Glottochronology

The dating of language evolution and divergence. One of the early practitioners, Morris Swadesh, created a list of 100 core words that were meant to be universal, culturally independent words likely to be found in all languages. Here is the final version of the Swadesh List.

1.I (Pers.Pron.1.Sg.)
2.You (2.sg! 1952 thou & ye)
3.we (1955: inclusive)
4.this
5.that
6.who? (“?” not 1971)
7.what? (“?” not 1971)
8.not
9.all (of a number)
10.many
11.one
12.two
13.big
14.long (not 'wide')
15.small
16.woman
17.man (adult male human)
18.person (individual human)
19.fish (noun)
20.bird
21.dog
22.louse
23.tree (not log)
24.seed (noun!)
25.leaf (botanics)
26.root (botanics)
27.bark (of tree)
28.skin (1952: person’s)
29.flesh (1952 meat, flesh)
30.blood
31.bone
32.grease (1952: fat, organic substance)
33.egg
34.horn (of bull etc., not 1952)*7
35.tail
36.feather (large, not down)
37.hair (on head of humans)
38.head (anatomic)
39.ear
40.eye
41.nose
42.mouth
43.tooth (front, rather than molar)
44.tongue (anatomical)
45.claw (not in 1952)*6
46.foot (not leg)
47.knee (not 1952)*5
48.hand
49.belly (lower part of body, abdomen)
50.neck (not nape!)
51.breasts (female; 1955 still breast)*8
52.heart
53.liver
54.drink (verb)
55.eat (verb)
56.bite (verb)
57.see (verb)
58.hear (verb)
59.know (facts)
60.sleep (verb)
61.die (verb)
62.kill (verb)
63.swim (verb)
64.fly (verb)
65.walk (verb)
66.come (verb)
67.lie (on side, recline)
68.sit (verb)
69.stand (verb)
70.give (verb)
71.say (verb)*1
72.sun
73.moon (not 1952)*2
74.star
75.water (noun)
76.rain (noun, 1952 verb)
77.stone
78.sand (opposite to following)
79.earth (=soil)
80.cloud (not fog)
81.smoke (noun, of fire)
82.fire
83.ash(es)
84.burn (verb intr.!)
85.path (1952 road, trail; not street)
86.mountain (not hill)
87.red (colour)
88.green (colour)
89.yellow (colour)
90.white (colour)
91.black (colour)
92.night
93.hot (adjective; 1952 warm, of weather)
94.cold (of weather)
95.full *4
96.new
97.good
98.round (not 1952)*3
99.dry (substance!)
100.name