Wiktionary

Appendix:Mauritian Creole Swadesh list

This is a Swadesh list of words in Mauritian Creole, compared with definitions in English.

Presentation

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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.

List

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No. English Mauritian Creole
Kreol
1 I mo
2 you (singular) to (informal), ou (formal), twa (objective)
3 he, she, it li
4 we nou
5 you (plural) zot
6 they zot, bann-la
7 this sa
8 that sa, seki
9 here isi
10 there la-ba
11 who ki, ki sann-la
12 what ki
13 where kot
14 when kan
15 how kouma
16 not pa
17 all tou
18 many boukou
19 some detrwa
20 few inpe
21 other lot
22 one enn
23 two de
24 three trwa
25 four kat
26 five sink
27 big gro
28 long long
29 wide larg
30 thick epe
31 heavy lour
32 small piti
33 short kour
34 narrow etraw
35 thin minse
36 woman fam
37 man (adult male) zom
38 man (human being) dimounn
39 child zenfan
40 wife fam
41 husband mari, misie
42 mother mama
43 father papa
44 animal zanimo
45 fish pwason
46 bird zwazo
47 dog lisien
48 louse lipou
49 snake serpan
50 worm lever
51 tree pie
52 forest lafore
53 stick brans
54 fruit frwi
55 seed grenn
56 leaf fey
57 root rasine
58 bark (of a tree) tron
59 flower fler
60 grass lerb
61 rope lakord
62 skin lapo
63 meat laviann
64 blood disan
65 bone lezo
66 fat (noun) lagres
67 egg dizeff
68 horn korn
69 tail lake
70 feather plim
71 hair seve
72 head latet
73 ear zorey
74 eye lizie
75 nose nene
76 mouth labous
77 tooth ledan
78 tongue (organ) lalang
79 fingernail zong
80 foot lipie
81 leg lazam
82 knee zenou
83 hand lame
84 wing lezel
85 belly vant
86 guts lintestin
87 neck licou
88 back ledo
89 breast sein, doudou, tete
90 heart leker
91 liver lefwa
92 to drink bwar
93 to eat manze
94 to bite morde
95 to suck souse
96 to spit krase
97 to vomit vomi
98 to blow soufle
99 to breathe respire
100 to laugh riye
101 to see trouve
102 to hear tende
103 to know kone
104 to think panse
105 to smell senti
106 to fear per
107 to sleep dormi
108 to live viv
109 to die mor
110 to kill touye
111 to fight lager
112 to hunt sase
113 to hit tape
114 to cut koupe
115 to split fann
116 to stab pwagnarde
117 to scratch grate
118 to dig fouye
119 to swim naze
120 to fly envole
121 to walk marse
122 to come vini
123 to lie (as in a bed) allonze
124 to sit asize
125 to stand deboute
126 to turn (intransitive) tourne
127 to fall tonbe
128 to give to done
129 to hold tini
130 to squeeze sere
131 to rub frote
132 to wash lave
133 to wipe souyer
134 to pull rise, tire
135 to push pouse
136 to throw avoye, lanse
137 to tie atase
138 to sew koud
139 to count konte
140 to say dir
141 to sing sante
142 to play zwe
143 to float flote
144 to flow koule
145 to freeze glase
146 to swell anfle
147 sun soley
148 moon lalinn
149 star zetwal
150 water delo, dilo
151 rain lapli
152 river larivier
153 lake lak
154 sea lamer
155 salt disel
156 stone ros
157 sand disab
158 dust lapousyer
159 earth later
160 cloud niaz
161 fog brouyar
162 sky lesiel
163 wind divan
164 snow lanez
165 ice glas
166 smoke lafime
167 fire dife
168 ash sann
169 to burn brile
170 road semin, sime
171 mountain montagn
172 red rouz
173 green ver
174 yellow zonn
175 white blan
176 black nwar
177 night nwi
178 day zour
179 year lane
180 warm so
181 cold fre
182 full plen
183 new nef, nouvo
184 old vie
185 good bon
186 bad move
187 rotten pouri
188 dirty sal
189 straight drwat
190 round ron
191 sharp (as a knife) fite
192 dull (as a knife) defite
193 smooth lis
194 wet mouye
195 dry sek
196 correct ena raison, bon
197 near pre
198 far lwen
199 right drwat
200 left gos
201 at a
202 in andan
203 with ar, avek, ek
204 and e
205 if si
206 because akoz, parski
207 name non

References

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  • Choy, P., 2014 (3rd Edition). Korek! A Beginner's Guide To Mauritian Creole. Mauritius: Paul Choy.

See also

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Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
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