Amateur Comparative Linguistics

[lpetrich]

For you programmers here: I'll be talking about natural languages here only.

At first sight, it might be difficult to work out relationships, since languages can borrow words from other languages ad infinitum, much to the consternation of various linguistic purists. But there are some "core" vocabulary and grammatical features that change much more slowly, and these can be used to work out relationships. To start off, here is a list of words for commonplace features:

Numbers from 1 to 10 have already been done here (http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml)

name

I/me
we/us
you (singular)
you (plural)

father
mother
brother
sister
son
daughter

human (both sexes)
man (male)
woman (female)

head
eye
ear
nose
mouth
tooth
tongue
arm
hand
leg
foot

dog
cat

bovine (both sexes)
bull (male)
cow (female)

tree
leaf

sun
moon
star

water
fire

So try adding words from your favorite languages and see how they compare.

[Chiron]

Here's my French stuff that I can think of off the top of my head...

je/moi
nous/nous
tu(/toi)
vous(/vous)

père
mère
frère
soeur
fils
fille

...humain(e)?
homme (masculine)
femme (feminine)

tête
oiel/yeux
oreil
nez
bouche
dent [edited]
...(tongue?)
...(arm?)
main (ou est-il «main?»)
jambe
pied

chien(e)
chat(te)

vache (je ne sais pas s'il y a autres mots pour ces autres mots)

arbre
...(leaf?)

soleil
lune
...(star?)

eau
...(fire?)

So there ya have it: how much French Chiron, probably incorrectly, remembers.
Just thought of this: you might try whapping it into Babelfish to see some (perhaps-rough) translations.

-Chiron
[edited to add what the blank spaces were in place of]

[Chiron]

Have some Latin at you now.
Note well/NB: the pronouns aren't quite as clear-cut as you might think they are. In English, personal pronouns are among the few remaining sets of words that are still declined. The relative pronouns also are declined, as are possessive adjectives. There may be more, though I don't remember. But for the purposes of this list, I shall only list the nominative and accusatives of the personal pronouns, in order that I might follow in the same vein you have already excavated.

nomen
ego/me
nos/nos
tu (acc: te)
vos/vos
mater
pater
frater
soror
filius
filia

homo
homo
femina

caput
oculus
auris
nasus (nares = plural of nostrils, used also to mean nose)
os, oris
dens, dentis
lingua
bracchium = forearm; lacertus = upper arm; ulna = arm (sorta), elbow, span of the outstretched arms. I haven't been able to find a Latin word for the whole arm.
manus
crus
pes, pedis

canis
feles

bos, bovis
taurus
vacca

arbor
folium

sol
luna
astrum; stella; flamma; sidus

So, that's all, folks.
For the record, I knew probably about two-thirds of these; the other half I looked up at the site http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl (this gives you English to Latin; the homepage is http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm It be useful stuff.)

-Chiron

[Icky]

--------------------------Thai
=================================

I/me-------------------------Pome (M) Dichan (F)
we/us-----------------------Rao
you (singular)--------------Khun
you (plural)-----------------Puak Khun

father-----------------------Paw (Same as in Southern US English)
mother----------------------Mae (As in "Man", without the N)
brother----------------------Phee Chai or Nong Chai
sister------------------------Phee Sow or Nong Sow
son--------------------------Luke Chai (Male child)
daughter-------------------Luke Sow (female child)

human (both sexes)-----Khone
man (male)----------------Phu Chai
woman (female)----------Phu Ying

head------------------------Hua
eye--------------------------Daa
ear--------------------------Hoo
nose------------------------Jamook
mouth----------------------Baak
tooth-----------------------Faan
tongue---------------------Lin
arm-------------------------Can
hand------------------------Meu
leg---------------------------Khaa
foot-------------------------Thao

dog--------------------------Maa, or Sunak
cat---------------------------Maew (Meow sound)

bovine (both sexes)------Wua (Mooing sound)
bull (male)------------------Wua dua pua (Husband cow)
cow (female)---------------Wua dua mia (wife cow)

tree--------------------------Don Mai
leaf---------------------------Bai

sun---------------------------Pra Athit
moon-------------------------Pra John
star---------------------------Dow

water------------------------Naam
fire----------------------------Fai
=========================
So, the only ones similar to the Indo-European one is Fai/Fire, Mae/Mother, Paw/Father

And Thais knew before anyone that Luke Skywalker was Darth Vader's son :D

[Ovazor]

Here's Finnish:


I/me - minä
we/us - me
you (singular) - sinä
you (plural) - te

father - isä
mother -äiti
brother - veli
sister - sisko
son - poika (same as boy)
daughter -tytär

human (both sexes) - ihminen
man (male) - mies
woman (female) -nainen

head - pää
eye - silmä
ear - korva
nose -nenä
mouth - suu
tooth - hammas
tongue - kieli
arm - käsivarsi
hand - käsi
leg - jalka / sääri (just the lower part)
foot - jalka

dog - koira
cat - kissa

bovine (both sexes) -
bull (male) - sonni
cow (female) - lehmä

tree - puu
leaf - lehti

sun - aurinko
moon - kuu
star - tähti

water - vesi
fire - tuli

[nerv111]

Serbo-Croatian

Just a few notes, j is pronounced like the english y.

ime

ja
mi
ti (singular)
ti (plural)

otac
mati
brat
sestra
sin
cherka [ch as in cheery]

ljudi/narod (both sexes)
chovjek (male)
zena (female)

glava
oko
uho
nos
usta
zub
jezik
ruka
ruka (same as arm)
noga
stopa

ker
macka

krava (both sexes)
bik (male)
krava (female)

drvo
list

sunce
mjesec
svjezda

voda
vatra

[Risiko]

Danish:

name ------------------ navn

I/me ------------------- jeg/mig
we/us ----------------- vi/os
you (singular) -------- du
you (plural) ----------- I

father ------------------ far/fader
mother ----------------- mor/moder
brother ----------------- bror/broder
sister ------------------- søster
son ---------------------- søn
daughter --------------- datter

human (both sexes) -- menneske
man (male) ------------- mand
woman (female) ------- kvinde

head --------------------- hovede
eye ----------------------- øje
ear ----------------------- øre
nose --------------------- næse
mouth ------------------- mund
tooth -------------------- tand
tongue ------------------ tunge
arm ---------------------- arm
hand -------------------- hånd
leg ----------------------- ben
foot ---------------------- fod

dog ---------------------- hund
cat ----------------------- kat

bovine (both sexes) --- ko
bull (male) --------------- tyr
cow (female) ------------ ko

tree ----------------------- træ
leaf ------------------------ blad

sun ------------------------ sol
moon ---------------------- måne
star ----------------------- stjerne

water -------------------- vand
fire ----------------------- ild

[nerv111]

Ancient Egyptian

Keeping in mind that we do not know the pronunciation of the words in Ancient Egyptian and in many cases the vowel ‘e’ is inserted between consonants to make it easy to pronounce. I will list both the direct transliteration of words, as well as with the vowels.

Name-----------------rn, ren (masc.); rnt, rennet (fem.)

I/me--------------------i (masc. or fem., verb suffix)
We/us-----------------n, en (object pronoun)
You(singular)--------k, ek (masc.); T, etj (fem.)
You(plural)-----------Tn, tjen

Father------------------it, it
Mother-----------------mw.t, meuet
Brother-----------------sn, sen
Sister-------------------sn.t, senet
Son---------------------sA, sa
Daughter---------------sA.t, sat

Human(neutral)--------p’t, pat (this means ‘humanity’ or ‘nobility’; I would imagine that it was not used to refer to human species, but rather the characteristic of humanity); rmT, rematj (this term comes closer to the meaning of the English word, though it was also used by the Egyptians to refer to themselves); Hnmmt, henmemet (translates as ‘humanity’, but more literarily as ‘people of the sun’) tmw, temu (this term is the closes to the English meaning, it translates as ‘all people’, or ‘humanity’)
Man---------------------s, se
Woman-----------------s.t, set; Hm.t, hemet

Head--------------------tp, tep
Eye----------------------ir.t, iret
Nose---------------------fnD, fenedj
Mouth-------------------r, re
Tooth--------------------ibH, ibeh
Tongue------------------ns, nes
Arm----------------------a, a’; Hpsh, khepesh
Hand---------------------Dr.t, djeret; ’, a
Leg-----------------------Hpsh, khepesh
Foot----------------------rd, red

Dog-----------------------iw, iu
Cat------------------------miw, miew

Bovine--------------------???
Cow-----------------------k3.t, kat
Bull------------------------k3, ka

Tree------------------------Ht, khet
Leaf------------------------???

Sun-------------------------r’, ra; atn, aten
Moon-----------------------iaH, iah
Star-------------------------sbA, seba

Water-----------------------mw, mu
Fire--------------------------???

[Secular Pinoy]

Tagalog / Filipino

It's the official language of the Philippine Islands, which has about 70 languages, most of which are from the Austronesian (formerly the Malayo-Polynesian) language group.

Ko / Ako
Kami / Tayo
Ikaw
Kayo

Tatay / Ama
Nanay / Ina (Inay)
Kuya (older), Kapatid (any age, though usually younger, unisex term)
Ate (older), Kapatid (any age, though usually younger, unisex term)
Anak (child, unisex term) / Anak na lalaki (male child)
Anak (child, unisex term) / Anak na babae (female child)

Tao
Lalaki
Babae

Ulo
Mata
Tainga
Ilong
Bibig / Bunganga
Ngipin
Dila
Braso (Spanish derivative?)
Kamay
Hita (upper leg, above the knee) / Binti (lower leg, below the knee)
Paa

Aso
Pusa

Baka (cattle) (originated from the Spanish vaca?) / Kalabaw (a native water buffalo)
Bakang Lalaki
Bakang Babae

Puno
Dahon

Araw
Buwan
Tala / Bituin

Tubig
Apoy / Alab / Baga

[VonEvilstein]

I'll do Dutch, then...



I/me ik/mij*
we/us wij/ons
you (singular) jij/u (polite form)
you (plural) jullie

father vader
mother moeder
brother broer
sister zus
son zoon
daughter dochter

human (both sexes) mens
man (male) man
woman (female) vrouw

head hoofd
eye oog
ear oor
nose neus
mouth mond
tooth tand
tongue tong
arm arm
hand hand
leg been
foot voet

dog hond
cat kat

bovine (both sexes) rund
bull (male) stier
cow (female) koe

tree boom
leaf blad

sun zon
moon maan
star ster

water water
fire vuur


*the "ij" in Dutch has a "y" sound: mij is pronounced "my"

[DMB]

Filling in Chiron's blanks in French:

je/moi also me
nous/nous
tu(/toi) also te
vous(/vous)

père
mère
frère
soeur
fils
fille

...humain(e)?Personne, individu or être humain
homme (masculine)
femme (feminine)

tête
oiel/yeux
oreil
nez
bouche
dent [edited]
...(tongue?) langue
...(arm?) bras
main (ou est-il «main?»)
jambe
pied

chien(e)
chat(te)

bétail (meaning cattle)
(cow)vache (je ne sais pas s'il y a autres mots pour ces autres mots)
(bull) taureau

arbre
... feuille(leaf?)

soleil
lune
...étoile(star?)

eau
...feu(fire?)

So there ya have it: how much French Chiron, probably incorrectly, remembers.
Just thought of this: you might try whapping it into Babelfish to see some (perhaps-rough) translations.

-Chiron

[Heathen Dawn]

Ancient Greek:

ego/eme
hemeis
su (Doric tu)
humeis

pater
meter (Doric mater)
phrater ("clansman"; "brother" is adelphos)
heor (contracted from an original *swesor)
huios
thugater

anthropos
gune (cognate with English quean "woman")

kephale
ophthalmos
...
rhis (gen. rhinos)
...
odon (gen. odontos)
...
...
...
pous (gen. podos)

kuon
...

bous

dendron
...

helios (from *selios)
selene
astron

hudros
pur

[Bialar Crais]

Swedish:

name

I/me -> jag/mig
we/us -> vi/oss
you (singular) -> du
you (plural) -> ni

father -> fader, far
mother -> moder, mor
brother -> broder, bror
sister -> syster
son -> son
daughter -> dotter

human (both sexes) -> människa
man (male) -> man (manlig)
woman (female) -> kvinna (kvinnlig)

head -> huvud
eye -> öga
ear -> öra
nose -> näsa
mouth -> mun
tooth -> tand
tongue -> tunga
arm -> arm
hand -> hand
leg -> ben
foot -> fot

dog -> hund
cat -> katt

bovine (both sexes)
bull (male) -> tjur (oxe if castrated)
cow (female) -> ko

tree -> träd
leaf -> löv

sun -> sol
moon-> måne
star -> stjärna

water -> vatten
fire -> eld

[Mathetes]

In Spanish, then.

I/me --> yo/mí
we/us --> nosotros
you (singular) --> tú
you (plural) --> vosotros/ustedes

father --> padre
mother --> madre
brother --> hermano
sister --> hermana
son --> hijo
daughter --> hija

human (both sexes) --> humano
man (male) --> hombre
woman (female) --> mujer

head --> cabeza
eye --> ojo
ear --> oreja
nose --> nariz
mouth --> boca
tooth --> diente
tongue --> lengua
arm --> brazo
hand --> mano
leg --> pierna
foot --> pie

dog --> perro
cat --> gato

bovine (both sexes) --> bovino/res
bull (male) --> toro
cow (female) --> vaca

tree --> árbol
leaf --> hoja

sun --> sol
moon --> luna
star --> estrella

water --> agua
fire --> fuego

[HRG]

Originally posted by lpetrich

Ok. I'll do it for Austrian. You may have heard of a dialect of our language which is often called "German" :)

name

I/me ich/mich
we/us wir/uns
you (singular) Du (Sie if you are not on a first-name basis)
you (plural) Ihr

father Vater
mother Mutter
brother Bruder
sister Schwester
son Sohn
daughter Tochter

human (both sexes) Mensch
man (male) Mann
woman (female) Frau

head Kopf, Haupt
eye Auge
ear Ohr
nose Nase
mouth Mund
tooth Zahn (Zahnd in some dialects)
tongue Zunge
arm Arm
hand Hand
leg Bein
foot Fuss

dog Hund (but Great Danes are called Doggen)
cat Katze

bovine (both sexes) ??
bull (male) Stier (Ochse when castrated)
cow (female) Kuh

tree Baum
leaf Blatt

sun Sonne
moon Mond
star Stern

water Wasser
fire Feuer


So try adding words from your favorite languages and see how they compare.

No surprise since we are both talking West Germanic languages!

Regards,
HRG.

[HRG]

Originally posted by Heathen Dawn
[B]Ancient Greek:
......
hudros


Nitpick: IIRC, "water" is hydor, Gen. hydatos (one of the famous Indo-European words with r changing to n in declension. The "n" became "a" in Greek )

Regards,
HRG.

[DMB]

HRG: If that's Austrian, where are all the terminal "l"s?
It's like pretending to speak Swiss without "li" or Dutch without "je"! ;)

[lpetrich]

Some corrections:

Bovine (both sexes) in German: Rind
Man (male) in Latin: vir

And an interesting note: the English cognate of

Dutch hond
German Hund
Swedish hund

is "hound", a dog used for hunting.

Here are some nice online sources:
American Heritage Dictionary (http://www.bartleby.com/61) (check on the etymologies)
Orbis Latinus (http://www.orbilat.com/)
Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com)
Free Translation (http://www.freetranslation.com)
Travlang (http://dictionaries.travlang.com)

Now for some Old English:

name - nama

I/me - ic/mec
we/us - we'/u'sic
you (sg) - thu/the'c
you (pl) - ge'/eowic

father - faeder
mother - mo'dor
brother - bro'thor
sister - sweostor
son - sunu
daughter - dohtor

human - man
man (male) - wer
woman () - wi'f

head - he'afod
eye - e'age
ear - e'are
nose - nosu
mouth - mu'th
tooth - to'th
tongue - tunge
arm - earm
hand - hand
leg - ?
foot - fo't

dog - hund
cat - catt

bovine (both sexes) - oxa
bull - bula
cow - cu'

tree - tre'ow
leaf - le'af

sun - sunne
moon - mo'na
star - steorra

water - waeter
fire - fy'r

The ' indicates a long vowel.. Notice how modern English keeps most of its Old English counterparts.

[lpetrich]

Some additions to Heathen Dawn on Classical Greek:

human - anthropos
man (m) - aner,andr-
woman (f) - gune

head - kephale
eye - ophthalmos
ear - ous,ot-
nose - rhis,rhin-
mouth - stoma,stomat-
tooth - odous,odont-
tongue - glossa
arm - ?
hand - kheir
leg - ?
foot - pous,pod-

dog - kuon,kun-
cat - ailouros (modern: ghata)

bovine - bous
bull - tauros
cow - ?

tree - dendron
leaf - phullon

[demoninho]

Originally posted by lpetrich

some dutch portuguese:

name naam nome

I/me ik/me eu/me
we/us we/ons nós/nos
you (singular) jij você(br) tu(pt)
you (plural) jullie vocês

father vader pai
mother moeder mãe
brother broe(de)r irmão
sister zus(ter) irmã
son zoon filho
daughter dochter filha

human (both sexes) mens homem
man (male) man homem
woman (female) vrouw mulher

head hoofd cabeça
eye oog olho
ear oor orelha
nose neus nariz
mouth mond boca
tooth tand dente
tongue tong língua
arm arm braço
hand hand mão
leg been perna
foot voet pé

dog hond cão
cat kat gato

bovine (both sexes) rund boi
bull (male) stier touro
cow (female) koe vaca

tree boom árvore
leaf blad folha

sun zon sol
moon maan lua
star ster estrela

water water água
fire vuur fogo

edit: hm, saw vonevilstein already did dutch :( so i'll give portuguese a try

BTW een dog(dutch) is a breed of dog

[Duck!]

Irish Gaelic:

I/me - Mise
we/us - Sinn
you (singular) - Tú / tusa
you (plural) - ?

father - Athair
mother - Mathair
brother - Dearthair
sister - Deirfiúr
son - Mac
daughter - Iníon

human (both sexes) - Duine
man (male) - Fear
woman (female) - Bean

head - Ceann
eye - Súil
ear - Cluas
nose - Srón
mouth - Béal
tooth - Fiacail
tongue - Teanga
arm - Géag
hand - Lámh
leg - Cos
foot - Cos

dog - Madra
cat - Cat

bovine (both sexes) - ?
bull (male) - Tarbh
cow (female) - Bó

tree - Crann
leaf - Duilleog

sun - Grian
moon - Gealach
star - Réalta


Strangely, there's no Irish word for yes.


Duck!

[lpetrich]

Here are some more:

English Italian Russian Hebrew
name nome imja,imjen- shem

I/me io/me ja/menja ani
we/us noi my/nas anaxhnu
you (sg) tu/te ty/tebja at(m),ata(f)
you (pl) voi vy/vas atem(m),aten(f)

father padre otets aba
mother madre mat',mater- ima
brother fratello brat axh
sister sorella sestra axhot
son figlio syn ben
daughter figlia doch',docher- bat

human uomo? chelovek adam
man (m.) uomo muzhchina ish
woman donna zhenshchina isha

head testa golova ro'sh
eye occhio glaz / oko `ayin
ear orecchio ukho ozen
nose naso nos ap
mouth bocca rot / usta pe
tooth dente zub shen
tongue linguetta jazyk lashon
arm braccio ruka zerowa`
hand mano ruka yad
leg piedino noga shoq
foot piede noga regel

dog cane sobaka keleb
cat gatto kot (modern: xhatul)

bovine bue byk elep
bull toro byk shor
cow mucca korova parah

tree albero derevo `ets
leaf foglio list `ale

sun sole solntse shemesh
moon luna luna yeraxh
star stella zvezda kokab

water acqua voda mayim
fire fuoco ogon' esh


The Hebrew I mostly got from Strong's Concordance; I use "xh" instead of "ch" in it, however -- it seems like a more reasonable transcription. It's the one used in this online Hebrew course (http://home.t-online.de/home/Mordechai-Pasternak/bhfrw.htm). But I'm sure that Heathen Dawn will find lots of nits to pick. :)

[emphryio]

(Maybe I could do modern standard Arabic for you later.)

I would be more interested to compare cuss words and adjectives.

Like:

ugly
pretty
smart
stupid

and then various derogatory terms for people.

These to me are the words where there is the most possibility of universality.

I would wonder if a person could take a test where they are given these four words in various languages and guess which is which. I think they'd surely guess right more often than mere chance would dictate even without any linguistic skills.

[Heathen Dawn]

If you're giving Hebrew, then you might as well compare it to Arabic:

English - Hebrew - Arabic

name - shem - ism

I/me - ani - ana
we/us - anahnu - nahnu
you(sg) - atta, att - anta, anti
you(pl) - attem, atten - antum, antunna

father - ab - ab
mother - em - umm
brother - ah - akh
sister - ahot - ukht
son - ben - ibn
daughter - batt - bint

human/man - ish - insaan
woman - isha - imra'a/untha

head - rosh - ra's
eye - ayin - ain
ear - ozen - udhn
nose - ap - anf
mouth - pe - famm
tooth - shen - thinn
tongue - lashon - lisaan
arm - z'roa' - dhiraa'
hand - yad - yad
leg - regel - qadam
foot - regel - rijl

dog - keleb - kalb
cat - hatul - qitt

bovine - baqar - baqar
bull - shor - thaur
cow - para - baqara

tree - es - shajara

sun - shemesh - shams
moon - yareah - qamar
star - kokhab - kaukab

water - mayim - maa'
fire - esh - naar

[emphryio]

You got leg and foot backwards for the arabic. (Foot = qadim, leg = rajil)

[wateryTart]

There's some pretty cool stuff in this thread.

Norwegian

I/me - Jeg/meg
we/us - ?/oss
you (singular) - du
you (plural) - du?

father - far
mother - mor
brother - bror
sister - søster
son - sønn
daughter - datter

human (both sexes) - (human being) menneske
man (male) - ?
woman (female) - kvinne

head - hode
eye - øye
ear - øre
nose - nese
mouth - munn
tooth - tann
tongue - tunge
arm - arm
hand - hånd
leg - ben
foot - fot

dog - hund
cat - katt

bovine (both sexes) - ?
bull (male) - ?
cow (female) - ku

tree - tre
leaf - blad

sun - sol
moon - måne
star - stjerne

water - vann
fire - ild

[pmurray]

Aparrently, all languages have words for black, white, and red. Some also have green, then blue and yellow, then the secondary colours (orange) and so on. Then finally we get words that name shades that only people with extra cone cells (ie: women) can distinguish: taupe, beige, camel, white, off-white, eggshell, bone, ecru etc etc

[Heathen Dawn]

Originally posted by emphryio
You got leg and foot backwards for the arabic. (Foot = qadim, leg = rajil)

Oops :p

[lpetrich]

First, this Classical Greek word:

name -- onoma

Getting to the main subject, ancestral Indo-European, check out the good introduction to Indo-European here (http://www.bartleby.com/61/). And this nice page on Indo-European (http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/indoeuro.html), which contains the text of Schleicher's fable in reconstructed Indo-European. I wonder if we might want to do a translation project on that also.

Reconstructed ancestral Indo-European versions (treat as approximate):

name -- *no:mn

I/me -- *ego- / *me-
we/us -- *we- / *nes-
you (singular) -- *tu:, *te-
you (plural) -- *yu-, *wes-

father -- *p@ter
mother -- *ma:ter
brother -- *bhra:ter
sister -- *swesor
son -- *su:nus
daughter -- *dhugh@ter

human (both sexes) -- *ghomon-, *man-
man (male) -- *wi:ros
woman (female) -- *gwena:

head -- *kaput
eye -- *okw-
ear -- *ous-
nose -- *nas-
mouth -- *o:s-
tooth -- *dent-, *gembh-
tongue -- *dengwh-
arm -- ?
hand -- *ghesr-
leg -- ?
foot -- *ped-

dog -- *kwon
cat -- [none]

bovine (both sexes) -- *gwou-
bull (male) -- *(s)tauros
cow (female) -- ?

tree -- *deru-
leaf -- *bhel-

sun -- *sa:wel-
moon -- *men-
star -- *@ster

water -- *wodor-, *akwa-
fire -- *pu:r, *egni-

[Luciano]

Some corrections to the Italian words
Here are some more:

English Italian
name nome

I/me io/me
we/us noi
you (sg) tu/te
you (pl) voi

father padre
mother madre
brother fratello
sister sorella
son figlio
daughter figlia

human umano
man (m.) uomo
woman donna

head testa
eye occhio
ear orecchio
nose naso
mouth bocca
tooth dente
tongue lingua
arm braccio
hand mano
leg gamba
foot piede

dog cane
cat gatto

bovine bovino
bull toro
cow mucca

tree albero
leaf foglia

sun sole
moon luna
star stella

water acqua
fire fuoco



Luciano

[orpheus last chant]

Romanian. A little blackground on this language. One of the latin-based ones, that include Spanish, Italian, French, Retro-Roman, and I may miss some at this moment.
In Europe, latin languages can be grouped by sub-level - the indoeuropean wave, the actual level - latin, and the supra-level - various influences from migrating groups.
Romanian has a sub-level from dacians. However, the roman colonisation ( starting from 108 A.D. to ~400 when the troups retreat) was so major, that nearly all words in the romanian language have a latin origin (be that common latin). For the sub-level there have been indentified only about a couple hundred words.
The supra-strata is Slav and only accounts for minor influences.
since I don't know anything about phonetics, just a hint. the pronunciation is liek for latin, or italian.

I/me - Eu/mine
we/us - Noi/noi
you (singular) - Tu
you (plural) - Voi

father - Tata
mother - Mama
brother - Frate
sister - Sora
son - Fiu
daughter - Fiica

human (both sexes) - Om
man (male) - Om/Barbat
woman (female) - Femeie/Muiere (arch.)

head - Cap
eye - Ochi
ear - Ureche
nose - Nas
mouth - Gura
tooth - Dinte
tongue - Limba (same word for language)
arm - Brat (with pronunciation Bratz)
hand - Mana
leg - Picior
foot - Talpa

dog - Caine
cat - Pisica

bovine (both sexes) - Vita
bull (male) - Bou
cow (female) - Vaca

tree - Copac/Arbore
leaf - Frunza

sun - Soare
moon - Luna
star - Stea/Astru

water - Apa
fire - Foc

[Luciano]

Romanian. A little blackground on this language. One of the latin-based ones, that include Spanish, Italian, French, Retro-Roman, and I may miss some at this moment.
In Europe, latin languages can be grouped by sub-level - the indoeuropean wave, the actual level - latin, and the supra-level - various influences from migrating groups.
Romanian has a sub-level from dacians. However, the roman colonisation ( starting from 108 A.D. to ~400 when the troups retreat) was so major, that nearly all words in the romanian language have a latin origin (be that common latin). For the sub-level there have been indentified only about a couple hundred words.
The supra-strata is Slav and only accounts for minor influences.
since I don't know anything about phonetics, just a hint. the pronunciation is liek for latin, or italian.
It's true, I'm Italian and when I listen Romanians talking I can understand many words.
Many of the words of your list are similar to Italian (or Italian dialects) words.

head - Cap - Testa, but also Capo
ear - Ureche - Orecchio but in my dialect is Ürèg
etc.

Ciao
Luciano

[chapka]

(Maybe I could do modern standard Arabic for you later.)

I would be more interested to compare cuss words and adjectives.

Like:

ugly
pretty
smart
stupid

and then various derogatory terms for people.

These to me are the words where there is the most possibility of universality.

Just the opposite, I'd think. Because obscenities (and, to a lesser extent, other slang) are almost never written down and are forbidden in many public settings, at least in modern literate languages, they're much more changeable than other words, which are "anchored" to common usages, spellings, etc. in print or public discourse.

[Nostalgic Pushhead]

Strangely, there's no Irish word for yes.

Same with Latin- they used "ita vero"; "that is true".

My IG is really shoddy/basic (I'm trying to learn it) but isn't is similar- don't you say "it is" to answer affirmative?

[chapka]

Chinese (Mandarin). Native speakers, feel free to correct me. I've used simpler one-character forms where available (i.e., "bi" instead of "bizi" for nose).

Since I assume you're interested in pronunciation, I'll give you pinyin transliterations rather than characters. For simplicity's sake, I won't include tonal markings.

name: mingzi

I/me: wo
we/us: women
you (singular): ni
you (plural): nimen

It's worth noting that pronouns are one of the only places in Chinese where a distinction is made between singular and plural.

father: fu
mother: mu


brother/sister: Chinese has different words for older and younger siblings
Older brother: xiong, gege
Younger brother: xiongdi, didi
Older sister: jie, jiejie
Younger sister: mei, meimei
Sisters (generic): jiemei

son: erzi (lit. "child/son child/son")
daughter: nuer (lit. "female child/son")

human (both sexes): ren
man (male): nan
woman (female): nu

head: tou
eye: yan. mu
ear: er
nose: bi
mouth: kou
tooth: ya, chi, yachi
tongue: shetou
arm: ge
hand: shou

These two don't quite translate, either

leg: tui (thigh)
foot: zu (foot and lower leg)

dog: gou
cat: mao

bovine (both sexes): niu (ox)
bull (male)/cow (female): I don't know if these words exist

tree: mu
leaf: ye

sun: ri
moon: yue
star: xing

water: shui
fire: huo

Chinese also generally answers "yes" to a question by repeating the verb. Chinese question grammar is interesting in general, I think:

chi = "to eat"

ni chi.
(you) (eat)
You are eating/were eating

ni chi le.
(you) (eat) (particle indicating completion)
You ate/have eaten/will have eaten (note: completion does not indicate tense)

To make it a question, just add the question particle or a question word:

ni chi le ma?
(you) (eat) (particle indicating completion) (question particle)

The positive response is:

chi le.
(eat) (particle indicating completion)

The negative response is:

bu chi le.
(negative particle) (eat) (particle indicating completion)

[KoopaFanatic]

Japanese (Can't believe nobody's done this yet)

I/me - watashi (also, atashi, watakushi, boku, ore)
we/us - watashitachi
you (singular) - anata (also, kimi, omae)
you (plural) - anatagata

father - chichi or otousan
mother - haha or okaasan
brother - ani or oniisan (older), otouto (younger)
sister - ane or oneesan (older), imouto (younger)
son - otoko no ko
daughter - onna no ko

human (both sexes) - ningen (human) or hito (person)
man (male) - otoko (no hito)
woman (female) - onna (no hito)

head - atama
eye - me
ear - mimi
nose - hana
mouth - kuchi
tooth - ha
tongue - shita
arm - ude
hand - te
leg - ashi
foot - ashi

dog - inu
cat - neko

bovine (both sexes) - ushi
bull (male) - ushi
cow (female) - ushi

tree - ki
leaf - ha

sun - hi
moon - tsuki
star - hoshi

water - mizu (cold), oyu (hot)
fire - ka or hi

[Chuck]

I'll do Bulgarian. (Az shte pravish na bulgarski.) As far as transliteration goes, I'm not really adhering to any set standard. Unlike Russian, Bulgarian does not have a myakhii znak (soft sign), so the consonants are usually hard. Vowels behave accordingly ('teb' is pronounced 'teb', and not 'tyeb'.) The 'u' is often a neutral vowel sound, like the 'u' in 'Bulgaria,' and not the 'u' in 'tube.' 'kh' is almost like the 'ch' in "Bach" or 'loch,' and 'zh' is kind of a 'j' sound, just like the Russian character of the same transliteration.

For simplicity, I will limit the pronouns to the nominative and accusative, omitting the dative and short forms.

I/me - az/men
he/she/it - toi/nego, tya/neya, to/nego
we/us - nie/nas
you (singular) - ti/teb
you (plural) - te/tyakh

father - basha
mother - maika
brother - brat
sister - sestra
son - sin
daughter - dushterya

human (both sexes) - choveshki
man (male) - muzh
woman (female) - zhena

head - glava
eye - oko
ear - ukho
nose - nos
mouth - usta
tooth - zub
tongue - ezik
arm - ruka
hand - ruka
leg - krak
foot - krak

dog - kuche
cat - kotka

bovine (both sexes) - I have no idea
bull (male) - bik
cow (female) - krava

tree - durvo
leaf - list

sun - sluntse
moon - luna
star - trugvam

water - ogun
fire - voda

[Nostalgic Pushhead]

The language of the D'ni (http://uru.ubi.com/us/). Our knowledge of it is rather incomplete.

I/me - *implied*/zoo
he/she/it - -ehn(suffix)
we/us - -eht
you (singular) - -ehm
you (plural) - tee

father -
mother -
brother -
sister -
son -
daughter -

human (both sexes) - rov (D'ni person); ahrotahn (outsider, non D'ni person)
man (male) -
woman (female) -

head -
eye -
ear -
nose -
mouth -
tooth -
tongue -
arm -
hand -
leg -
foot - toogo

dog - n/a
cat - n/a

bovine (both sexes) - n/a
bull (male) - n/a
cow (female) - n/a

tree - tehr
leaf -

sun -
moon -
star -

water - ahno
fire - tahm

[Sven]

Ok. I'll do it for Austrian. You may have heard of a dialect of our language which is often called "German" :)

Hey! What the ---- are you talking about? ;) :D
So there's nearly nothing left for me...


tooth Zahn (Zahnd in some dialects)

Not in the German "dialect"


foot Fuss

Fuß - if your computer can picture the so-called "sharp-s"
One of my profs from Switzerland used to call it "old-germanic beta" :)

[French Prometheus]

A minor correction to Chiron's French list : eye is "oeil" not "oiel" :)

[French Prometheus]

I wrote the Japanese and Chinese versions but I realized it had already been done. So I deleted it.

In Japanese, cow (female) is meushi and bull (male) is oushi. But the Japanese generally use the generic term ushi.

[Duck!]

Strangely, there's no Irish word for yes.

Same with Latin- they used "ita vero"; "that is true".

My IG is really shoddy/basic (I'm trying to learn it) but isn't is similar- don't you say "it is" to answer affirmative?

I haven't used Irish in about 10 years but you're kinda right. If you're asked "Are you going to the shop?" then you answer "I am." or "I'm not." Or if you're asked "Isn't it a lovely day?" then you'd answer "It is" or "It isn't".

Don't ask me to actually translate any of that into Irish though. I haven't a freakin' clue. I can't hold a conversation in Irish any more.


Duck!

[ohwilleke]

I waiting for the Klingon. I know that we have a world renouned Klingon speaker on the board.

[Queen of Swords]

I'm doing Singhalese, the native language of Sri Lanka. Since the Singhalese characters can't be shown here, what I've written are the phonetic pronounciations.

I/me : mamer
we/us : uppi
you (singular) : oya
you (plural) : oya dena (you two), oya thundena (you three), and so on

father : thatha
mother : amma
brother : Older brother : aiya. Younger brother : mali
sister : Older sister : akki. Younger sister : nangi
son : putha
daughter : duwa

human (both sexes)
man (male) : miniha, pirimi, mahateya (the most respectful way of saying the word)
woman (female) : ganu, nona (the most respectful form)

head : oluwer
eye : aha
ear : kunner
nose : nahayer
mouth : kutter
tooth : duther
tongue : dhiwer
arm : uther
hand : uther
leg : kakuler
foot : kakuler

dog : balla
cat : poosa

bovine (both sexes)
bull (male) : gona
cow (female) : I don't remember.

tree : gaha
leaf : kolay

sun : irer
moon : hunder
star : I don't remember this one either.

water : wathurer
fire : gini

[SEF]

I had thought that Klingon would already have been done or wasn't applicable because it is a wholly artificial language. Then Piscez posted some D'ni...

I/me - jIH
we/us - maH
you (singular) - SoH
you (plural) - tlhIH

father - vav
mother - SoS
brother - loDnI' (like a Chinese person saying Rodney perhaps!)
sister - be'nI'
son - puqloD
daughter - puqbe'

human (both sexes) - Human (or person/humanoid = ghot / nuv)
man (male) - loD
woman (female) - be'

head - nach
eye - mIn
ear - ??? (try asking a Ferengi instead)
nose - ghIch
mouth - nuj
tooth - Ho'
tongue - jat
arm - DeS
hand - ghop
leg - 'uS
foot - qam

dog - ???
cat - ???
tribble - yIH

bovine (both sexes) - ???
bull (male) - ???
cow (female) - ???
animal - Ha'DIbaH

tree - Sor
leaf - ???
plant - poch

sun - ???
moon - maS
star - Hov
planet - yuQ

water - bIQ
fire - qul (there are different words for firing things)

[lpetrich]

I'll now fill in some omissions; "name" is especially likely to be omitted.

I succeeded in finding this little article on comparison (http://www.anu.edu.au/ANDC/Ozwords/May_99/5._cognates.htm), which gives these Sinhalese versions:

name - nama
father - pitha
mother - matha
woman - gani
tooth - datha
(didn't give word for "star")

In Romanian:

name - nume

In French:

name - nom

In Spanish:

name - nombre

In Latin:

star - stella (the most common word)

In German:

name - Name

In Norwegian:

name - navn

In Swedish:

name - namn

In Gaelic:

name - ainm

In Bulgarian:

name - ime

In Finnish:

name - nimi

In Tagalog:

name - ngalan

In Thai:

Transcription from this online dictionary (http://www.wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de/~sascha/thailand/dictionary/dict_query.php3):
first name - theu
name, last name - naam-sakun

In Japanese:

name - namae, meishou, meigi, neemu
(native word, two Chinese borrowings, English borrowing)

Ancestral Indo-European is also reconstructed to have had:

man (male) - *@ner-

I'd like to note that some entries look rather odd because some letters did not get properly entered into the message -- the French and Norwegian ones, in particular. Proofreading with "preview" can be helpful.

[lpetrich]

A sidetrack: what's a linguist? One must distinguish between:

1. Studying the features of languages
2. Use of languages - understanding, production

Strictly speaking, a linguist does (1), but in popular usage, a "linguist" does (2). Being very good at (1) does not require being very good at (2), and vice versa, though having both can be useful. Thus, I have an amateur knowledge of (1) while being limited in (2) -- I am only fluent in English.

And comparison of lots of words does have a risk of pitfalls. In English, the word "head" has two meanings, depending on the context:

head-1 -- the part of the body
head-2 -- metaphorical extension to "leader"

Likewise, Latin has caput, capit- for head-1 and head-2.

But French has:

head-1 -- tête
head-2 -- chef

and Italian has:

head-1 -- testa
head-2 -- capo

Latin "testa" means "piece of pottery, shell, pot", and it became the word for head-1 in its descendants French and Italian, with the original word surviving as head-2.

Interestingly, Spanish has:

head-1 -- cabeza
head-2 -- jefe

and Portuguese has:

head-1 -- cabeça
head-2 -- chefe

which looks like much the same thing (with the help of http://dictionaries.travlang.com).

Romanian, however, keeps "cap" as head-1 and head-2 (courtesy of this Romanian-dictionary site (http://www.castingsnet.com/dictionaries/)).

Which means that one must compare a lot of words to get good comparisons. I've selected a reasonable subset, I think, one that does not take too long to translate and one that's good as a start. One may also want to compare grammar, but I think that that would be too elaborate for the purposes of this thread.

[SEF]

I didn't even see "name" in the last couple of lists when I was replying. So in Klingon:

name - pong (or leader = DevwI')

[French Prometheus]

Sumerian (using this lexicon (http://www.sumerian.org/sumerlex.htm))...the oldest written language!

It seems that some of these words are in fact just roots.

name : mu

father : ada, ad, aa
mother : ama
brother : shesh, shes
sister : nin
son : mes, mesh, pesh, ibila
daughter : dumu-mi

human (both sexes) : na
man (male) : lu, (gish, gesh, ush)
woman (female) : mi, mu

head : sag, sa
eye : igi
ear : geshtu
nose : kiri, kir, giri
mouth : ka
tooth : zu, su
tongue : eme
arm : a
hand : shu
leg : ur
foot : giri, gir

dog : ur
cat : su-a

bovine (both sexes) : ama, am (wild)
bull (male) : gud
cow (female) : ab, immal, shilam, (kir, gir)

tree : gish
leaf : pa

sun : su, ud, u, (utu)
moon : itud, itid, itu, iti, id, it,id
star : kilib, kili, ul, mul, shun

water : a
fire : izi, nu

[lpetrich]

First, chapka and QoS, you did the right thing by giving the pronunciations. That's what's most useful in determining language relationships, and I think I should have specified that earlier.

Some of the characters did not print, so here are the fixed Romance ones:

English French Spanish Portuguese

name nom nombre nome

I/me je/me/moi yo/mé eu/me
we/us nous nosotros nós/nos
you (singular) tu/te/toi té tu/você
you (plural) vous vosotros vocês

father père padre pai
mother mère madre mãe
brother frère hermano irmão
sister soeur hermana irmã
son fils hijo filho
daughter fille hija filha

human (bth sx) humain(e) humano homem
man (male) homme hombre homem
woman (female) femme mujer mulher

head tête cabeza cabeça
eye oeil/yeux ojo olho
ear oreille oreja orelha
nose nez nariz nariz
mouth bouche boca boca
tooth dent diente dente
tongue langue lengua lingua
arm bras brazo braço
hand main mano mão
leg jambe pierna perna
foot pied pie pé

dog chien(ne) perro cão
cat chat(te) gato gato

bovine (bt sx) bétail bovino/res boi/rund
bull (male) taureau toro tauro
cow (female) vache vaca vaca

tree arbre árbol árvore
leaf feuille hoja folha

sun soleil sol sol
moon lune luna lua
star étoile estrella estrela

water eau agua água
fire feu fuego fogo

And the fixed Scandinavian ones:

English Danish Norwegian Swedish

name navn navn namn

I/me jeg/mig jeg/meg jag/mig
we/us vi/os vi/oss vi/oss
you (singular) du du du
you (plural) I du ni

father far/fader far fader/far
mother mor/moder mor moder/mor
brother bror/broder bror broder/bror
sister søster søster syster
son søn sønn son
daughter datter datter dotter

human (bth sx) menneske menneske människa
man (male) mand mann man
woman (female) kvinde kvinne kvinna

head hovede hode huvud
eye øje øye öga
ear øre øre öra
nose næse nese näsa
mouth mund munn mun
tooth tand tann tand
tongue tunge tunge tunga
arm arm arm arm
hand hånd hånd hand
leg ben ben ben
foot fod fot fot

dog hund hund hund
cat kat katt katt

bovine (bt sx) ko ? ?
bull (male) tyr okse tjur
cow (female) ko ku ko

tree træ tre träd
leaf blad blad blad

sun sol sol sol
moon måne måne måne
star stjerne stjerne stjärna

water vand vann vatten
fire ild ild eld

[SEF]

This is perhaps a silly question but why are we doing this here (eg other than merely for fun) when it has already been done elsewhere? Last I heard, not only had the languages been grouped into indo-european etc and common roots found within those but, by further analysis, even those groups had been reduced to an ancestral form which most likely resembled one of the click languages of Africa and the oldest words (ie carried through into roots of all the modern groups as opposed to being added later in unrelated forms as they split up) were for: "one", "two", with no higher numbers as far as I recall, and mother but not father. I guess mother was an obvious and necessary concept whereas it was possible for people not to even know what role a father played in the matter.

[Tau]

Minor correction, lpetrich: "Head" in Danish is "hoved", not "hovede".

Since people are discussing the yes/no words, I thought I'd mention a curious feature of Danish: it has two words for "yes", which are not interchangable. The word "ja" is the one normally used, but "jo" is used when responding to a question containing a negation. So the question "Are you coming over?" would be answered with "ja", but the question "Aren't you coming over?" would be answered with "jo".

[French Prometheus]

The word "ja" is the one normally used, but "jo" is used when responding to a question containing a negation. So the question "Are you coming over?" would be answered with "ja", but the question "Aren't you coming over?" would be answered with "jo".

Same in French (oui/si) and German (ja/doch).

[dado]

croatian (latinized slavic) "j" is generally pronounced "y", "i" is like english "ee"

name - ime

I/me - ja/moje
we/us - mi/nama
you (singular) - ti/vi (familiar/formal) tvoje/vashe
you (plural) - vi/vashe

father - tata/otac
mother - mama/majka
brother - brat
sister - sestra
son - sin
daughter - kcher

human (both sexes) chovjechji
man (male) - chovjek
woman (female) - zhenska

head - glava
eye - oko ("od" is a prefix denoting "from", there is ancient variant "odko")
ear - uho ("u" is a prefix denoting "in")
nose - noz
mouth - usta
tooth - zub
tongue - jezik
arm - ruka
hand - ruka (yes, same)
leg - noga
foot - noga (again, same)

dog - pas
cat - machka

bovine (both sexes) - krava
bull (male) - bik
cow (female) - mljechna krava

*personally i think sheep/goat would be more universal/older choice than cow

tree - stablo
leaf - list

sun - sunce
moon - mjesec
star - zvjezda

water - voda
fire - vatra

[hinduwoman]

In Hindi

I/me mai
we/us hum
you (singular) tum
you (plural) tumlog

father baba
mother ma
brother bhaiya
sister bahen

In Marathi

I/me mera
we/us hum hamara
you (singular) tumhara
you (plural) tumlog
father pitaji
mother mataji

The rest are same in both languages:

Son beta
daughter beti

human (both sexes) manushya
man (male) aadmi
woman (female) aurat

head matha
eye ankh
ear kaan
nose na:k
mouth mu:h
tooth danth
tongue jeev
arm hath
hand hath
leg pa:v
foot paair

dog kutta
cat billi

bovine (both sexes) gaiy
bull (male) bhais (pronounced nasally)
cow (female) gaiy

tree paed
leaf patta

sun surya
moon chandrama
star tara

water pani
fire agni

[hinduwoman]

Bengali


I/me ami/amaar
we/us aamra
you (singular) tumi
you (plural) tomra
father baba
mother ma

Son chele/putra
daughter meye/kanya

human (both sexes) manushya
man (male) nar
woman (female) nari

head matha
eye chokh
ear kaan
nose na:k
mouth mukh
tooth danth
tongue jeev
arm bahu
hand hath
leg paa
foot charan

dog kukur
cat biral

bovine (both sexes) gabhi
bull (male) shar (pronounced nasally)
cow (female) garu

tree ghach
leaf pata

sun surya
moon chandra/chand
star tara

water jala
fire agun

respected people are formally addressed as 'aap' or 'aapni' in all three languages like French 'vous'

[hinduwoman]

Sanskrit mother all previous:


I/me ahang
we/us abhang
you (singular) twong
you (plural) yuhang
father pitah
mother matah


Son putra
daughter kanya

human (both sexes) manushya
man (male) nara
woman (female) nari

head mastak
eye chokshu
ear karna
nose nasik
mouth mukha
tooth danta
tongue jeevha
arm bahu
hand hastha
leg pada
foot charana

dog kukkur/saremeya
cat biral/ marjar

bovine (both sexes) gabadi
bull (male) shanda
cow (female) gabhi

tree briksha
leaf patra

sun surya
moon chandra
star nakshatara

water jala
fire agni

Lots of these Sanskrit terms are used in chaste written versions of vernacular languages as well.
Sanskrit has lots more synonyms too which are also used in vernaculars.

In fact simple Sanskrit is nearly the same as elegant formal vernacular in many cases.

[hinduwoman]

Some terms left out:

Name --- naam in all.

Brother and sister --- Bhaiya and Behen in Marathi and Hindi.
Bhai and bone in Bengali
Bhrata and Bhagni in Sanskrit.

[muon]

Brezhoneg/Breton (zh is pronounced like either z or h, not as "j")

name anv (final v pronounced like o)

I/me me
we/us ni
you (singular) te
you (plural) c'hwi (c'h pronounced like ch in Bach)

father tad
mother mamm
brother breur
sister c'hoar
son map
daughter merc'h

human (both sexes) den
man (male) gwaz (usually use den)
woman (female) gwreg

head penn
eye lagad
ear skouarn
nose
mouth beg
tooth dant
tongue yezh
arm brec'h
hand dorn
leg gar
foot damned if I remember---I think I'd say gar

dog ki
cat kazh

bovine (both sexes)
bull (male) tarv
cow (female) buoc'h

tree gwezenn
leaf damned if I remember

sun heol
moon loar
star sterenn

water dour
fire tan

[lpetrich]

Thanx, hinduwoman.

One can recognize several families by eyeballing, not only here, but also in Mark Rosenfelder's multilinguial numerals list (http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml).

* Scandinavian (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish): very close
* Germanic (English, Old English Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Old English, Gothic)
* Latin-Romance (Latin, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French)
* Slavic (Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian)
* Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic)
* Indic (Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Singhalese): less clear than the others

Several others are difficult to place in close families, however:

Irish Gaelic
Greek
Finnish
Ancient Egyptian
Sumerian
Thai
Tagalog
Chinese
Japanese

The members of the various families are not, of course, completely alike; their variations often follow patterns of sound correspondences. Examples are:

* Most Germanic t ~ German ts, ss
* Latin /k/ before e, i ~ Italian, Romanian /tS/ ~ Spanish, Portuguese, French /s/
* Latin /k/ before a ~ most Romance /k/ ~ French /S/ (Old French /tS/)
* Latin /k/ before o, u ~ Romance /k/
* Most Indic s-like ~ Singhalese h or {}

Many of these correspondences are easy to understand as the result of mispronunciation; if one pronounces /ke/ or /ki/ very fast, one may end up pronouncing /tSe/ or /tSi/ instead. Likewise, /t/ can become /ts/ or /s/ in this fashion. And if one pronounces /s/ softly, one will get /h/, and even no sound at all.

However, which mispronunciations catch on and which don't seems almost like a matter of fashion.

Another common change is loss of final sounds. Latin was caught in the middle of such a loss; "one" in Old Latin was "oinos" (note Greek-like -os ending), in Classical Latin, it became "u:nus", and in the Romance languages, it became further reduced. French, in particular, has had some extra final-sound loss in recent centuries, reflected in the numerous silent final letters of its spelling. Spanish and Italian, by comparison, have been more conservative.

It is a curious circumstance that French-language purists like the Academie Française (French Academy) should be speaking a language whose pronunciation is relatively far altered from its Latin original.

From my wordlist, it's difficult to recognize larger families, but using Mark Rosenfelder's numeral list and bigger wordlists in general, one can recognize Indo-European; its members represented here are Germanic, Irish Gaelic, Latin-Romance, Greek, Slavic, and Indic -- all the way from Sweden to Sri Lanka. Another such large family is Afro-Asiatic, which contains Semitic and Ancient Egyptian. Other families have only one representative each in this thread. I repeat this link to introductions to Indo-European and Semitic (http://www.bartleby.com/61).

Comparison of grammar makes relationships easier to recognize, though this is often difficult to do in "quick look" fashion like my wordlist. But as an example, English shares some grammatical features with the other Germanic languages. In particular, it constructs past tenses and other forms of verbs in either of two ways:

"Strong" - vowel shifts and sometimes adding -n (eat, ate, eaten)
"Weak" - addition of -ed (look, looked, looked)

which are paralleled in the other Germanic languages. Variants of the "strong" approach are often found in the older Indo-European languages, and is ancestral (side effect of shifts in accent position), while the "weak" approach is only present in Germanic. Likewise, many Germanic languages have "strong" and "weak" forms of adjectives, something present in Old English but lost in modern English.

If Indo-European is not very easy to recognize from my list, then longer-range relationships will be more difficult to recognize, even when using bigger lists. Meaning that one must be very skeptical of grandiose claims of relationship, especially those based on scattershot comparisons.

Also, Biblical literalism got in the way of recognizing the Indo-European family. Classical-era Greek and Roman authors were curious about their languages, though not very much about others, and they recognized similarities between Greek and Latin. However, they decided that Latin is descended from Greek. In early modern times, however, Biblical literalism suggested that Hebrew was humanity's original language, but deriving familiar European languages from Hebrew involved lots of appalling contortions. It was not until the nineteenth century that this dubious enterprise was abandoned.

Finally, I note the curious "semantic shifts" of the word "romance". It was derived from Old French "romans", meaning approximately "Romanic", and referring to the vernacular language. However, a favorite sort of vernacular-language work, even in late medieval times, was a book-length story, so to this day in French, a novel is called "roman". Another semantic shift among English speakers, at least, was inspired by the nature of many book-length stories -- love stories. So "romance" acquired an additional meaning: a love affair.

[Claudia]

French, in particular, has had some extra final-sound loss in recent centuries, reflected in the numerous silent final letters of its spelling. Spanish and Italian, by comparison, have been more conservative.

It is a curious circumstance that French-language purists like the Academie Française (French Academy) should be speaking a language whose pronunciation is relatively far altered from its Latin original.
Be careful. French spelling is for a large part artificial. It is a tentative for ethymological spelling, but initiated at a time when linguistic was not well developped (XVIIIth century?), so there are errors (even if a lot is correct).

French has never be spoken as it is written now.

And what is very important, there is no spelling continuity from Latin.

[lpetrich]

Although I may have made an overstatement about loss of final sounds in French, it is very common. Consider a-stem nouns, like Latin "filia", "femina", "lingua", "vacca", "luna", "stella", and "aqua" in my list. Most of the Romance languages keep the final a most of the time, but French has a silent e, as in:

"moon"
Latin, Romanian, Italian, Spanish luna
Portuguese lua
French lune /lün/

An etymological spelling would be, in this case, "luna". The Old French pronunciation was likely something like /lun@/ where @ is a schwa (something like English "uh"). French also has a shift in the first vowel from /u/ to /ü/.

I note in passing that Latin had two words for "woman": "femina" and "mulier". The various Romance languages have kept only one of them, with the Iberian ones choosing "mulier" and the others choosing "femina".

[TheSerpentLord]

This is Sinhala, a language spoken in Sri Lanka. Majority if Sri Lankans speak Sinhala.

Pronunciation guide

a as in mum
a' as in car
i as in pint
o' as in horse
ae as in cat
ae' as in lamb
u' as in room

d as in they
th as in thank
thr as in three


I -- mama
me -- ma', mata
we - api
us - apata

you (singular) -- oya' (formal colloquial), umba (informal colloquial), oba, numba
you (plural) -- oya'la' (formal colloquial), umbala' (informal colloquial), obala', numbala'

father -- tha'tha' (colloquial), appachchi* (colloquial), piya'
mother -- amma' (colloquial), mawa, mae'niyo
brother (elder) -- ayya' (colloquial)
brother (younger) -- malli (colloquial)
brother -- sohoyura, saho'daraya'
sister (elder) -- akka' (colloquial)
sister (younger) -- nangi (colloquial)
sister -- soyuriya, saho'dariya
son -- putha'
daughter -- duwa
* appachchi is pronounced like up-pa-ch-chi

human (both sexes) -- ma'nawaya', manushya'
man (male) - miniha' (colloquial), pirimiya', purushaya'
woman (female) - gaehaeniya (colloquial), sthriya

head -- oluwa (colloquial), hisa
eye -- aesa
ear -- kana
nose -- nahaya
mouth -- kata
tooth -- datha
tongue -- diva
arm -- atha
hand -- ba'huwa
leg -- kakula
foot -- paya

dog -- balla'
cat -- pu'sa' (colloquial), balala'

bovine (both sexes) -- gavaya'
bull (male) -- gona'
cow (female) -- eladena

tree -- gasa, vrukshaya
leaf -- kolaya (colloquial), pathraya*
* could also mean newspaper

sun -- ira (colloquial), hiru, su'rya
moon -- handa (colloquial), sanda, chandraya
star -- tharuwa (colloquial), tharaka'wa

water -- vathura (colloquial), diya, jalaya, paen
fire -- gindara (colloquial), gini (colloquial), ginna (colloquial)

[lpetrich]

Using this Gothic-English dictionary (http://www.geocities.com/gutiska/lex/got-eng.html) for the oldest recorded Germanic language.

And collecting this site's previous contributions and using various other sources, I've prepared this big lineup of our examples from English, Gothic, and the Indic languages:


English Gothic Sanskrit Hindi Marathi Bengali Sinhalese

name namo na:ma naam naam naam nama

I/me ik/mik aham/ma:m mai mera ami/amaar mama/ma:/mata
we/us weis/uns wayam/asman hum hum hamara aamra api/apata
you (sg) thu/thuk tuwam/twam tum tumhara tumi oya: [formal], umba [inf], oba, numba
you (pl) jus/iswis yu:yam tumlog tumlog tomra oya:la: [formal], umbala: [inf], obala:, numbala:

father atta, fadar pita:/-tar- baba pitaji baba tha:tha:, appachchi, piya:
mother aithei ma:ta:/-tar- ma mataji ma amma:, mawa, mae:niyo
brother brothar bhra:ta:/-tar- bhaiya bhaiya bhai ayya: [older], malli [younger], sohoyura, saho:daraya:
sister swistar swasr/-sar-, bhagni bahen bahen bone akka: [older]. nangi [younger], soyuriya, saho:dariya
son sunus su:nus, putra beta beta chele, putra putha:
daughter dauhtar duhita:/-tar-, kanya beti beti meye, kanya duwa

human (bt sxs) ? manushya, purusha manushya manushya manushya ma:nawaya:, manushya:
man (male) guma manu, purusha, nara aadmi aadmi nar miniha:, pirimiya:, purushaya:, mahateya
woman (female) kwino, kwens stri:, nari aurat aurat nari ganu, gaehaeniya, sthriya, nona

head haubith mastak matha matha matha oluwa, hisa
eye augo akshi, chokshu ankh ankh chokh aeha, aesa
ear auso karna kaan kaan kaan kana
nose ? nas, nasik na:k na:k na:k nahaya
mouth munths mukha mu:h mu:h mukh kata
tooth tunthus dant- danth danth danth datha
tongue tuggo jihwa: jeev jeev jeev diwa
arm arms ba:hu hath hath bahu atha
hand handus hastha hath hath hath ba:huwa, atha
leg ? pad- pa:v pa:v paa kakula
foot fotus pad-, charana paair paair charan paya, kakula

dog hunds swan-, kukkur, saremeya kutta kutta kukur balla:
cat ? biral, marjar billi billi biral pu:sa:, balala:

bovine (bt sxs) auhsa gau-, gabadi gaiy gaiy gabhi gavaya:
bull (male) ? shanda bhais bhais shar gona:
cow (female) ? gabhi gaiy gaiy garu eladena

tree bagms, triu briksha paed paed ghach gaha, gasa, wrukshaya
leaf laufs patra patta patta pata kolaya, pathraya

sun sunna, sauil surya surya surya surya ira, hiru, surya
moon mena ma:s, chandra chandrama chandrama chandra, chand handa, sanda, chandraya
star stairno ta:ra, nakshatra tara tara tara tharuwa, tharaka:wa

water wato wa:ri, jala pani pani jala wathura, diya, jalaya, paen
fire fon agni agni agni agun gini, ginna, gindara

One can find some sound correspondences, like
Sanskrit /s/ -> Sinhalese /h/
and some variants; check out:
"nose", "sun", "moon", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "10" (listed in Mark Rosenfelder's Indo-European Numerals list (http://www.zompist.com/euro.htm#ie), a subset of his numeral-list pages).

Also, note that English tends to lose a nasal in front of another consonant; compare "tooth" to Gothic "tunthus" and the other Germanic forms here -- the n dropped out.

[lpetrich]

First, a correction, courtesy of TheSerpentLord. The Sinhalese words for "Moon" include chandraya: rather than chandraya (no : after the a).

Also, "arm" and "hand" in Sinhalese look reversed relative to the other Indic languages here.

-

Some online etymological dictionaries:

The Indo-European Etymological Dictionary (http://iiasnt.leidenuniv.nl/ied/index.html) at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. It includes not only Pokorny's 1959 classic, but also several for some descendant languages, like Greek, Slavic, etc.

Sergei Starostin's "Tower of Babel" (http://starling.rinet.ru/index2.htm) site, with etymological dictionaries for several language families. Including:

= Sino-Tibetan (includes Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese, etc.)
= Yeniseian
= Altaic
= = Turkic
= = Mongolian
= = Tungus
= = Korean
= = Japanese
= Chukchi-Kamchatkan
= Semitic
= Khoisan

-

Now to analyzing these lists more closely. Though many cognates can be recognized across Indo-Europeandom, there are still lots of substitutions.

For instance, English keeps descendants of all the ancestral IE words for father, mother, brother, sister, son, and daughter. This is also true of all of the rest of Germanic except for Gothic, which substitutes "atta" and "aithei" for "father" and "mother".

This is something like what would happen if "mom" and "dad" got "promoted" from their current informal status to become the usual English words for mother and father.

Likewise, Latin has substitutes for "son" and "daughter" (filius, filia), and Spanish and Portuguese have substitutes for "brother" and "sister" (hermano, irmão; hermana, irmã).

Greek also has substitutes for "brother" and "sister" (adelphos, adelphe:).

And although Sanskrit starts out with no substitutions, later Indic does a lot of them, with them sometimes keeping "father" and "mother", with the northern ones possibly also keeping "brother", and with Sinhalese keeping "daughter".

Likewise, one can find many substitutions for body parts and so forth, though some body-part words like "tooth" seldom get substituted. The word "hand" gets substituted much more than "foot", for whatever odd reason. There are, however, a few words in my list that are seldom substituted. "Name" is never substituted, and "Sun" and "star" are seldom substituted. "Moon" gets substituted much more, for whatever odd reason.

-

The words for humanity are somewhat confusing, though I'll focus on the female of our species for now. In Germanic, there are three words for "woman"; one represented as German Weib and Old English wif (modern English "wife"; modern English "woman" is from wif + man); one represented as German Frau and Dutch vrouw; and one represented as Danish kvinde, Norwegian kwinne, Swedish kvinna, and Old English cwene. The latter one has undergone a very interesting split in later English:

woman (cwene) > king's woman/wife > female monarch (queen)
woman (cwene) > disreputable woman > slut (quean)

Some centuries back, the two words were pronounced differently, despite their identical present-day pronunciation.

This word has other cognates in Indo-Europeandom, though as with Germanic, there are often additional words like Latin femina and mulier and Sanskrit stri:. These include Greek gune:, Slavic zhena, and likely Sinhalese gani / gaeheniya.

-

As mentioned earlier, words are often related in regular ways, that is, by sound correspondences. Indo-European has several famous ones, like Grimm's Law, discovered by that famous folklorist. These can be used to distinguish "native" words from borrowings, because later borrowings often look too similar. Furthermore, borrowings can be recognized by when they show up in a language's written record; they typically show up only after there is opportunity to make the borrowing. Consider these words for "bread":


Latin panis, panem (nom. and acc. cases of the same word)
Italian pane
Spanish pan
Portuguese pão /paN/ (the N means a nasalized vowel)
French pain /peN/
Sinhalese pan /pang/ (European-style bread)
Japanese pan /paN/

All but the last two have had this word for the length of their recorded history, while the last two started having that word only after Portuguese explorers arrived, bringing European-style bread.