For further information, including the full final version of the list, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list .American linguist Morris Swadesh believed that languages changed at measurable rates and that these could be determined even for languages without written precursors. Using vocabulary lists, he sought to understand not only change over time but also the relationships of extant languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings he presumed would be available in as many cultures as possible. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting in 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew to 215 in 1952, which was so expansive that many languages lacked native vocabulary for some terms. Subsequently, it was reduced to 207, and reduced much further to 100 meanings in 1955. A reformulated list was published posthumously in 1971.
№ English Occitanoccitan edit (205) IPA 1 I (1sg )jo ieu /ʒu/ , /jew/ 2 you (2sg )tu /ty/ 3 he , she , it (3sg )el m ela f 4 we (1pl )nosautres 5 you (2pl )vosautres 6 they (3pl )eles m elas f 7 this aqueste m aquesta f 8 that aquel m aquela f 9 here aquí ça çai 10 there là lai ailà alai 11 who qual cu qui 12 what qué 13 where ont onte 14 when quand conjunction quora adverb 15 how cossí 16 not non 17 all tot m tota f 18 many fòrça beucòp molt 19 some qualque 20 few pauc 21 other autre 22 one un m una f 23 two dos m doas f 24 three tres 25 four quatre 26 five cinc 27 big grand gròs 28 long long 29 wide larg 30 thick espés 31 heavy pesuc 32 small pichòt pichon petit 33 short cort 34 narrow estreit 35 thin magre 36 woman femna 37 man (adult male)òme 38 man (human being)uman 39 child enfant 40 wife femna esposa molher 41 husband marit espós 42 mother maire 43 father paire 44 animal animal 45 fish peis peisson 46 bird aucèl 47 dog can gos chin 48 louse pesolh 49 snake sèrp 50 worm vèrm 51 tree arbre 52 forest forest 53 stick baston 54 fruit fruit 55 seed grana 56 leaf fuèlha 57 root rasic raiç racina 58 bark (of a tree)escòrça rusca 59 flower flor 60 grass èrba 61 rope còrda 62 skin pèl 63 meat carn 64 blood sang 65 bone òs 66 fat (noun)graissa grais 67 egg uòu 68 horn bana còrn 69 tail coa 70 feather pluma 71 hair pel cabel 72 head cap tèsta 73 ear aurelha 74 eye uèlh 75 nose nas 76 mouth boca 77 tooth dent 78 tongue (organ)lenga 79 fingernail ungla 80 foot pè 81 leg camba 82 knee genolh 83 hand man 84 wing ala 85 belly ventre 86 guts budèl 87 neck còl 88 back esquina 89 breast popa 90 heart còr 91 liver fetge 92 to drink beure béver 93 to eat manjar 94 to bite mossegar mòrdre nhacar 95 to suck chucar 96 to spit escupir 97 to vomit vomir 98 to blow bufar bofar 99 to breathe alenar respirar polsar 100 to laugh rire 101 to see veire véser 102 to hear ausir 103 to know saupre saber 104 to think pensar 105 to smell sentir pimpar 106 to fear crénher crentar 107 to sleep dormir 108 to live viure 109 to die morir 110 to kill matar tuar maselar 111 to fight combatre luchar 112 to hunt caçar 113 to hit tustar trucar picar 114 to cut copar trencar 115 to split separar desseparar 116 to stab escotelar 117 to scratch escarraunhar radiar 118 to dig cavar curar 119 to swim nadar 120 to fly volar 121 to walk caminar marchar 122 to come venir 123 to lie (as in a bed) jaire 124 to sit sèire assetar siclar 125 to stand 126 to turn (intransitive) girar virar 127 to fall caire tombar 128 to give donar balhar dar 129 to hold téner 130 to squeeze esquichar 131 to rub fretar fregar 132 to wash lavar 133 to wipe eissugar 134 to pull traire 135 to push empénher butar 136 to throw lançar getar 137 to tie ligar 138 to sew cóser cordurar 139 to count comptar 140 to say dire 141 to sing cantar 142 to play jogar 143 to float flotar 144 to flow colar 145 to freeze glaçar 146 to swell conflar 147 sun solelh 148 moon luna 149 star estela estel 150 water aiga 151 rain pluèja 152 river riu rèc 153 lake lac 154 sea mar 155 salt sal 156 stone pèira 157 sand sabla arena sorra 158 dust posca polsa pols 159 earth tèrra 160 cloud nívol niu 161 fog nèbla 162 sky cèl 163 wind vent 164 snow nèu 165 ice glaç gèl glaça 166 smoke fum 167 fire fòc 168 ash cendre 169 to burn cremar 170 road rota estrada 171 mountain montanha 172 red roge 173 green verd 174 yellow jaune 175 white blanc 176 black negre 177 night nuèit 178 day jorn 179 year an annada 180 warm caud 181 cold freg freid 182 full plen comol 183 new nòu nòvel 184 old vièlh 185 good bon 186 bad mal 187 rotten poirit 188 dirty brut 189 straight dreit 190 round redond 191 sharp (as a knife)talhant 192 dull (as a knife)193 smooth lis len 194 wet banhat 195 dry sec 196 correct corrècte just 197 near pròche prèp 198 far luènh 199 right dreit 200 left senèstre esquèr mance 201 at a en 202 in dins en 203 with amb avèque 204 and e 205 if se 206 because car perque 207 name nom
Swadesh lists
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Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
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