This is a Swadesh list of words in Welsh , compared with definitions in 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 Welshedit (207) 1 I (1sg )mi , fi 2 you (2sg )ti 3 he , she , it (3sg )ef , fe , fo 4 we (1pl )ni 5 you (2pl )chi , chwi 6 they (3pl )hwy , hwynt , nhw 7 this hwn , y , yma 8 that hwnnw , y , yna 9 here yma 10 there yna 11 who pwy 12 what beth 13 where ble 14 when pryd 15 how sut , pa fodd 16 not ddim , nid 17 all holl , i gyd , oll 18 many llawer 19 some rhai , rhyw 20 few ychydig 21 other arall 22 one un 23 two dau 24 three tair , tri 25 four pedwar 26 five pump 27 big mawr 28 long hir 29 wide llydan 30 thick tew 31 heavy trwm 32 small bach , bychan 33 short byr 34 narrow cul 35 thin tenau 36 woman benw , benyw , dynes , gwraig , merch 37 man (adult male)dyn , gŵr 38 man (human being)dyn 39 child plant 40 wife gwraig 41 husband gŵr 42 mother mam 43 father tad 44 animal anifail , mil 45 fish pysgodyn 46 bird aderyn 47 dog ci 48 louse llau 49 snake neidr , sarff 50 worm abwydyn , mwydyn , pryf , pryf genwair 51 tree coed , colfen , pren 52 forest coedwig , fforest 53 stick ffon , llorf 54 fruit ffrwyth 55 seed had 56 leaf dail 57 root gwraidd , gwreiddyn 58 bark (of a tree)rhisgl 59 flower blodyn 60 grass gwellt 61 rope rhaff 62 skin croen 63 meat cig 64 blood gwaed 65 bone asgwrn 66 fat (noun)saim 67 egg wy 68 horn corn 69 tail cynffon , llost 70 feather plu 71 hair blew , gwallt 72 head pen 73 ear clust 74 eye llygad 75 nose trwyn 76 mouth ceg , genau 77 tooth dant 78 tongue (organ)tafod 79 fingernail ewin 80 foot troed 81 leg coes 82 knee glin , pen-glin 83 hand llaw 84 wing adain , asgell 85 belly bol , bola 86 guts coluddion , perfeddion , ymysgaroedd 87 neck gwddf , gwddwg , mwnwgl 88 back cefn 89 breast bron 90 heart calon 91 liver afu 92 to drink yfed 93 to eat bwyta 94 to bite brathu , cnoi 95 to suck sugno 96 to spit poeri 97 to vomit chwydu 98 to blow chwythu 99 to breathe anadlu 100 to laugh chwerthin 101 to see gweld 102 to hear clywed 103 to know gwybod 104 to think meddwl , tybio 105 to smell aroglu , clywed aroglau 106 to fear bod ag ofn , ofni 107 to sleep cysgu 108 to live byw 109 to die marw 110 to kill lladd 111 to fight brwydro , ymladd 112 to hunt hela 113 to hit bwrw , taro 114 to cut torri 115 to split hollti 116 to stab gwanu , trywanu 117 to scratch cosi 118 to dig cloddio , palu 119 to swim nofio 120 to fly hedfan 121 to walk cerdded 122 to come dod 123 to lie (as in a bed) gorwedd 124 to sit eistedd 125 to stand sefyll 126 to turn (intransitive) troi 127 to fall cwympo , disgyn , syrthio 128 to give rhoi 129 to hold dal , dala 130 to squeeze gwasgu 131 to rub rhwtio , rhwbio 132 to wash golchi 133 to wipe sychu 134 to pull tynnu 135 to push gwthio 136 to throw taflu 137 to tie clymu , rhwymo 138 to sew gwnïo 139 to count rhifo 140 to say dweud 141 to sing canu 142 to play chwarae 143 to float nofio 144 to flow llifo 145 to freeze rhewi 146 to swell chwyddo 147 sun haul 148 moon lleuad , lloer 149 star sêr 150 water dŵr 151 rain glaw 152 river afon 153 lake llyn 154 sea môr 155 salt halen 156 stone carreg , maen 157 sand tywod 158 dust llwch 159 earth daear 160 cloud cwmwl 161 fog niwl 162 sky awyr , wybren 163 wind gwynt 164 snow eira 165 ice iâ 166 smoke mwg 167 fire tân 168 ash lludw 169 to burn llosgi 170 road ffordd , heol , hynt 171 mountain mynydd 172 red coch , rhudd 173 green glas , gwyrdd 174 yellow melyn 175 white gwyn 176 black du 177 night nos 178 day dydd 179 year blwyddyn 180 warm cynnes , twym 181 cold oer 182 full llawn 183 new newydd 184 old hen 185 good da , mad 186 bad drwg 187 rotten braen , pwdr 188 dirty brwnt , budr 189 straight syth 190 round crwn 191 sharp (as a knife)llym , miniog 192 dull (as a knife)pŵl 193 smooth llyfn 194 wet gwlyb 195 dry sych 196 correct certh , cywir , iawn 197 near agos 198 far pell 199 right de 200 left chwith , cledd 201 at at , wrth 202 in mewn , yn 203 with â , efo , gan , gyda 204 and a 205 if os , pe 206 because achos , oherwydd 207 name enw
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
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