This is a Swadesh list of words in Romanian , compared with that of English .
Presentation [ edit ]
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.
No.
English
Romanian română
IPA pronunciation
1
I
eu
2
you (singular)
tu
3
he
el
4
we
noi
5
you (plural)
voi
6
they
ei
7
this
acesta
8
that
acela
9
here
aici
10
there
acolo
11
who
cine (interrogative)
12
what
ce (interrogative)
13
where
unde (interrogative)
14
when
când (interrogative)
15
how
cum (interrogative)
16
not
nu
17
all
tot
18
many
mulți
19
some
niște
20
few
puțin
21
other
alt
22
one
unu
23
two
doi
24
three
trei
25
four
patru
26
five
cinci
27
big
mare
28
long
lung
29
wide
larg
30
thick
gros
31
heavy
greu
32
small
mic
33
short
scurt
34
narrow
strâmt
35
thin
subțire , slab
36
woman
femeie , muiere
37
man (male)
bărbat
38
man (human)
om
39
child
copil
40
wife
soție
41
husband
soț
42
mother
mamă
43
father
tată
44
animal
animal
45
fish
pește
46
bird
pasăre
47
dog
câine
48
louse
păduche
49
snake
șarpe
50
worm
vierme
51
tree
arbore , copac
52
forest
pădure
53
stick
băț
54
fruit
fruct
55
seed
sămânță
56
leaf
frunză
57
root
rădăcină
58
bark (of a tree)
scoarță
59
flower
floare
60
grass
iarbă
61
rope
sfoară , frânghie , coardă
62
skin
piele
63
meat
carne
64
blood
sânge
65
bone
os
66
fat (noun)
grăsime
67
egg
ou
68
horn
corn
69
tail
coadă
70
feather
pană , fulg
71
hair
păr
72
head
cap
73
ear
ureche
74
eye
ochi
75
nose
nas
76
mouth
gură
77
tooth
dinte
78
tongue
limbă
79
fingernail
unghie
80
foot
laba piciorului
81
leg
picior
82
knee
genunchi
83
hand
mână
84
wing
aripă
85
belly
burtă , vintre , foale , pântece
86
guts
măruntaie
87
neck
gât
88
back
spate
89
breast
piept
90
heart
inimă
91
liver
ficat , mai
92
to drink
a bea
93
to eat
a mânca
94
to bite
a mușca
95
to suck
a suge
96
to spit
a scuipa
97
to vomit
a borî , a vomita , a vărsa
98
to blow
a sufla
99
to breathe
a răsufla , a respira
100
to laugh
a râde
101
to see
a vedea
102
to hear
a auzi
103
to know
a ști
104
to think
a cugeta , a se gândi
105
to smell
a mirosi
106
to fear
a se teme
107
to sleep
a dormi
108
to live
a trăi
109
to die
a muri
110
to kill
a ucide , a omorî
111
to fight
a lupta
112
to hunt
a vâna
113
to hit
a lovi
114
to cut
a tăia
115
to split
a despica , a spinteca
116
to stab
a înjunghia
117
to scratch
a zgâria
118
to dig
a săpa , a excava
119
to swim
a înota
120
to fly
a zbura
121
to walk
a merge
122
to come
a veni
123
to lie (as in a bed)
a zace
124
to sit
a se așeza (action) , a ședea (state)
125
to stand
a se scula în picioare (action) , a sta (state)
126
to turn (intransitive)
a se întoarce
127
to fall
a cădea
128
to give
a da
129
to hold
a ține
130
to squeeze
a strânge
131
to rub
a freca
132
to wash
a spăla
133
to wipe
a șterge
134
to pull
a trage
135
to push
a împinge
136
to throw
a arunca
137
to tie
a lega
138
to sew
a coase
139
to count
a număra
140
to say
a zice , a spune
141
to sing
a cânta
142
to play
a juca
143
to float
a pluti
144
to flow
a curge
145
to freeze
a îngheța
146
to swell
a se umfla
147
sun
soare
148
moon
lună
149
star
stea
150
water
apă
151
rain
ploaie , udătură
152
river
râu
153
lake
lac
154
sea
mare
155
salt
sare
156
stone
piatră
157
sand
nisip
158
dust
praf , pulbere
159
earth
pământ
160
cloud
nor
161
fog
ceață
162
sky
cer
163
wind
vânt
164
snow
zăpadă , nea
165
ice
gheață , sloi
166
smoke
fum
167
fire
foc , jar
168
ash
cenușă , scrum
169
to burn
a arde
170
road
drum , cale
171
mountain
munte
172
red
roșu
173
green
verde
174
yellow
galben
175
white
alb
176
black
negru , lai
177
night
noapte
178
day
zi
179
year
an
180
warm
cald
181
cold
rece , frig
182
full
plin
183
new
nou
184
old
vechi
185
good
bun
186
bad
rău , prost
187
rotten
putred , cariat
188
dirty
murdar , jegos
189
straight
drept
190
round
rotund
191
sharp (as a knife)
ascuțit
192
dull (as a knife)
tocit , bont
193
smooth
neted
194
wet
ud , umed
195
dry
uscat
196
correct
drept
197
near
lângă , apropiat , aproape
198
far
departe
199
right
drept
200
left
stâng
201
at
la , în
202
in
în
203
with
cu
204
and
și
205
if
dacă
206
because
deoarece , pentru că
207
name
nume
Further reading [ edit ]
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Afrikaans –
Albanian –
Amharic –
Antillean Creole –
Arabic:
(Standard Arabic ,
Cypriot ,
Egyptian ,
Moroccan ,
Palestinian ,
Tunisian ) –
Armenian –
Aromanian –
Assamese –
Avar –
Bangala –
Bashkir –
Basque –
Belarusian –
Bengali –
Berber:
(Tashelhit ) –
Breton –
Buginese –
Bulgarian –
Burmese –
Burushaski –
Cape Verdean –
Catalan –
Cebuano –
Chechen –
Chinese:
(Mandarin ,
Cantonese ,
Gan ,
Min Nan ,
Min Dong ,
Old Chinese ) –
Cornish –
Czech –
Dalmatian –
Danish –
Dutch
(Limburgish ,
Zealandic ) –
Egyptian –
English
(Old ,
Middle ) –
Elamite –
Estonian –
Faroese –
Fiji Hindi –
Fijian –
Finnish –
Fongbe –
French
(Old French ) –
Frisian –
Friulian –
Galician –
Garo –
Gelao –
Georgian –
German –
Gothic –
Greek
(Ancient Greek ) –
Guaraní –
Guinea-Bissau Creole –
Gujarati –
Haitian Creole –
Hausa –
Hawaiian –
Hebrew –
Hindi –
Hittite –
Hmong –
Hungarian –
Icelandic –
Ilocano –
Indonesian –
Irish –
Italian
(Neapolitan ,
Sicilian ) –
Japanese –
Javanese –
Jizhao -
Kashubian –
Khmer –
Konkani –
Korean
(Middle Korean ,
Jeju ) –
Latin
(Vulgar Latin ) -
Latvian –
Lingala –
Lithuanian –
Lojban –
Low Saxon
(Sallaands ) –
Macedonian –
Makasar –
Malagasy –
Malay –
Maltese –
Manx –
Marathi
(Old Marathi ) –
Mauritian Creole –
Megleno-Romanian –
Mongolian –
Norwegian:
(Bokmål ,
Nynorsk ) –
Northern Kurdish –
Ojibwe –
Okinawan –
Ossetian –
Papiamento –
Polish –
Portuguese
(Old Portuguese ) –
Punjabi –
Purepecha –
Quechua –
Romani
(Caló ) -
Romanian –
Russian –
Sanskrit –
Scottish Gaelic –
Serbo-Croatian –
Siberian Tatar –
Slovak –
Slovene –
Somali –
Spanish –
Sranan –
Sumerian –
Sundanese –
Swahili –
Swedish –
Tagalog –
Tahitian –
Tajik –
Telugu –
Temiar –
Thai –
Tocharian B –
Tok Pisin –
Turkish –
Tuvaluan –
Ukrainian –
Vietnamese –
Walloon –
Welsh –
West Coast Bajau –
Yiddish –
Zazaki –
Zulu
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Afroasiatic –
Algonquian and Iroquoian –
Arabic –
Austroasiatic –
Austronesian –
Baltic –
Bantu –
Celtic –
Chumashan and Hokan –
Dené–Yeniseian –
Dravidian –
Finnic –
Formosan –
Frisian –
Germanic –
Hmong-Mien –
Indo-Aryan:
(Middle ,
Early New ) –
Indo-Iranian –
Italian –
Japonic –
Kra–Dai –
Mayan –
Muskogean –
Niger–Congo –
Oto-Manguean –
Paleosiberian –
Pama-Nyungan –
Penutian –
Romance –
Sino-Tibetan:
(Raji-Raute ,
Tibeto-Burman ,
Tibeto-Burman (Nepal) ) –
Kho-Bwa ,
Kuki-Chin –
Slavic –
Siouan and Pawnee –
South American –
Tungusic –
Tupian –
Turkic –
Uralic –
Uto-Aztecan
Constructed auxiliary languages
Esperanto –
Ido –
Interlingua –
Interlingue –
Lingua Franca Nova –
Toki Pona –
Volapük
Reconstructed proto-languages
Proto-Austronesian –
Proto-Balto-Slavic –
Proto-Bantu –
Proto-Basque –
Proto-Germanic –
Proto-Indo-European –
Proto-Indo-Iranian –
Proto-Italic –
Proto-Japanese –
Proto-Mayan –
Proto-Slavic