Appendix:German Swadesh list

This is an Swadesh list of words in English and German.

Presentation

At the end of the 1940s new insights of radiocarbon dating became known to the public. The linguist Morris Swadesh believed that words decayed in a roughly similar way and therefore undertook to transfer these methods to determine the relationship of languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings presumed to be universal, that means to be available in as many as possible cultures. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew up in 1952 to 215 meanings, which, however, turned out to be not universal enough. Subsequently it was reduced to 207, and 1955 to 100 meanings, again reformulated and published posthumous in 1971.

For further information, including the full final version, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list.

Note that Swadesh lists are not to be considered as an elementary lexicon to communicate with speakers of a given language; for such a purpose, please refer to the numerous existing Wikitravel.

List

No.	English	German Deutsch	IPA pronunciation
1	I	ich	[ɪç]
2	you (singular)	du, Sie (formal)	[duː], [ziː]
3	he	er	[eːr]
4	we	wir	[viːr]
5	you (plural)	ihr, Sie (formal)	[iːr], [ziː]
6	they	sie	[ziː]
7	this	dieses	[ˈdiːzəs]
8	that	jenes	[ˈjeːnəs]
9	here	hier	[hiːr]
10	there	dort	[dɔrt]
11	who	wer	[veːr]
12	what	was	[vas]
13	where	wo	[voː]
14	when	wann	[van]
15	how	wie	[viː]
16	not	nicht	[nɪçt]
17	all	alle	[ˈalə]
18	many	viele	[fiːlə]
19	some	einige	[ˈaɪniɡə]
20	few	wenig	[ˈveːnɪç]
21	other	andere	[ˈandərə]
22	one	eins	[aɪns]
23	two	zwei	[tsvaɪ]
24	three	drei	[draɪ]
25	four	vier	[fiːr]
26	five	fünf	[fʏnf]
27	big	groß	[ɡroːs]
28	long	lang	[laŋ]
29	wide	breit, weit	[braɪt], [vaɪt]
30	thick	dick	[dɪk]
31	heavy	schwer, heftig	[ʃveːr]
32	small	klein, schmal	[klaɪn]
33	short	kurz	[kʊrts]
34	narrow	eng	[ɛŋ]
35	thin	dünn	[dʏn]
36	woman	Frau	[fraʊ]
37	man (male)	Mann	[man]
38	man (human)	Mensch	[mɛnʃ]
39	child	Kind	[kɪnt]
40	wife	Frau, Ehefrau, Weib	[fraʊ], [ˈeːəfraʊ]
41	husband	Mann, Ehemann	[man], [ˈeːəman]
42	mother	Mutter	[ˈmʊtər]
43	father	Vater	[ˈfaːtər]
44	animal	Tier	[tiːr]
45	fish	Fisch	[fɪʃ]
46	bird	Vogel	[ˈfoːgəl]
47	dog	Hund, Dogge	[hʊnt]
48	louse	Laus	[laʊs]
49	snake	Schlange	[ˈʃlaŋə]
50	worm	Wurm	[vʊrm]
51	tree	Baum	[baʊm]
52	forest	Wald, Forst	[valt]
53	stick	Stock	[ʃtɔk]
54	fruit	Frucht	[frʊxt]
55	seed	Samen, Saat	[ˈzaːmən]
56	leaf	Blatt	[blat]
57	root	Wurzel	[ˈvʊrtsəl]
58	bark (of a tree)	Rinde, Borke	[ˈrɪndə]
59	flower	Blume	[ˈbluːmə]
60	grass	Gras	[ɡraːs]
61	rope	Seil, Reep	[zaɪl]
62	skin	Haut	[haʊt]
63	meat	Fleisch	[flaɪʃ]
64	blood	Blut	[bluːt]
65	bone	Knochen, Bein, Gebein	[ˈknɔxən]
66	fat (noun)	Fett	[fɛt]
67	egg	Ei	[ai]
68	horn	Horn	[hɔrn]
69	tail	Schwanz	[ʃvants]
70	feather	Feder	[ˈfeːdər]
71	hair	Haar	[haːr]
72	head	Kopf, Haupt	[kɔpf]
73	ear	Ohr	[oːr]
74	eye	Auge	[ˈaʊgə]
75	nose	Nase	[ˈnaːzə]
76	mouth	Mund	[mʊnt]
77	tooth	Zahn	[tsaːn]
78	tongue	Zunge	[ˈtsʊŋə]
79	fingernail	Fingernagel	[ˈfɪŋərnaːɡəl]
80	foot	Fuß	[ˈfuːs]
81	leg	Bein	[baɪn]
82	knee	Knie	[kniː]
83	hand	Hand	[hant]
84	wing	Flügel	[ˈflyːɡəl]
85	belly	Bauch	[baʊx]
86	guts	Eingeweide	[ˈaɪnɡəvaɪdə]
87	neck	Hals, Nacken, Genick	[hals]
88	back	Rücken	[ˈrʏkən]
89	breast	Brust	[brʊst]
90	heart	Herz	[hɛrts]
91	liver	Leber	[ˈleːbər]
92	to drink	trinken	[ˈtrɪŋkən]
93	to eat	essen	[ˈɛsən]
94	to bite	beissen	[ˈbaɪsən]
95	to suck	saugen	[ˈzaugən]
96	to spit	spucken	[ˈʃpukən]
97	to vomit	erbrechen	[ɛrˈbrɛçən]
98	to blow	blasen	[ˈblaːzən]
99	to breathe	atmen	[ˈaːtmən]
100	to laugh	lachen	[ˈlaxən]
101	to see	sehen	[ˈzeːən]
102	to hear	hören	[ˈhøːrən]
103	to know	wissen, kennen	[ˈvɪsən]
104	to think	denken	[ˈdɛŋkən]
105	to smell	riechen (reek)	[ˈriːçən]
106	to fear	fürchten	[ˈfʏrçtən]
107	to sleep	schlafen	[ˈʃlaːfən]
108	to live	leben	[ˈleːbən]
109	to die	sterben (starve)	[ˈʃtɛrbən]
110	to kill	töten	[ˈtøːtən]
111	to fight	kämpfen, fechten	[ˈkɛmpfən]
112	to hunt	jagen	[ˈjaːɡən]
113	to hit	schlagen	[ˈʃlaːɡən]
114	to cut	schneiden	[ˈʃnaɪdən]
115	to split	spalten	[ˈʃpaltən]
116	to stab	stechen	[ˈʃtɛkən]
117	to scratch	kratzen	[ˈkratsən]
118	to dig	graben	[ˈgraːbən]
119	to swim	schwimmen	[ˈʃvɪmən]
120	to fly	fliegen	[ˈfliːɡən]
121	to walk	gehen	[geːən]
122	to come	kommen	[ˈkɔmən]
123	to lie (as in a bed)	liegen (state)	[ˈliːɡən]
124	to sit	sitzen (state)	[ˈzɪtsən]
125	to stand	stehen (state)	[ˈʃteːən]
126	to turn (intransitive)	drehen	[ˈdreːən]
127	to fall	fallen	[ˈfalən]
128	to give	geben	[ˈɡeːbən]
129	to hold	halten	[ˈhaltən]
130	to squeeze	quetschen	[ˈkvɛtʃən]
131	to rub	reiben	[ˈraɪbən]
132	to wash	waschen	[ˈvaʃən]
133	to wipe	wischen	[ˈvɪʃən]
134	to pull	ziehen	[ˈtsiːən]
135	to push	drücken	[ˈdrʏkən]
136	to throw	werfen	[ˈvɛrfən]
137	to tie	binden	[ˈbɪndən]
138	to sew	nähen	[ˈnɛːən]
139	to count	zählen	[ˈtsɛːlən]
140	to say	sagen	[ˈzaːgən]
141	to sing	singen	[ˈzɪŋən]
142	to play	spielen	[ˈʃpiːlən]
143	to float	schweben	[ˈʃveːbən]
144	to flow	fließen	[ˈfliːsən]
145	to freeze	frieren	[ˈfriːrən]
146	to swell	schwellen	[ˈʃvɛlən]
147	sun	Sonne	[ˈzɔnə]
148	moon	Mond	[moːnt]
149	star	Stern	[ʃtɛrn]
150	water	Wasser	[ˈvasər]
151	rain	Regen	[ˈreːgən]
152	river	Fluss	[flʊs]
153	lake	See	[zeː]
154	sea	Meer, See	[meːr], [zeː]
155	salt	Salz	[zalts]
156	stone	Stein	[ʃtaɪn]
157	sand	Sand	[zant]
158	dust	Staub	[ʃtaʊp]
159	earth	Erde	[ˈeːrdə]
160	cloud	Wolke	[ˈvɔlkə]
161	fog	Nebel	[ˈneːbəl]
162	sky	Himmel	[ˈhɪməl]
163	wind	Wind	[vɪnt]
164	snow	Schnee	[ʃneː]
165	ice	Eis	[aɪs]
166	smoke	Rauch	[raʊx]
167	fire	Feuer	[ˈfɔʏər]
168	ash	Asche	[ˈaʃə]
169	to burn	brennen	[ˈbrɛnən]
170	road	Straße	[ˈʃtraːsə]
171	mountain	Berg	[bɛrk]
172	red	rot	[roːt]
173	green	grün	[gryːn]
174	yellow	gelb	[gɛlp]
175	white	weiß	[vaɪs]
176	black	schwarz	[ʃvarts]
177	night	Nacht	[naxt]
178	day	Tag	[taːk]
179	year	Jahr	[jaːr]
180	warm	warm	[varm]
181	cold	kalt	[kalt]
182	full	voll	[fɔl]
183	new	neu	[nɔʏ]
184	old	alt	[alt]
185	good	gut	[guːt]
186	bad	schlecht	[ʃlɛçt]
187	rotten	verfault, verrottet	[fɛrˈfault]
188	dirty	schmutzig, dreckig	[ˈʃmʊtsiç]
189	straight	gerade	[ɡəˈraːdə]
190	round	rund	[rʊnt]
191	sharp (as a knife)	scharf	[ʃarf]
192	dull (as a knife)	stumpf	[ʃtʊmpf]
193	smooth	glatt	[ɡlat]
194	wet	nass, feucht	[nas], [fɔʏçt]
195	dry	trocken	[ˈtrɔkən]
196	correct	richtig, korrekt	[ˈrɪçtɪç]
197	near	nahe	[ˈnaːə]
198	far	weit, fern	[vaɪt], [fɛrn]
199	right	rechts	[rɛçts]
200	left	links	[lɪŋks]
201	at	bei, an	[baɪ], [an]
202	in	in	[ɪn]
203	with	mit	[mɪt]
204	and	und	[ʊnt]
205	if	wenn, falls, ob	[vɛn], [fals], [ɔp]
206	because	weil	[vaɪl]
207	name	Name	[ˈnaːmə]

• Orthography :

When the words have various forms (verbs conjugation, gender and number agreement, declensions), the orthography is the following :

• verbs : infinitive
• other words : masculine or neutral, singular, nominative (subject)

For specific cases (no infinitive, feminine name, plural name for instance), the simplest form is used.

• Pronunciation :

Depending on the speakers and the area, the actual pronunciation may differ, more or less significantly, from the showed pronunciation.

Bibliography

• Dictionnaire de poche français-allemand / allemand-français, Hachette & Langenscheidt, Paris 2003 - ISBN 2-01-280547-7
• Les langages de l'humanité (Michel Malherbe), Robert Laffont, Paris 1995 - ISBN 2-221-05947-6

External links

• German dictionaries (Lexilogos)
• Appendix:Swadesh lists
• Wikiwörterbuch (German Wiktionary)

Swadesh lists
Afrikaans – Albanian – Antillean Creole – Arabic (standard) (p), Egyptian Arabic (p), Palestinian Arabic (p), Tunisian Arabic (t) – Armenian (t,p) – Aromanian – Bangala – Bashkir – Basque – Belarusian – Breton – Bulgarian (t) – Burmese (t,p) – Catalan – Chinese: Cantonese, Gan (p), Mandarin (t), Min Nan (Amoy), Old Chinese (p) – Croatian – Czech – Danish – Dutch – Egyptian (Middle)  – Esperanto – Estonian – Finnish – Fiji Hindi – French (p) – Frisian (West) – Friulian – Georgian (t,p) – German (p) – Greek (modern) (p), Greek (ancient) – Guaraní – Haida – Haitian Creole – Hausa – Hindi – Hittite – Hmong (White) – Hungarian – Icelandic – Indonesian – Irish – Istro-Romanian – Italian (p) – Japanese (t) – Kashubian – Khmer (p) – Korean (t) – Kurdish – Latvian – Lingala – Lithuanian – Luwian – Macedonian (t) – Malagasy – Malay – Maltese – Megleno-Romanian – Mongolian – Old Portuguese (p) – Ossetian (p) – Polish (p) – Portuguese (p) – Proto-Indo-European – Purepecha – Quechua – Romani – Romanian – Russian – Sanskrit (t) – Scottish Gaelic – Serbian – Slovenian – Spanish (p) – Sranan – Swahili – Swedish – Tagalog – Tajik (t) – Tahitian – Thai (t) – Tocharian B – Turkish – Vietnamese – Walloon – Zulu
The list may also include: (t) the transcription in Latin characters; (p) the phonetic transcription