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 Venetianvèneto edit (207) 1 I (1sg )mi 2 you (2sg )ti 3 he , she , it (3sg )lu , el 4 we (1pl )noaltri 5 you (2pl )voaltri 6 they (3pl )lori , i 7 this sto qua 8 that sto la 9 here qua 10 there là 11 who chi 12 what cossa , coss' 13 where ndove 14 when cuando 15 how come 16 not no 17 all tuto 18 many sai 19 some cualche 20 few poco 21 other altro 22 one un 23 two do 24 three tre 25 four cuatro 26 five zinque 27 big grando 28 long longo 29 wide largo 30 thick groso 31 heavy pesanto 32 small picio 33 short corto 34 narrow strento 35 thin magro 36 woman dona 37 man (adult male)omo 38 man (human being)omo 39 child mulo , putel 40 wife mujer 41 husband omo 42 mother mare 43 father pare 44 animal bestia 45 fish pese 46 bird usel 47 dog can 48 louse pedocio 49 snake bisa 50 worm verme 51 tree pianta 52 forest bosco 53 stick baston 54 fruit fruto 55 seed seme 56 leaf foja 57 root radise 58 bark (of a tree)scorza 59 flower fior 60 grass erba 61 rope corda 62 skin pele 63 meat carne 64 blood sangue 65 bone oso 66 fat (noun)graso 67 egg ovo 68 horn corno 69 tail coda 70 feather pena 71 hair cavel 72 head crapa , testa 73 ear recia 74 eye ocio 75 nose naso 76 mouth boca 77 tooth dente 78 tongue (organ)lingua 79 fingernail ongia 80 foot pie 81 leg gamba 82 knee genocio 83 hand man 84 wing ala 85 belly panza 86 guts budela 87 neck colo 88 back schena 89 breast peto , teta 90 heart cor 91 liver fedigo 92 to drink bever 93 to eat magnar 94 to bite morsigar 95 to suck ciuciar 96 to spit spudar 97 to vomit vometar 98 to blow sofiar 99 to breathe respirar 100 to laugh rider 101 to see veder 102 to hear sentir 103 to know saver 104 to think creder 105 to smell spuzar 106 to fear gaver paura 107 to sleep dormir 108 to live viver 109 to die morir , crepar 110 to kill mazar , copar 111 to fight lotar 112 to hunt cazare 113 to hit bater 114 to cut tajar 115 to split divider 116 to stab sbusar 117 to scratch sgrafare 118 to dig scavar 119 to swim nuotar 120 to fly svolar 121 to walk caminar 122 to come vegnir 123 to lie (as in a bed) stravacar 124 to sit sentar 125 to stand star 126 to turn (intransitive) girar 127 to fall cascar 128 to give dar 129 to hold tener 130 to squeeze strucar 131 to rub fregar 132 to wash lavar 133 to wipe netar , sugar 134 to pull tirar 135 to push spinger 136 to throw butar , tirar 137 to tie ligar 138 to sew cusire 139 to count contar 140 to say diser 141 to sing cantar 142 to play zogar 143 to float galejare 144 to flow scolar 145 to freeze jazar 146 to swell sgionfar 147 sun sol 148 moon luna 149 star stela 150 water acua 151 rain piova 152 river fiume 153 lake lago 154 sea mar 155 salt sal 156 stone piera 157 sand rena 158 dust polvere 159 earth tera 160 cloud nuvola 161 fog caligine 162 sky cel 163 wind vento 164 snow neve 165 ice jazo 166 smoke fumo 167 fire fogo 168 ash cendre 169 to burn brusar 170 road strada , via 171 mountain monte 172 red roso 173 green verde 174 yellow gialo 175 white bianco 176 black negro 177 night note 178 day giorno 179 year ano 180 warm caldo 181 cold fredo 182 full pien 183 new novo 184 old vecio 185 good bon 186 bad cativo 187 rotten marzo 188 dirty sludro 189 straight drito 190 round tondo 191 sharp (as a knife)spizo 192 dull (as a knife)spizato 193 smooth lisier 194 wet bagnà 195 dry seco 196 correct giusto 197 near vizin 198 far lontan 199 right destro 200 left sinistro 201 at a 202 in in 203 with con 204 and e 205 if se 206 because parché 207 name nome
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
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