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 Cypriot Arabicsanna edit (175) 1 I (1sg )ana 2 you (2sg )int masculine inti feminine 3 he , she , it (3sg )uo 4 we (1pl )naxni 5 you (2pl )intu 6 they (3pl )innen 7 this aδa masculine aδi feminine alli plural 8 that áδak masculine áδik feminine állik plural 9 here awna 10 there awnke 11 who men 12 what ayş aş 13 where ayn ay 14 when miten 15 how aşşik 16 not la- má- máy 17 all kull 18 many xtir 19 some xaytċ 20 few fitte şfé 21 other axar 22 one vexen 23 two θnayn xnayn 24 three tlaxe 25 four árpǎca 26 five xampse 27 big xpir 28 long tvil 29 wide fsici 30 thick capi 31 heavy θkil 32 small zěcír 33 short xmin 34 narrow 35 thin mǎcaer θkik 36 woman mara 37 man (adult male)intsán 38 man (human being)intsán 39 child vilt 40 wife mara 41 husband jawz intsán 42 mother umm 43 father yapát- 44 animal xeván 45 fish 46 bird 47 dog kilp 48 louse kample 49 snake cafa 50 worm tut 51 tree δentra 52 forest 53 stick cassa 54 fruit fekkye dried fruit 55 seed pizr 56 leaf varka 57 root 58 bark (of a tree)59 flower varte 60 grass şxex 61 rope xapl 62 skin 63 meat laxm 64 blood timm 65 bone 66 fat (noun)toxn 67 egg peδ 68 horn 69 tail tumpie 70 feather 71 hair şaxve head şacar pubic 72 head moxx 73 ear iδn 74 eye cayn 75 nose maxúr 76 mouth xank 77 tooth sinn 78 tongue (organ)san 79 fingernail δufr 80 foot ijr 81 leg ijr 82 knee 83 hand it 84 wing 85 belly patn 86 guts psarín 87 neck raxpe 88 back δaxr 89 breast suδr pizz 90 heart kalp 91 liver kaspe 92 to drink şirep 93 to eat kel 94 to bite caδδ 95 to suck mass δirce 96 to spit pizek 97 to vomit rajjce staffce 98 to blow nafax 99 to breathe 100 to laugh taxak 101 to see kişce 102 to hear simce 103 to know ciref 104 to think ftaen- paen- 105 to smell şamm 106 to fear fizce 107 to sleep nam 108 to live caş 109 to die mat 110 to kill maet 111 to fight starrce δarep 112 to hunt 113 to hit takk 114 to cut katca 115 to split şakk 116 to stab 117 to scratch xakk 118 to dig xiver 119 to swim tăcassel 120 to fly 121 to walk mişi 122 to come ja 123 to lie (as in a bed) 124 to sit kaca 125 to stand ekef 126 to turn (intransitive) tar 127 to fall vakca 128 to give ta 129 to hold 130 to squeeze palas ciser 131 to rub xaff macak 132 to wash cassel 133 to wipe massex 134 to pull jarr 135 to push tafaş 136 to throw rma 137 to tie rapat 138 to sew şall 139 to count cadd 140 to say kal 141 to sing canna 142 to play lecep 143 to float 144 to flow 145 to freeze 146 to swell virem 147 sun şimps 148 moon kamar 149 star najme 150 water moe 151 rain şite 152 river paθpun 153 lake cayn-purke 154 sea paxr 155 salt milx 156 stone xajra 157 sand 158 dust trap 159 earth art 160 cloud cayára 161 fog 162 sky sama 163 wind xava 164 snow 165 ice 166 smoke tixxán 167 fire okít 168 ash rmat 169 to burn xarak 170 road tarp trik 171 mountain jipel 172 red axmar 173 green xoδer 174 yellow asfar 175 white apkyaδ 176 black isfet 177 night layl 178 day yawm 179 year sine 180 warm xarr 181 cold peret 182 full mplan 183 new jtit 184 old catik 185 good kaes taep 186 bad veşex 187 rotten cefen 188 dirty măcaθθi 189 straight işa 190 round 191 sharp (as a knife)192 dull (as a knife)193 smooth 194 wet maplúl 195 dry yepes 196 correct 197 near jump 198 far pĕcit 199 right 200 left 201 at cint 202 in fi 203 with mac 204 and u 205 if an kan 206 because ta 207 name ism
Alexander Borg. A Comparative Glossary of Cypriot Maronite Arabic (Arabic-English) . Brill 2004
Swadesh lists
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