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 Indonesianbahasa Indonesia edit (207) 1 I (1sg )saya aku kawula 2 you (2sg )kamu engkau kau Anda 3 he , she , it (3sg )dia 4 we (1pl )kami exclusive kita inclusive 5 you (2pl )kalian 6 they (3pl )mereka 7 this ini 8 that itu 9 here di sini 10 there di sana di situ 11 who siapa 12 what apa 13 where di mana 14 when kapan 15 how bagaimana 16 not bukan tidak 17 all semua 18 many banyak 19 some beberapa 20 few sedikit 21 other lain 22 one satu 23 two dua 24 three tiga 25 four empat 26 five lima 27 big besar 28 long panjang 29 wide lebar 30 thick tebal 31 heavy berat 32 small kecil 33 short pendek 34 narrow sempit 35 thin tipis 36 woman perempuan wanita 37 man (adult male)lelaki laki-laki pria 38 man (human being)manusia 39 child anak 40 wife istri 41 husband suami 42 mother ibu 43 father ayah 44 animal binatang 45 fish ikan 46 bird burung 47 dog anjing 48 louse kutu 49 snake ular 50 worm cacing 51 tree pohon 52 forest hutan 53 stick ranting 54 fruit buah 55 seed biji 56 leaf daun 57 root akar 58 bark (of a tree)pepagan 59 flower bunga 60 grass rumput 61 rope tali 62 skin kulit 63 meat daging 64 blood darah 65 bone tulang 66 fat (noun)lemak 67 egg telur 68 horn tanduk 69 tail ekor 70 feather bulu 71 hair rambut 72 head kepala 73 ear telinga 74 eye mata 75 nose hidung 76 mouth mulut 77 tooth gigi 78 tongue (organ)lidah 79 fingernail kuku 80 foot kaki 81 leg tungkai 82 knee lutut 83 hand tangan 84 wing sayap 85 belly perut 86 guts usus 87 neck leher 88 back punggung 89 breast payudara 90 heart jantung 91 liver hati 92 to drink minum meminum 93 to eat makan memakan 94 to bite gigit menggigit 95 to suck hisap menghisap 96 to spit ludah meludah 97 to vomit muntah 98 to blow tiup meniup 99 to breathe nafas bernafas 100 to laugh tawa tertawa 101 to see lihat melihat 102 to hear dengar mendengar 103 to know tahu mengetahui 104 to think pikir berpikir 105 to smell bau membau 106 to fear takut 107 to sleep tidur 108 to live hidup 109 to die mati 110 to kill bunuh membunuh 111 to fight kelahi berkelahi 112 to hunt buru berburu 113 to hit pukul memukul 114 to cut potong memotong 115 to split belah membelah 116 to stab tusuk menusuk 117 to scratch garuk mengaruk 118 to dig gali menggali 119 to swim renang berenang 120 to fly terbang 121 to walk jalan berjalan 122 to come datang 123 to lie (as in a bed) baring berbaring 124 to sit duduk action, state 125 to stand diri berdiri action, state 126 to turn (intransitive) belok berbelok 127 to fall jatuh 128 to give beri memberi 129 to hold pegang memegang 130 to squeeze peras memeras 131 to rub gosok menggosok 132 to wash cuci mencuci 133 to wipe hapus menghapus 134 to pull tarik menarik 135 to push dorong mendorong 136 to throw lempar melempar 137 to tie ikat mengikat 138 to sew jahit menjahit 139 to count hitung menghitung 140 to say kata berkata 141 to sing nyanyi bernyanyi 142 to play main bermain 143 to float apung mengapung 144 to flow alir mengalir 145 to freeze beku membeku 146 to swell bengkak membengkak 147 sun matahari 148 moon bulan 149 star bintang 150 water air 151 rain hujan 152 river sungai 153 lake danau 154 sea laut 155 salt garam 156 stone batu 157 sand pasir 158 dust debu 159 earth bumi 160 cloud awan 161 fog kabut 162 sky langit 163 wind angin 164 snow salju 165 ice es 166 smoke asap 167 fire api 168 ash abu 169 to burn bakar 170 road jalan 171 mountain gunung 172 red merah 173 green hijau 174 yellow kuning 175 white putih 176 black hitam 177 night malam 178 day hari 179 year tahun 180 warm hangat 181 cold dingin 182 full penuh 183 new baru 184 old lama tua 185 good baik 186 bad buruk 187 rotten busuk 188 dirty kotor 189 straight lurus 190 round bulat 191 sharp (as a knife)tajam 192 dull (as a knife)tumpul 193 smooth halus 194 wet basah 195 dry kering 196 correct benar 197 near dekat 198 far jauh 199 right kanan 200 left kiri 201 at di 202 in dalam 203 with dengan 204 and dan 205 if kalau 206 because karena 207 name nama
When the words have various forms (verbs conjugation, gender and number agreement, declensions), the orthography is the following:
Verbs: infinitive
Other words: neutral or masculine, singular, nominative (subject) For specific cases (no infinitive, feminine name, plural name for instance); the simplest form, the root (makan ← memakan ) is used.
Tuttle's Concise Indonesian Dictionary, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo 1993 - →ISBN
Colloquial Indonesian (Sutanto Atmosumarto), Routledge, New York 1994 - →ISBN
Les langages de l'humanité (Michel Malherbe), Robert Laffont, Paris 1995 - →ISBN
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
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