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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 West Frisianfrysk edit (207) 1 I (1sg )ik 2 you (2sg )do dû jo 3 he , she , it (3sg )hy er 4 we (1pl )wy 5 you (2pl )jimme 6 they (3pl )sy hja 7 this dit dizze 8 that dat 9 here hjir 10 there dêr 11 who wa 12 what wat 13 where wêr 14 when wannear hoenear 15 how hoe 16 not net 17 all alle allegear 18 many gâns in protte folle 19 some wat guon sommige 20 few in pear inkele 21 other oar 22 one ien 23 two twa 24 three trije 25 four fjouwer 26 five fiif 27 big grut 28 long lang 29 wide wiid breed 30 thick dik tsjok 31 heavy swier 32 small lyts 33 short koart 34 narrow nau ing smel 35 thin tin 36 woman frou frommes 37 man (adult male)man 38 man (human being)minske 39 child bern 40 wife frou wiif 41 husband man 42 mother mem 43 father heit 44 animal bist 45 fish fisk 46 bird fûgel 47 dog hûn 48 louse lús 49 snake slange 50 worm wjirm 51 tree beam 52 forest wâld bosk 53 stick stok stôk 54 fruit fruit frucht 55 seed sied 56 leaf blêd loaf 57 root woartel 58 bark (of a tree)bast 59 flower blom 60 grass gers 61 rope tou 62 skin hûd 63 meat fleis 64 blood bloed 65 bone bonke 66 fat (noun)fet 67 egg aai 68 horn hoarn 69 tail sturt 70 feather fear 71 hair hier 72 head holle 73 ear ear 74 eye each 75 nose noas 76 mouth mûle 77 tooth tosk 78 tongue (organ)tonge 79 fingernail neille 80 foot foet 81 leg skonk 82 knee knibbel 83 hand hân 84 wing wjuk 85 belly búk 86 guts termen 87 neck nekke hals 88 back rêch 89 breast boarst bast 90 heart hert 91 liver lever 92 to drink drinke 93 to eat ite 94 to bite bite 95 to suck sûge 96 to spit spuie 97 to vomit oerjaan kotse 98 to blow blaze 99 to breathe sykhelje asemje 100 to laugh laitsje 101 to see sjen 102 to hear hearre 103 to know witte kenne 104 to think tinke 105 to smell rûke 106 to fear bang wêze 107 to sleep sliepe 108 to live libje 109 to die stjerre deagean 110 to kill fermoardzje deadzje 111 to fight fjochtsje 112 to hunt jeie 113 to hit slaan reitsje 114 to cut snije 115 to split splite 116 to stab stekke 117 to scratch skraabje 118 to dig grave 119 to swim swimme 120 to fly fleane 121 to walk rinne 122 to come komme 123 to lie (as in a bed) lizze 124 to sit sitte 125 to stand stean 126 to turn (intransitive) draaie 127 to fall falle 128 to give jaan 129 to hold hâlde 130 to squeeze knipe 131 to rub wriuwe 132 to wash waskje 133 to wipe feie 134 to pull lûke 135 to push triuwe 136 to throw goaie smite 137 to tie fêstbine 138 to sew naaie 139 to count telle 140 to say sizze 141 to sing sjonge 142 to play boartsje spylje 143 to float driuwe 144 to flow floeie 145 to freeze frieze 146 to swell swolgje 147 sun sinne 148 moon moanne 149 star stjer 150 water wetter 151 rain rein 152 river rivier 153 lake mar 154 sea see 155 salt sâlt 156 stone stien 157 sand sân 158 dust stof 159 earth ierde 160 cloud wolk 161 fog dize 162 sky loft himel 163 wind wyn 164 snow snie 165 ice iis 166 smoke reek 167 fire fjoer 168 ash jiske 169 to burn baarne brâne 170 road dyk wei 171 mountain berch 172 red read 173 green grien 174 yellow giel 175 white wyt 176 black swart 177 night nacht 178 day dei 179 year jier 180 warm waarm 181 cold kâld 182 full fol 183 new nij 184 old âld 185 good goed 186 bad min 187 rotten ferrotte 188 dirty smoarch 189 straight rjocht 190 round rûn 191 sharp (as a knife)skerp 192 dull (as a knife)bot stomp 193 smooth flak glêd 194 wet wiet 195 dry droech 196 correct krek korrekt 197 near tichtby 198 far fier 199 right rjochts 200 left links lofts 201 at by aon 202 in yn 203 with mei 204 and en 205 if as 206 because omdat 207 name namme
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
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