From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
This is a Swadesh list of words in Old Norse English .
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 Old NorseDǫnsk tunga / Norrǿnt mál edit (207) 1 I (1sg )ek 2 you (2sg )þú 3 he , she , it (3sg )hann 4 we (1pl )vér 5 you (2pl )þér 6 they (3pl )þeir 7 this sjá þessi 8 that sá 9 here hér 10 there þar 11 who hvar 12 what hvat 13 where hvar 14 when hvenær 15 how hvé 16 not eigi ekki 17 all allr 18 many margr 19 some nǫkkurr 20 few fár 21 other annarr 22 one einn 23 two tveir 24 three þrír 25 four fjórir 26 five fimm 27 big stórr 28 long langr 29 wide víðr 30 thick þykkr 31 heavy þungr 32 small lítill smalr 33 short stuttr kortr 34 narrow mjór þrǫngr 35 thin þunnr 36 woman kona kvinna 37 man (adult male)karl kall 38 man (human being)maðr menskr late 39 child barn 40 wife kona kván kvæn 41 husband bóndi 42 mother móðir 43 father faðir 44 animal dýr djór 45 fish fiskr 46 bird fogl fugl late 47 dog hundr 48 louse lús 49 snake ormr snókr snákr poetic 50 worm ormr maðkr 51 tree tré 52 forest skógr 53 stick kvistr stafr pinni late 54 fruit ávǫxtr fruktr late 55 seed fræ 56 leaf lauf 57 root rót 58 bark (of a tree)bǫrkr 59 flower blóm 60 grass gras 61 rope reip tog festr 62 skin húð 63 meat kjǫt 64 blood blóð 65 bone bein 66 fat (noun)mǫrr 67 egg egg 68 horn horn 69 tail hali 70 feather fjǫðr 71 hair hár 72 head hǫfuð 73 ear eyra 74 eye auga 75 nose nef 76 mouth munnr 77 tooth tǫnn 78 tongue (organ)tunga 79 fingernail nagl 80 foot fótr 81 leg leggr 82 knee kné 83 hand hǫnd 84 wing vængr 85 belly magi 86 guts þarmar 87 neck hals 88 back bak 89 breast brjóst 90 heart hjarta 91 liver lifr 92 to drink drekka 93 to eat eta 94 to bite bíta 95 to suck súga 96 to spit spýta 97 to vomit spýja 98 to blow blása 99 to breathe anda 100 to laugh hlæja 101 to see sjá 102 to hear heyra 103 to know vita 104 to think þekkja 105 to smell þefa 106 to fear ugga 107 to sleep sofa 108 to live lifa 109 to die deyja 110 to kill drepa 111 to fight hals 112 to hunt bak 113 to hit berja 114 to cut skera 115 to split kljúfa 116 to stab stinga 117 to scratch kleyja uncertain, related to kló 118 to dig grafa 119 to swim svimma 120 to fly fljúga 121 to walk ganga 122 to come koma 123 to lie (as in a bed) liggja 124 to sit sitja 125 to stand standa 126 to turn (intransitive) hverfa vinda snúa 127 to fall falla 128 to give gefa 129 to hold halda 130 to squeeze þrýsta 131 to rub gniða gnúa 132 to wash vaska þvá 133 to wipe strjúka þurka 134 to pull draga 135 to push hrinda bægja ýta 136 to throw kasta 137 to tie binda 138 to sew sýja 139 to count telja 140 to say segja 141 to sing syngva syngja 142 to play leika 143 to float fljóta 144 to flow streyma 145 to freeze frjósa kala 146 to swell svella 147 sun sól sunna poetic rǫðull poetic 148 moon tungl máni poetic 149 star stjarna 150 water vatn lǫgr 151 rain regn 152 river á elfr fljót 153 lake vatn lǫgr 154 sea haf sær sjór late sjár late ægir lǫgr 155 salt salt 156 stone steinn 157 sand sandr 158 dust dust 159 earth jǫrð 160 cloud ský 161 fog þoka 162 sky himinn 163 wind vindr 164 snow snjór 165 ice íss 166 smoke reykr 167 fire eldr bál 168 ash aska 169 to burn brenna 170 road gata vegr leið braut 171 mountain fjall 172 red rauðr 173 green grœnn 174 yellow gulr 175 white hvítr 176 black svartr 177 night nótt 178 day dagr 179 year ár 180 warm varmr 181 cold kaldr 182 full fullr 183 new nýr 184 old gamall 185 good góðr 186 bad illr 187 rotten rotinn 188 dirty skitinn 189 straight beinn 190 round kringlóttr 191 sharp (as a knife)skarpr 192 dull (as a knife)sljór sljár slær 193 smooth sléttr 194 wet vátr blautr 195 dry þurr 196 correct réttr réttligr 197 near nær hjá 198 far fjarri 199 right réttr hœgr 200 left vinstri 201 at á 202 in í 203 with með 204 and ok 205 if ef 206 because því at 207 name nafn
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
(edit this template )
