seen before include "eg Genghis Khan" , "Asian" , "Person from country nothe of china" , "Native of country bordering China" , "Member of Genghis Khan's clan" .)