Appendix:Hurrian Swadesh list

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

Presentation

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

No.	English	Hurrian
1	I	iš-
2	you (singular)	fe-
3	he, she, it	mani
4	we	ša-tti
5	you (plural)	-abba
6	they	-alla
7	this	an-ni
8	that	a-ni
9	here
10	there
11	who	aw-i, ab-i
12	what	aw
13	where
14	when	ai, inna, undu
15	how	inu
16	not	u-, wa-
17	all	šua-lla
18	many	te-u-na
19	some
20	few
21	other
22	one	šu-kki, šu-kku
23	two	šini
24	three	kig(a)
25	four	tumni
26	five	nariy(a)
27	big	tal-mi,tal-a-mi
28	long	keri
29	wide
30	thick
31	heavy
32	small
33	short
34	narrow
35	thin	niga-le
36	woman	ašti, ašta
37	man (adult male)	taɣe, tae
38	man (human being)	taršuwa-ni
39	child
40	wife
41	husband
42	mother
43	father
44	animal
45	fish
46	bird	eradi
47	dog	erbi, erwi
48	louse	apxe
49	snake	apši
50	worm
51	tree	tali
52	forest
53	stick
54	fruit
55	seed
56	leaf
57	root
58	bark (of a tree)
59	flower
60	grass
61	rope
62	skin	ašxe
63	meat	uʒi
64	blood	tsurgi
65	bone
66	fat (noun)	aše
67	egg
68	horn
69	tail
70	feather
71	hair
72	head	paɣi
73	ear	nui, nuɣi
74	eye	ši, šiɣi
75	nose	punɣi, puxxi
76	mouth	faši
77	tooth	šeri, šir-ni
78	tongue (organ)	irde
79	fingernail
80	foot	uri, ur-ni
81	leg
82	knee
83	hand	shu-ni
84	wing
85	belly
86	guts
87	neck	kudu-ni
88	back
89	breast	neɣer-ni
90	heart	tiša
91	liver	ur-mi
92	to drink	al-
93	to eat	ul-
94	to bite
95	to suck
96	to spit
97	to vomit
98	to blow
99	to breathe
100	to laugh
101	to see	fur-
102	to hear	xaš-
103	to know	pal-
104	to think
105	to smell
106	to fear
107	to sleep
108	to live
109	to die
110	to kill
111	to fight
112	to hunt
113	to hit
114	to cut
115	to split
116	to stab
117	to scratch
118	to dig
119	to swim
120	to fly
121	to walk	uš-, it-
122	to come	un-
123	to lie (as in a bed)
124	to sit	naxx-
125	to stand
126	to turn (intransitive)
127	to fall
128	to give	ar-
129	to hold
130	to squeeze
131	to rub
132	to wash
133	to wipe
134	to pull
135	to push
136	to throw
137	to tie
138	to sew
139	to count
140	to say	xil-, xill-
141	to sing
142	to play
143	to float
144	to flow
145	to freeze
146	to swell
147	sun	šimigi
148	moon	kušuɣ
149	star
150	water	šiwe, šiye
151	rain	išena
152	river
153	lake
154	sea
155	salt
156	stone
157	sand
158	dust
159	earth	eše
160	cloud
161	fog
162	sky
163	wind
164	snow
165	ice
166	smoke	xiuri
167	fire	tari
168	ash	šal-mi
169	to burn	am-
170	road	xari
171	mountain	pab-ni,pab-a-ni
172	red
173	green
174	yellow
175	white
176	black	time-ri,tima-ri
177	night
178	day
179	year	šawali
180	warm
181	cold
182	full
183	new	šuɣe
184	old
185	good	waɣri, waɣr-uši
186	bad
187	rotten
188	dirty
189	straight
190	round
191	sharp (as a knife)
192	dull (as a knife)
193	smooth
194	wet
195	dry
196	correct
197	near
198	far
199	right	*bandi
200	left
201	at
202	in
203	with	shummi
204	and
205	if
206	because
207	name	tiye