Appendix:Danish Swadesh list

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This is a Swadesh list of words in Danish, compared with definitions in English.

Introduction

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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.

List

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No. English Danish
dansk
1 I jeg [jɑj]
2 you (singular) du [d̥uˀ], De [d̥i] (formal)
3 he, she, it han [han]
4 we vi [vi]
5 you (plural) I [i]
6 they de [d̥i]
7 this denne ['d̥enə] /dette ['d̥ed̥ə]
8 that den [d̥ən]/det [d̥e]
9 here her ['heˀɐ]
10 there der ['d̥eˀɐ]
11 who hvem ['vem(ˀ)] (interrogative)
12 what hvad [va(ðˀ)] (interrogative)
13 where hvor ['vɔ(ˀ)] (no movement, interrogative)
14 when hvornår [vɔ'nɔˀ] (interrogative)
15 how hvordan [vɔ'd̥an]
16 not ikke ['egə]
17 all alle ['alə]
18 many mange ['maŋə]
19 some nogen ['noən]
20 few [fɔˀ]
21 other anden ['anən]
22 one en
23 two to
24 three tre
25 four fire
26 five fem
27 big stor
28 long lang
29 wide bred
30 thick tyk
31 heavy tung
32 small lille
33 short kort
34 narrow snæver
35 thin tynd
36 woman kvinde
37 man (adult male) mand
38 man (human being) menneske
39 child barn
40 wife hustru, kone
41 husband mand
42 mother mor
43 father far
44 animal dyr
45 fish fisk
46 bird fugl
47 dog hund
48 louse lus
49 snake slange
50 worm orm
51 tree træ
52 forest skov
53 stick kæp
54 fruit frugt
55 seed frø
56 leaf blad
57 root rod
58 bark (of a tree) bark
59 flower blomst
60 grass græs
61 rope reb
62 skin skind
63 meat kød
64 blood blod
65 bone ben
66 fat (noun) fedt
67 egg æg
68 horn horn
69 tail hale
70 feather fjer
71 hair hår
72 head hoved
73 ear øre
74 eye øje
75 nose næse
76 mouth mund
77 tooth tand
78 tongue (organ) tunge
79 fingernail (finger)negl
80 foot fod
81 leg ben
82 knee knæ
83 hand hånd
84 wing vinge
85 belly mave
86 guts tarm
87 neck hals
88 back ryg
89 breast bryst
90 heart hjerte
91 liver lever
92 to drink at drikke
93 to eat at spise
94 to bite at bide
95 to suck at sutte
96 to spit at spytte
97 to vomit at kaste op/at brække sig
98 to blow at blæse
99 to breathe at ånde
100 to laugh at le/at grine
101 to see at se
102 to hear at høre
103 to know at vide
104 to think at tænke
105 to smell at lugte
106 to fear at frygte
107 to sleep at sove
108 to live at leve
109 to die at dø
110 to kill at dræbe
111 to fight at kæmpe
112 to hunt at jage
113 to hit at slå
114 to cut at skære
115 to split at splitte
116 to stab at stikke
117 to scratch at kradse
118 to dig at grave
119 to swim at svømme
120 to fly at flyve
121 to walk at gå
122 to come at komme
123 to lie (as in a bed) at lægge sig (action), at ligge (state)
124 to sit at sætte sig (action), at sidde (state)
125 to stand at stå op (action), at stå (state)
126 to turn (intransitive) at dreje
127 to fall at falde
128 to give at give
129 to hold at holde
130 to squeeze at presse
131 to rub at gnide
132 to wash at vaske
133 to wipe at viske
134 to pull at trække
135 to push at skubbe
136 to throw at kaste
137 to tie at binde
138 to sew at sy
139 to count at tælle
140 to say at sige
141 to sing at synge
142 to play at spille
143 to float at flyde
144 to flow at flyde
145 to freeze at fryse
146 to swell at svulme
147 sun sol
148 moon måne
149 star stjerne
150 water vand
151 rain regn
152 river flod
153 lake
154 sea hav
155 salt salt
156 stone sten
157 sand sand
158 dust støv
159 earth jord
160 cloud sky
161 fog tåge
162 sky himmel
163 wind vind
164 snow sne
165 ice is
166 smoke røg
167 fire ild
168 ash aske
169 to burn brænde
170 road vej
171 mountain bjerg
172 red rød
173 green grøn
174 yellow gul
175 white hvid
176 black sort
177 night nat
178 day dag
179 year år
180 warm varm
181 cold kold
182 full fuld
183 new ny
184 old gammel
185 good god
186 bad dårlig
187 rotten rådden
188 dirty snavset
189 straight lige
190 round rund
191 sharp (as a knife) skarp
192 dull (as a knife) sløv
193 smooth glat
194 wet våd
195 dry tør
196 correct rigtig
197 near nær
198 far fjern
199 right højre
200 left venstre
201 at ved
202 in ind
203 with med
204 and og
205 if hvis
206 because fordi
207 name navn
  • Orthography :

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

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

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

Bibliography

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  • Le danois sans peine, Assimil, Chennevières-sur-Marne 1992 - →ISBN (French)
  • Les langages de l'humanité (Michel Malherbe), Robert Laffont, Paris 1995 - →ISBN (French)

Further reading

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Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
(edit this template)