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Appendix:Old French Swadesh list

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

Presentation

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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 Old French
François 		IPA
pronunciation
1 I jo, jou, je, ge
2 you (singular) tu
3 he il
4 we nos, nous
5 you (plural) vos, vous
6 they il, eles
7 this cist, cest, cestui
8 that cist, cest, cestui
9 here ci
10 there la
11 who qui, cui, ki
12 what que, ke
13 where u, ou
14 when quant
15 how coment, comant, comment (etc.)
16 not ne
17 all tot, tut
18 many mult, molt, mout, mot, mut (etc.)
19 some ?
20 few poi, po
21 other autre, altre
22 one un
23 two deus
24 three trois, troi
25 four quatre
26 five cinc
27 big grant
28 long lonc
29 wide lé
30 thick espés
31 heavy pesant
32 small petit
33 short cort
34 narrow estroit, estreit
35 thin meigre
36 woman dame, damoisele
37 man (male) hom, home, om, homme etc.
38 man (human) hom, home, om, homme etc.
39 child enfant
40 wife feme, fame, femme, .
41 husband mari
42 mother mere
43 father pere
44 animal beste
45 fish poisson
46 bird oisel
47 dog chien, chen
48 louse püil, pouil, peouil
49 snake serpent
50 worm verm
51 tree arbre
52 forest forest
53 stick baston
54 fruit fruit, fruict
55 seed ?
56 leaf fueille, foille
57 root racine
58 bark (of a tree) escorce
59 flower flor, flur, fleur
60 grass erbe, herbe
61 rope corde
62 skin pel
63 meat char
64 blood sanc
65 bone os
66 fat (noun) grese, graisse
67 egg oef, uef
68 horn corne
69 tail cue
70 feather plume
71 hair chevol, cheveu
72 head chief, chef
73 ear oreille
74 eye oel, oeil, ueil (etc.)
75 nose nés
76 mouth boche
77 tooth dent
78 tongue langue, lingue
79 fingernail ungle
80 foot pié
81 leg jambe, gambe
82 knee genol, genoil
83 hand main
84 wing ele
85 belly ventre, vantre
86 guts entraille
87 neck col
88 back dos
89 breast peitrine
90 heart cuer, coer
91 liver foie
92 to drink boivre
93 to eat mangier, mengier etc.
94 to bite mordre
95 to suck sucer
96 to spit escupir
97 to vomit vomir
98 to blow sofler
99 to breathe respirer
100 to laugh rire
101 to see veoir, veir, veer
102 to hear oïr
103 to know savoir, conoistre
104 to think penser
105 to smell sentir
106 to fear creindre, redoubter
107 to sleep dormir
108 to live vivre
109 to die morir
110 to kill ocire, ocirre
111 to fight (se) batre
112 to hunt chacier
113 to hit batre
114 to cut colper, coper, couper
115 to split brisier, briser
116 to stab ?
117 to scratch gratter, grater
118 to dig chaver
119 to swim noer, nagier
120 to fly voler
121 to walk se pasmer
122 to come venir
123 to lie (as in a bed) gesir
124 to sit seoir
125 to stand ?
126 to turn (intransitive) retorner
127 to fall chair
128 to give doner
129 to hold tenir
130 to squeeze serrer
131 to rub ?
132 to wash laver
133 to wipe ?
134 to pull traire, treire
135 to push ?
136 to throw jeter, geter
137 to tie lier
138 to sew cosdre
139 to count conter
140 to say dire
141 to sing chanter, canter
142 to play joer, juer
143 to float floter
144 to flow ?
145 to freeze geler
146 to swell enfler
147 sun soleil, soloil
148 moon lune
149 star estoile
150 water iaue, eve
151 rain pluie, plovoir
152 river riviere, flueve
153 lake lac
154 sea mer
155 salt sel
156 stone pierre, piere
157 sand sablon
158 dust pousiere
159 earth terre, tere
160 cloud ?
161 fog brume
162 sky ciel, cel
163 wind vent, vant
164 snow noif
165 ice glace
166 smoke fum
167 fire fu, feu
168 ash cendre
169 to burn ardre, ardoir, brusler
170 road chemin, voie, rote
171 mountain montaigne
172 red roge
173 green vert
174 yellow jaune
175 white blanc
176 black noir
177 night noit, nuit
178 day jor, jur
179 year an
180 warm chaut, chaloir
181 cold froit, froidure
182 full plain, plein
183 new novel
184 old viel, ancien
185 good bon
186 bad malvais, mauvais
187 rotten ?
188 dirty sale
189 straight droit, dreit
190 round reont, ront
191 sharp (as a knife) trenchant
192 dull (as a knife) ?
193 smooth ?
194 wet moillié, muillié
195 dry sec
196 correct bon, juste
197 near prés
198 far loing
199 right destre
200 left senestre
201 at a, ad
202 in en
203 with avoec, avuec
204 and et, e
205 if se, si
206 because kar, quar, qar
207 name non, nom, num, nun
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
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