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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 Burushaskiedit (202) 1 I (1sg )ja 2 you (2sg )un 3 he , she , it (3sg )ne 4 we (1pl )mi 5 you (2pl )ma oon 6 they (3pl )wey u 7 this guté 8 that te se 9 here akhó 10 there to 11 who men 12 what bo 13 where aney 14 when basha 15 how bolotom 16 not be 17 all saoh khol czeek 18 many bot 19 some markaam kaaman 20 few fookan fofookan 21 other yata 22 one hen 23 two altán 24 three iské 25 four wáltu 26 five cendó 27 big uyúm niyo 28 long ghosanom 29 wide shoqom 30 thick shoqom 31 heavy czolom 32 small echoghon 33 short gaganom 34 narrow glinom 35 thin beyenom 36 woman gus 37 man (adult male)hir 38 man (human being)ses 39 child heles 40 wife gos 41 husband oyohar 42 mother nani nana 43 father tati tata 44 animal hoyes 45 fish chúmu 46 bird czen 47 dog huk 48 louse ha 49 snake toll 50 worm ghalgho 51 tree nosh 52 forest jangle gongo 53 stick kona 54 fruit mewa 55 seed ghono 56 leaf tap 57 root czeres 58 bark (of a tree)szar 59 flower asqúr gambori 60 grass shiqá 61 rope tete 62 skin bat wat 63 meat chap 64 blood moltan 65 bone ten 66 fat (noun)bes 67 egg tuma tingan 68 horn torr 69 tail shilan 70 feather folgho 71 hair bur 72 head yates 73 ear tomal 74 eye elchi 75 nose mosh 76 mouth khat 77 tooth mey 78 tongue (organ)yomos 79 fingernail ooro 80 foot hotes 81 leg tang 82 knee onongos 83 hand ren 84 wing galgi 85 belly ool 86 guts cher chering 87 neck ess 88 back waldes 89 breast odel 90 heart os 91 liver eken 92 to drink men 93 to eat sechom 94 to bite gatichom 95 to suck choos 96 to spit thoo 97 to vomit oqq 98 to blow phoolchom 99 to breathe hesz 100 to laugh ghasichom 101 to see yeshom 102 to hear dokoyal 103 to know heyom 104 to think donesh 105 to smell szoong 106 to fear gomalchom 107 to sleep gochachom 108 to live jee 109 to die yorchom 110 to kill esqayom 111 to fight dohom 112 to hunt dast 113 to hit dechom 114 to cut katar 115 to split tapari 116 to stab 117 to scratch khaworchom 118 to dig birqaayom 119 to swim miniyachom 120 to fly dowalchom 121 to walk goczarchom 122 to come chorom 123 to lie (as in a bed) faing echom 124 to sit horoshom 125 to stand deye chom 126 to turn (intransitive) ewalrarkichom 127 to fall walchom 128 to give oochom fat echom 129 to hold dohoyom 130 to squeeze 131 to rub czagham baldan dechom 132 to wash hal chom 133 to wipe khas echom 134 to pull tash chom 135 to push thank echom 136 to throw lip echom 137 to tie gat echom 138 to sew czapa yom 139 to count yawochom 140 to say gharing echom 141 to sing see'm 142 to play girashom 143 to float 144 to flow hor chom 145 to freeze guma mayum 146 to swell do hoqichom 147 sun sa 148 moon halanz 149 star asomoon 150 water cel 151 rain diyaarchom 152 river sendey 153 lake phari 154 sea samandar 155 salt bayoo 156 stone dan 157 sand sawo 158 dust gert 159 earth tik 160 cloud haralt 161 fog khorong 162 sky ayash 163 wind tish 164 snow giye 165 ice ghamo 166 smoke thas 167 fire fooh 168 ash qon 169 to burn gholchom 170 road gan 171 mountain char 172 red bardom 173 green toq 174 yellow eskaark 175 white borom 176 black matoom 177 night thap 178 day gunc 179 year den 180 warm garom 181 cold chaghúrum 182 full bir hek 183 new thosh 184 old mayen 185 good daltás showa 186 bad shom 187 rotten ghasom 188 dirty therkit 189 straight czan 190 round larokores 191 sharp (as a knife)thakthak 192 dull (as a knife)fat 193 smooth sheghesom 194 wet zah 195 dry boyam 196 correct 197 near asoor 198 far mathan 199 right domo 200 left ghamo 201 at -ce 202 in -chi ooley 203 with kaat 204 and ka kaat 205 if 206 because bota siya 207 name yek
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
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