This is an incomplete Swadesh list of words in English and Megleno-Romanian.
[edit] 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.
| No. |
English |
Megleno-Romanian
vlăşească |
| 1 |
I |
i̯o |
| 2 |
you (singular) |
tu |
| 3 |
he |
i̯el |
| 4 |
we |
noi |
| 5 |
you (plural) |
voi |
| 6 |
they |
i̯eľ |
| 7 |
this |
tsist |
| 8 |
that |
tsel |
| 9 |
here |
u̯a |
| 10 |
there |
colo, ạncǫ |
| 11 |
who |
cola, ạncolo |
| 12 |
what |
tse, tsi |
| 13 |
where |
i̯undi |
| 14 |
when |
cǫn |
| 15 |
how |
cum |
| 16 |
not |
nu |
| 17 |
all |
tot |
| 18 |
many |
muľts |
| 19 |
some |
nişti |
| 20 |
few |
uneac |
| 21 |
other |
altu |
| 22 |
one |
un |
| 23 |
two |
doi |
| 24 |
three |
trei |
| 25 |
four |
patru |
| 26 |
five |
tsints |
| 27 |
big |
mari |
| 28 |
long |
lung |
| 29 |
wide |
larg |
| 30 |
thick |
gros |
| 31 |
heavy |
greu |
| 32 |
small |
mic, minut |
| 33 |
short |
|
| 34 |
narrow |
strimt |
| 35 |
thin |
subtzǫri |
| 36 |
woman |
muľari |
| 37 |
man (adult male) |
bărbat, mascur |
| 38 |
man (human being) |
u̯om |
| 39 |
child |
cupilaş, fitšor |
| 40 |
wife |
niveastă |
| 41 |
husband |
bărbat |
| 42 |
mother |
mamă |
| 43 |
father |
tată |
| 44 |
animal |
|
| 45 |
fish |
peaşti |
| 46 |
bird |
|
| 47 |
dog |
cǫini |
| 48 |
louse |
piducľu |
| 49 |
snake |
şarpi |
| 50 |
worm |
ghermi |
| 51 |
tree |
arbur, pom |
| 52 |
forest |
păduri |
| 53 |
stick |
virdzeau̯ă |
| 54 |
fruit |
plod |
| 55 |
seed |
siminţă |
| 56 |
leaf |
frunză |
| 57 |
root |
corin |
| 58 |
bark (of a tree) |
|
| 59 |
flower |
floari |
| 60 |
grass |
i̯arbă |
| 61 |
rope |
funi, fortumă |
| 62 |
skin |
coajă |
| 63 |
meat |
carni |
| 64 |
blood |
sǫnzi |
| 65 |
bone |
u̯os |
| 66 |
fat (noun) |
grăsimi |
| 67 |
egg |
u̯ou |
| 68 |
horn |
corn |
| 69 |
tail |
coadă |
| 70 |
feather |
peană |
| 71 |
hair |
per |
| 72 |
head |
cap |
| 73 |
ear |
ureacľă |
| 74 |
eye |
u̯ocľu |
| 75 |
nose |
nas |
| 76 |
mouth |
gură |
| 77 |
tooth |
dinti, măseau̯ă |
| 78 |
tongue (organ) |
limbă |
| 79 |
fingernail |
ungľă |
| 80 |
foot |
pitšor |
| 81 |
leg |
pitšor |
| 82 |
knee |
zinucľu |
| 83 |
hand |
mǫnă |
| 84 |
wing |
i̯aripă, aripă |
| 85 |
belly |
buric, foali |
| 86 |
guts |
matsi |
| 87 |
neck |
guşă |
| 88 |
back |
gorb |
| 89 |
breast |
chi̯ept |
| 90 |
heart |
ińamă |
| 91 |
liver |
drob |
| 92 |
to drink |
beai |
| 93 |
to eat |
mănanc |
| 94 |
to bite |
|
| 95 |
to suck |
sug |
| 96 |
to spit |
scup |
| 97 |
to vomit |
vom |
| 98 |
to blow |
suflu |
| 99 |
to breathe |
|
| 100 |
to laugh |
rǫd |
| 101 |
to see |
ved |
| 102 |
to hear |
ud |
| 103 |
to know |
ştiu |
| 104 |
to think |
misles |
| 105 |
to smell |
miruses |
| 106 |
to fear |
mi ạnfric |
| 107 |
to sleep |
dorm |
| 108 |
to live |
trăies, ghii̯es |
| 109 |
to die |
mor |
| 110 |
to kill |
nec, vatăm |
| 111 |
to fight |
mi bat, mi buros |
| 112 |
to hunt |
luves |
| 113 |
to hit |
ugudes |
| 114 |
to cut |
taľ |
| 115 |
to split |
dispic |
| 116 |
to stab |
pung |
| 117 |
to scratch |
zgair, scarpin |
| 118 |
to dig |
sap |
| 119 |
to swim |
plivăies |
| 120 |
to fly |
părăies |
| 121 |
to walk |
amnu |
| 122 |
to come |
vin |
| 123 |
to lie (as in a bed) |
mi culc, stau̯ culcat |
| 124 |
to sit |
şǫd |
| 125 |
to stand |
stau |
| 126 |
to turn (intransitive) |
mi ạnvărtes |
| 127 |
to fall |
cad |
| 128 |
to give |
dau |
| 129 |
to hold |
tsǫn |
| 130 |
to squeeze |
string |
| 131 |
to rub |
frec |
| 132 |
to wash |
spel |
| 133 |
to wipe |
şterg |
| 134 |
to pull |
trag, trăgăies |
| 135 |
to push |
|
| 136 |
to throw |
runc |
| 137 |
to tie |
leg |
| 138 |
to sew |
cos |
| 139 |
to count |
numir |
| 140 |
to say |
spun, zic |
| 141 |
to sing |
cǫnt |
| 142 |
to play |
(mi) joc |
| 143 |
to float |
plivăies |
| 144 |
to flow |
cur |
| 145 |
to freeze |
ạngľets |
| 146 |
to swell |
mi anflu |
| 147 |
sun |
soari |
| 148 |
moon |
lună |
| 149 |
star |
steau̯ă |
| 150 |
water |
apu |
| 151 |
rain |
ploaiă |
| 152 |
river |
vali |
| 153 |
lake |
lac |
| 154 |
sea |
mari |
| 155 |
salt |
sari |
| 156 |
stone |
rǫpă |
| 157 |
sand |
pisoc |
| 158 |
dust |
prau |
| 159 |
earth |
pimint |
| 160 |
cloud |
nor |
| 161 |
fog |
|
| 162 |
sky |
tser |
| 163 |
wind |
vint |
| 164 |
snow |
neau̯ă |
| 165 |
ice |
gľets |
| 166 |
smoke |
fum |
| 167 |
fire |
foc |
| 168 |
ash |
tšănuşă |
| 169 |
to burn |
årdu |
| 170 |
road |
cåle |
| 171 |
mountain |
munti |
| 172 |
red |
roş |
| 173 |
green |
veardi |
| 174 |
yellow |
galbin |
| 175 |
white |
alb, beal |
| 176 |
black |
negru |
| 177 |
night |
noapti |
| 178 |
day |
zuu̯ă |
| 179 |
year |
an |
| 180 |
warm |
cald |
| 181 |
cold |
ratsi, frig |
| 182 |
full |
ạmplin |
| 183 |
new |
nou |
| 184 |
old |
vecľu |
| 185 |
good |
bun |
| 186 |
bad |
rǫu |
| 187 |
rotten |
putrid |
| 188 |
dirty |
murdar |
| 189 |
straight |
|
| 190 |
round |
gurguľat |
| 191 |
sharp (as a knife) |
tăľătos |
| 192 |
dull (as a knife) |
|
| 193 |
smooth |
|
| 194 |
wet |
vlajnic |
| 195 |
dry |
uscat |
| 196 |
correct |
|
| 197 |
near |
prochiat, proapi |
| 198 |
far |
diparti |
| 199 |
right |
dirept, dreapta |
| 200 |
left |
stǫng, leava |
| 201 |
at |
la, lă |
| 202 |
in |
ăn |
| 203 |
with |
cu |
| 204 |
and |
şi |
| 205 |
if |
acu |
| 206 |
because |
că, pri tse, dintru că |
| 207 |
name |
numi |
| 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 |
