New site for visualizing word origins (etymology)

Linas, the owner of Ikindalikelanguages, the owner of Interlinearbooks, the owner of Cooljugator, the owner of...(probably some others in here?) has another website that fits right in with what I do: Etymologeek. It's somewhat similar to etymonline.com in that you enter your search term and come out with the history of a word, but here's where it differs:

1) Etymonline has only English - Etymologeek has eight languages so far
2) Etymonline has a detailed written explanation. Etymologeek has a graphic showing the source languages.
3) Etymonline has much more detail. Etymologeek has explanations below the charts but not comparable for what Etymonline has for English.

Filling out #3 is what they are working on now, apparently.

The Etymologeek layout looks like a good fit for auxlangers (especially those making their own language) who would like something that gives the origin of a word in a single glance, given the number of words a single language requires. Here's an example of tongue and its related words in four languages:

Jazik is definitely an odd word for the original PIE word to change into. But I digress.

Ah, and the other nice thing about it is the super fast search. As you type it will bring up search results so you know ahead of time if you are going to find something or not. Definitely give it a try and see what you can find.

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Visual etymological dictionary focusing on Persian, English and other Indo-European languages

This is my new favourite document on archive.org, a visual etymological dictionary with a focus on Persian and English common roots but with a number of other languages in there as well. Most full-length documents on archive.org are there because they are old and copyright-free, but this one is there due to being published under a Creative Commons license and the email address of the author is there as well.

To explain exactly how the format works, the best thing to do is simply show what one page of the dictionary looks like:

As you can see, it's the clean format with arrows that make this one so easy to read.

Is the dictionary 100% accurate? I have no idea. Perhaps Olivier will know.

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Where is the best place in Europe to familiarize oneself with most languages?

The short answer to this is: in the biggest cities where you can find the most people from every ethnic background. But there are certain disadvantages to learning languages outside their country of origin, namely the fact that there is no way to completely immerse yourself in one for days and weeks at a time, and also that you will usually have to bargain to use a language: either paying for lessons, or offering to teach something in return, or simply finding a group of people that don't particularly want to use English. Whatever the case, it takes a bit of strategy. Going directly to a country, on the other hand, will mean that everywhere you step you will find a speaker of the language. No strategy required besides going there in the first place and having a way to stay for the long term.

Familiarizing oneself with as many speakers as possible in Europe first means three things: learning a Germanic language, learning a Romance language, and learning a Slavic language. Finding the ideal place would mean somewhere all three of these can be learned within a short distance, and maybe another one or two on top of this.

Many will say that basically anywhere in Europe applies, but this isn't quite true: while it's technically possible to live in Berlin and take the train to Poland or France within a few hours, the distance and cost is still great enough that you won't want to make such a trip every weekend. At such a distance everyday life tends to get in the way, and after a few months or years you realize that you spent most of your time in one place and hardly got to travel at all when it came down to it. There are exceptions, but most end up like that.

So where is the best place?

The most obvious location would be somewhere from northeast Italy to south Austria to anywhere in tiny Slovenia. Germanic, Romance and Slavic all within 100 km of each other. Where is this place? Right around here.

Hungary is also close by.

Nowhere else offers such close contact with so many language families. Switzerland has four official languages but three of these are Romance, western Romania has Romance and Slavic and Hungarian in close proximity but Germanic is farther away, Estonia has Estonian/Finnish and Russian and Swedish and Baltic but no Romance (one family but a lot of countries), and other locations are also similar to these.

Not surprisingly, many Slovenians are familiar with all three of these branches:

So I suggest central Slovenia to southern Austria as the best place to familiarize oneself with the greatest amount of language families in the shortest distance possible. Any thoughts?

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Page F30 reader poll results on favourite Indo-European language branches

The second of the two polls on the side that are being taken down today was a previous one on the branches of the Indo-European language family that readers liked the most. The poll allowed more than one answer as there is no reason to make anyone choose but a single branch. The results were as follows:

WHICH BRANCHES OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED IN? (PICK AS MANY AS YOU LIKE)

Albanian 10 (7%)
Anatolian 6 (4%)
Armenian 10 (7%)
Baltic 16 (12%)
Celtic 32 (24%)
Germanic 70 (53%)
Hellenic (Greek) 20 (15%)
Indic 13 (10%)
Iranian 26 (20%)
Italic (Romance) 61 (46%)
Slavic 45 (34%)
Tocharian 8 (6%)
Overall IE and PIE reconstruction 23 (17%)

Votes so far: 130

The answers I would have chosen: everything but Albanian, Anatolian, Tocharian. No offense to Albanian (the only living language not chosen), I simply don't know enough about it yet.

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Inflected Indo-European languages: which cases should you concentrate on first?

I came across a page here the other day showing frequency of case usage for Croatian, a good example of an inflected Indo-European language with seven cases (depending on how you count them). While case usage varies by language, four to seven or so is usually the norm for Indo-European languages, and this survey of case usage may help with choosing which cases to concentrate on first if you find yourself drowning in grammatical information and want to concentrate on frequently-used forms first. This is especially important with active use, since you want to build up an instinct for the forms you'll be using the most often and this will cut down on the time you spend forming what to say in your mind before you say it.

According to the study, the three most-used cases are the nominative (no surprise there), accusative, and then genitive. Put these three together and you have already covered 80%. least common is also not surprising: th evocative. Nominative frequency tends to vary quite a bit, while accusative is quite stable at 25 to 28%. Genitive is 11 to 16%, locative 5 to 8%, instrumental 4 to 6%, dative varies a bit more at 6 to 15%, vocative is just 0 to 6%.

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Lots of Armenian etymological information on Wiktionary

I noticed a few weeks ago that the information on Armenian vocabulary on Wiktionary is more detailed than that for other languages, and being able to find this information makes remembering vocabulary that much easier. This page for example is the Armenian word for night, which is pronounced gisher (գիշեր). Doesn't look that familiar, does it? But in fact it comes from PIE *wekʷsperos, as do a lot of other words for night. Cognates listed on the page are:

Cognates include Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hesperos), Latin vesper, Old Church Slavonic вєчєръ (večerŭ) (Russian вечер), Lithuanian vākaras and Latvian vakars.

Apparently it even entered Georgian as a word meaning black amber.

A much more obvious one is the word for woman, kin (կին). Cognate with English queen, Persian zan (زن), and everything else.

The word for dog will be very obvious to you if you know a Baltic language - it's shun (շուն). In Lithuanian dog is šuo and Latvian it's suns. Even knowing just English though it becomes easier to remember if you keep in mind that it's cognate with the word hound (previously hund):

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓn- < *ḱwṓ (“dog”). Cognates include Lithuanian šuo, Ancient Greek κύων (kuōn), Sanskrit श्वन् (śván), Latin canis and Old English hund (English hound).

Armenian difficulty overall: Armenian seems to be just about as difficult to learn as Persian, which is to say that it isn't that hard to learn and use though initial passive recognition is near zero, pretty much the opposite of languages such as French and German where passive recognition is quite good but proper usage can be tricky. Armenian is more phonetic than Persian and only surprises you when two consonants that seem to be joined together actually have an unwritten vowel in between them such as նրանք which is pronounced nəˈɾɑnkʰ even though the ə is unwritten (on the other hand it makes it easier to pronounce), and a few words that are irregular due to being composite words or holdovers from the previous orthography. So overall like Persian it's a language with few surprises, and the biggest problem in learning it is the scarcity of resources. And also choosing whether to learn Eastern or Western Armenian, of course.

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Swadesh list for English, Lithuanian, Dingwa, Sambahsa, Prussian

Today I received an email from the creator of Dingwa, the (as far as I know) fourth tier of the IALs based on Indo-European vocabulary. The four are: Modern Indo-European (reconstructed, no holds barred), Sambahsa (somewhat reconstructed yet simplified, uses vocabulary from non-IE sources as well where needed), Dingwa (schematic yet with a very non-Eurocreole grammar), and Uropi (IE vocabulary but with a grammar very much resembling English and vocabulary uses modern forms instead of original PIE).

Out of those four then, the languages one would expect to resemble each other the most in terms of vocabulary are Dingwa and Sambahsa, so I've put them next to each other on the list. You can see that at the beginning of the list where pronouns are common they hardly resemble each other at all, but nouns resemble each other quite a bit, and verbs even more so. I've put cognates in bold, as well as where they are cognate in Lithuanian and Prussian as well, or the obvious cognates at least. Some of the words in the list are a bit iffy, kind of obvious when pointed out but perhaps not so much without any hints, so the bolding is a bit subjective. Since Dingwa is the newest addition to the list and thus the focus of attention, all the words in bold are where they resemble Dingwa.

No	English	Lithuanian	Dingwa	Sambahsa	Prussian
1	I	aš	ega, mena	ego, io	as
2	you, thou	Jūs, tu	twa	yu, tu	jūs, tū
3	he	jis	ona	is	tāns
4	we	mes	noi	wey	mes
5	you (pl.)	Jūs	woi	yu	jūs
6	they	jie, jos	onai	ies, ias, ia, i
7	this	šis	ejei	so, sa, tod	šis
8	that	tas, anas	onei	cis, cia, cid	stas
9	here	čia	edi	her
10	there	ten	odi	ter	stwen
11	who	kas	kja	qui(s), qua, quel	kas
12	what	kas	kwa	quod	ka
13	where	kur	kudi	quer	kwēi
14	when	kada	kudu	quan(do)	kaddan
15	how	kaip	kulku, kunsu	kam, quosmed	kāigi, kāi
16	not	ne ...	ne	ne	ni
17	all	viskas, visi	solwei	vasyo, hol, quant	wiss
18	many	daug	polwei	maung	tūlin
19	some	kažkiek	(use genitive)	sem	ainuntkawīds
20	few	keletas	pewei	pau(k)	mazzan
21	other	kitas	aljei	alyo, alter	kits
22	one	vienas	oinei	oin	aīns
23	two	du	dwei	dwo	dwāi
24	three	trys	trijei	tri	trīs
25	four	keturi	kweturei	quar	ketturei
26	five	penki	penkwei	penk(we)	pēnkei
27	big *	didelis	meglei	mier	debiks
28	long *	ilgas	dolgei	long	ilgs
29	wide	platus	urwei	weur	plattus
30	thick	storas, tankus, tirštas	bangwei, tegwei	teug	kāmstu
31	heavy	sunkus	gurnei	gwaur	brendus
32	small *	mažas	minwei, pulei	smulk	līkuts
33	short	trumpas	morgwei, skortei	cort	īnss
34	narrow	siauras	angwei	angh	anzuks
35	thin	plonas	tenwei, spalei	teun	lāils
36	woman *	moteris	guna	gwen(a)	genā
37	man (adult male)	vyras	nera	wir	wīrs
38	man * (human being)	žmogus	wira	mensc	zmūnenawins
39	kid	vaikas	putla	magv	malnīks
40	wife	žmona	snuba, guna	gvibh, esor	genā
41	husband	vyras	snuba, nera	mann	salūbawīrs
42	mother	motina	matra	mater	mūti
43	father	tėvas	patra	pater	tāws
44	animal	gyvulys	gurja, pekwa	animal	zwīrs
45	fish *	žuvis	piska	pisk	zuks
46	bird *	paukštis	owja	av	pippelis
47	hound *	šuo	kwona	kwaun	skalanīks
48	louse *	utėlė	lusa	lus
49	snake	gyvatė	serpa	serpent	āngs
50	worm	kirminas	werma	vehrm	kīrms
51	beam *	medis	spona	dru	laukstītwei
52	forest	miškas	widuwa	forest	meddin
53	stick	lazda	ponkra	gazd	lagzdē
54	fruit	vaisius	pola	fruit	wēisis
55	seed *	sėkla	semena	semen	sīmen
56	leaf *	lapas	bolja	warak	lappan
57	root *	šaknis	urda	raudh	saknis
58	bark * (from tree)	žievė	korta	corce	lātwei
59	flower	gėlė	blosa, anda	flor	kwēitis
60	grass	žolė	gorba	gras	zālis
61	rope	virvė	rezga	seil	wīrbi
62	skin *	oda	skuta, pelna	cuit	keūtā
63	meat	mėsa	memsa, krowa	miems	mēnsa
64	blood *	kraujas	esna	sehrg	krāujā
65	bone *	kaulas	ostja	ost	kaūlin
66	fat * (n.)	riebalai	smorsa	selp, smeru	instran
67	egg *	kiaušinis	owjeka	oiv	pāuts
68	horn *	ragas	kerna	horn	rags
69	tail *	uodega	dokla	swayp	stags
70	feather *	plunksna	petra	ptor	plāugzda
71	hair *	plaukai	pila	kays	skebbelis
72	head *	galva		cap	galwā
73	ear *	ausis	ausa	aur	āuss
74	eye *	akis	okwja	ok	aks
75	nose *	nosis	nosa	nas	nāsī
76	mouth *	burna	osa	stohm	āustā
77	tooth *	dantis	donta	dent	dānts
78	tongue *	liežuvis	dingwa	dingv	inzuws
79	fingernail	nagas	nogla	onkh	naguttis
80	foot *	pėda	poda	ped	pīda
81	leg	koja	krusa	jamb	nagē
82	knee *	kelis	gonwa	genu	klupstis
83	hand *	ranka	gersa	hand	rānkā
84	wing	sparnas	petsna	pterg	skreīlis
85	belly *	pilvas	belga	gventer	wīders
86	guts	viduriai	entai	inster	grābs
87	neck *	kaklas	monja	coll	winzus
88	back	nugara	kruga	regv	rīkisna
89	breast *	krūtis	brusa	pizdan	kreklin
90	heart *	širdis	kerda	kerd	sīran, sīr
91	liver *	kepenys	jekna	lyekwrnt	jaknā
92	drink *	gerti	pojit	poh	pūtun
93	eat *	valgyti	edit	edd	īstun
94	bite *	kąsti	dankit	dehnk	kanstun
95	suck	čiulpti	delit	seug	dītun
96	spit	spjauti	spujit	spieu	wemtwei
97	vomit	vemti	wemit	vomeih	spjāuwan
98	blow	pūsti	blajit	blah	aupūstan
99	breathe	kvėpuoti	anit	annem	dwestwei
100	laugh	juoktis	wridit	gleih	smeītun si
101	see *	matyti	widit	vid	wīdātun
102	hear *	girdėti	klujit	aur	kirdītun
103	know * (a fact)	žinoti	gignit	woid	waīstun
104	think	galvoti	mentit	mehn	mīritwei
105	smell	uosti	odmam anit	neus	ōstun
106	fear	bijoti	bimit	bay	bijjā (only has noun)
107	sleep *	miegoti	swopit	swehp	migītwei
108	live	gyventi	gwiwit	gwiv	gīwītwei
109	die *	mirti	morit	mehr, daunet, nehc	aulaūtwei
110	kill *	žudyti	moraagit	xehn, neic	galīntun
111	fight	kovoti	judit	katue, weigh	ūlintwei
112	hunt	medžioti	woitam kurit	sayd, gverue, agrue	medāni (noun)
113	hit	smogti	slakit, butit	heih, plag, stuned	kīrstun
114	cut	pjauti, kirpti	skijit	(oi)(s)kehrz, seg	pjaūtun
115	split	skelti	skidit	scinesd, finesd	spīltun
116	stab	durti	pugit	dyehgw	none, but pierce - praīmtun
117	scratch	drėksti, brėžti	drnit	graz	glāubtun
118	dig	kasti, rausti	grobit	food, grabh, (oi)(s)kav	kaptun
119	swim *	plaukti	snajit	snah	plūtwei
120	fly * (v.)	skristi	petit	pleuk	skrāistwei
121	walk *	eiti	wadit	ghang	ēitwei
122	come *	ateiti	gumit	gwehm	perēitwei
123	lie *	gulti, gulėti	drugit	lyehg	lanzītwei
124	sit *	sėsti, sėdėti	sedit	sedd	sīndītwei, sīstwei
125	stand *	stoti, stovėti	stanit	stah	stalītwei
126	turn	apsisukti	kulit	wehrt	wartīntun
127	fall	kristi	kidit, rujit	fall	krūtwei
128	give *	duoti	danit	dah	dātun
129	hold	laikyti	derit	dehrj	laikātun
130	squeeze	spausti, gręžti	uskit	sehr	ebglabtun
131	rub	trinti	terit	ghneih, tyehr	draztun
132	wash	plauti, skalbti	nigwit	lav	mūtun
133	wipe	šluoti	tergit	tierg
134	pull	traukti	dukit	trag	wīlktun
135	push	stumti	tudit	pusc	tālkātun
136	throw	mesti	jejit	xeubh	mestun
137	tie	rišti	nedit	behnd	ristun
138	sew	siūti	sjuwit	syuh	šūtun
139	count	skaičiuoti	rimit	lehg, conte	gīrbautun
140	say *	sakyti	ukwit	sayg	gērdautun
141	sing	dainuoti	kanit	sehngv	gremtun
142	play	žaisti	ludit	leik	spīlitun
143	float	plūduriuoti	pluwit	flotte	langītwei
144	flow	tekėti	srowit	sreu	tektwei
145	freeze	šalti	prusit	frehs	pasallintun
146	swell	tinti	tumit	teum	belztwei
147	sun *	saulė	solna	sol	saūli
148	moon *	mėnulis	menesa	meun	mīniks
149	star *	žvaigždė	stera	star	lāuksnā
150	water *	vanduo	udra	wed	undan
151	rain *	lietus	suva	seuy	sūji
152	river	upė	srowa	sreumen	appi
153	lake	ežeras	egera, moritsa	lac	azzaran
154	sea	jūra	morja	mar	jūris
155	salt	druska	salna	sald	sāls
156	stone *	akmuo	kagla	petra	stabs
157	sand *	smėlis	molma	sand	zigzdā
158	dust	dulkės	molmitsa	duil	pūslē
159	earth *	žemė	degmena	ardh, (di)ghom	zemē
160	cloud *	debesis	nebesa	nebh	uppin
161	fog	rūkas	migla	nebule	none, but misty = kupsīniskas
162	sky	dangus	djuwa	waurn	dāngs
163	wind	vėjas	veja	wind	wītra
164	snow	sniegas	snigwa	sneigv	snāigs
165	ice	ledas	pruswa	glehdj	lads
166	smoke *	dūmai	duma	dum	dūms
167	fire *	ugnis	ognja	ogwn, piurn	pannu, ugnis
168	ashes *	pelenai	degura	bur, ascha, kenis	pelanni
169	burn *	degti	indit	aydh	deggintun
170	road *	kelias	soda	strad	grīnsli (roadway)
171	mountain *	kalnas	kolna	ghyor(a)	gārbs
172	red *	raudonas	redrei	rudh	wūrmis
173	green *	žalias	gelnei	glend	zallis
174	yellow *	geltonas	glorei	gehlb	geltaīns
175	white *	baltas	albei	albh (kweit)	gaīls
176	black *	juodas	surdei	sword	kīrsnas
177	night *	naktis	nokta	noct	nakts
178	day	diena	dina	dien	dēinā
179	year	metai	wetsa	yar	mettan
180	warm *	šiltas	gurmei	warm	tappis
181	cold *	šaltas	gelei	srig	saltan
182	full *	pilnas	polnei	plen	pilns
183	new *	naujas	newei	nov	naws
184	old	senas	senekei	veut	wūrs
185	good *	geras	mirei, su-	sell, gohd, dohbro	labs
186	bad	blogas	dusei	khiter, khak, (s)mal	wārgs
187	rotten	supuvęs	putei	saup	rot (noun) - trustis
188	dirty	nešvarus, purvinas	mowei	murdar	mīlins
189	straight	tiesiai	ordwei	seid	tìkriskas
190	round *	apskritas	lobei, kurwei	rund	skrits
191	sharp	aštrus	skirei, tigei	ak	astars, aīkuls
192	dull	bukas	duntei	stump	preiilgewingis
193	smooth	glotnus	glodei	glat, sliv	līgus
194	wet	drėgnas	mudei, medrei	smeu	mārks, wilgs
195	dry *	sausas	sousei	siuk	sāuss
196	correct	teisingas	rektei	prabh, correct	tikkars
197	near	arti, šalia	adei, u, ulegontei	prokwem	taūws
198	far	toli	postanontei, wiitei	dalg	tāls
199	right	dešinė	deksnei	dexter	tikrōms
200	left	kairė	laiwei	levter	kāirs
201	at	į	u + locative	ad	prēi
202	in	į	en	in	ēn
203	with	su	sun, -kom + instrumental	con
204	and	ir	i, kwe	ed	be, aīnat
205	if	jei	sit	sei, an, kwe(ter)	ik, ikkai
206	because	nes, kadangi	eru	ob	beggi, paggan
207	name *	vardas	nomena	nam	emmens

Read more...

Swadesh list for English, French, Lithuanian, PIE and (Old) Prussian

I came across a dictionary the other day (here it is, pdf) of recovered and reconstructed Prussian, and since Prussian is apparently an even more conservative (=underwent less change over time) language than Lithuanian adding it to the Swadesh list seemed like a good idea. In the list I've put words in bold where either Lithuanian or Prussian seem to be cognates with PIE while the other is not. Though a pretty rough overview, Prussian seems to have a lot more PIE cognates than Lithuanian although every once in a while it's not easy to tell whether it's a PIE word that has been retained over time or whether it's a loanword. Sīmen for seed (PIE sēmṇ) for example could easily be a Latin loanword. These cases are rare though, as the vast majority of the PIE cognates are words that don't seem to be loanwords from any languages of major influence.

The PIE dictionary (or more specifically, Europaiom) I used was lacking in a lot of these words though so I think I'll come up with my own list later on, starting with PIE and then Prussian to be sure that I'll be able to properly compare them.

Edit: thanks to some helpful comments I can add to the Lithuanian part of the list. These new words will be in italics.

No	English	French	Lithuanian	PIE	Prussian
1	I	je	aš	egō	as
2	you, thou	vous, tu	Jūs, tu	juwes, juwe, tū	jūs, tū
3	he	il	jis		tāns
4	we	nous	mes	nsme, wejes-	mes
5	you (pl.)	vous	Jūs	juwes, juwe	jūs
6	they	ils, elles	jie, jos
7	this	ceci	šis	sā/sī tod	šis
8	that	cela	tas, anas	ei	stas
9	here	ici	čia	kei
10	there	là	ten	idhei	stwen
11	who	qui	kas		kas
12	what	quoi	kas	qis, qid	ka
13	where	où	kur	qodhei, qoi, qomde	kwēi
14	when	quand	kada	jom, qmdo, qom	kaddan
15	how	comment	kaip	jota, qālis, qota	kāigi, kāi
16	not	ne...pas	ne ...	ghawōd, mē	ni
17	all	tout	viskas, visi	oljoi	wiss
18	many	plusieurs	daug	(much = pelu)	tūlin
19	some	quelques	kažkiek		ainuntkawīds
20	few	peu	keletas		mazzan
21	other	autre	kitas		kits
22	one	un	vienas	oinos	aīns
23	two	deux	du	dwou	dwāi
24	three	trois	trys	trejes	trīs
25	four	quatre	keturi	qətwṛes	ketturei
26	five	cinq	penki	penqe	pēnkei
27	big *	grand	didelis	crotsos, məgnos	debiks
28	long *	long	ilgas	dḷḷnghos	ilgs
29	wide	large	platus	urús	plattus
30	thick	épais	storas, tankus, tirštas	dṇsus	kāmstu
31	heavy	lourd	sunkus	cṛ(āw)ús	brendus
32	small *	petit	mažas	alpos	līkuts
33	short	court	trumpas	mṛghús	īnss
34	narrow	étroit	siauras	amghús	anzuks
35	thin	mince	plonas	tṇus	lāils
36	woman *	femme	moteris	cenā, morignā	genā
37	man (adult male)	homme	vyras	wīrós	wīrs
38	man * (human being)	homme	žmogus	mánnusos	zmūnenawins
39	kid	enfant	vaikas		malnīks
40	wife	femme, épouse	žmona	sṃloghós, uksōr	genā
41	husband	mari, époux	vyras		salūbawīrs
42	mother	mère	motina	ammā, mātḖr	mūti
43	father	père	tėvas	pətēr	tāws
44	animal	animal	gyvulys	cīwotos	zwīrs
45	fish *	poisson	žuvis	piskis	zuks
46	bird *	oiseau	paukštis	awis, petsnós	pippelis
47	hound *	chien	šuo	kolignos, kwōn	skalanīks
48	louse *	pou	utėlė	lousēn
49	snake	serpent	gyvatė	enchis, kélodhros, sérpenos, snoghā	āngs
50	worm	ver	kirminas	longhros, ochis	kīrms
51	beam *	arbre	medis	tegnom, trabhis	laukstītwei
52	forest	forêt	miškas	kselwā, nemos	meddin
53	stick	bâton	lazda	ghaisējō	lagzdē
54	fruit	fruit	vaisius	ágrēnom, bhreugs	wēisis
55	seed *	graine	sėkla	sēmṇ	sīmen
56	leaf *	feuille	lapas	bholjom, leups	lappan
57	root *	racine	šaknis	wṛdjā, wṛrādīks	saknis
58	bark * (from tree)	écorce	žievė	baubājai	lātwei
59	flower	fleur	gėlė	bhlōtis, bhlos	kwēitis
60	grass	herbe	žolė	ghrāsmṇ, ghrāsom	zālis
61	rope	corde	virvė	resgtis, sognos	wīrbi
62	skin *	peau	oda	kūtis, pelnis	keūtā
63	meat	viande	mėsa	mēmsóm	mēnsa
64	blood *	sang	kraujas	ēsṛ, kruwós	krāujā
65	bone *	os	kaulas	ostis	kaūlin
66	fat * (n.)	graisse	riebalai	lajos	instran
67	egg *	œuf	kiaušinis	ṓw(ij)om	pāuts
68	horn *	corne	ragas	kṛnu	rags
69	tail *	queue	uodega	doklom, dumbos, ersábhaljom, ersā, pukos	stags
70	feather *	plume	plunksna	petsnā, plousmā	plāugzda
71	hair *	cheveu	plaukai	ghaitā, pilos	skebbelis
72	head *	tête	galva	gheblā	galwā
73	ear *	oreille	ausis	ousis	āuss
74	eye *	œil	akis	oqos	aks
75	nose *	nez	nosis	nāsis	nāsī
76	mouth *	bouche	burna	ōs	āustā
77	tooth *	dent	dantis	dentis	dānts
78	tongue *	langue	liežuvis	dṇghwā	inzuws
79	fingernail	ongle	nagas	onchis	naguttis
80	foot *	pied	pėda	pods	pīda
81	leg	jambe	koja	kanmā, krous	nagē
82	knee *	genou	kelis	genu, teupō	klupstis
83	hand *	main	ranka	wṛonkā	rānkā
84	wing	aile	sparnas	agslā, peterós	skreīlis
85	belly *	ventre	pilvas	tarsós	wīders
86	guts	entrailles	viduriai	sorwā, sternom	grābs
87	neck *	cou	kaklas		winzus
88	back	dos	nugara	awou, gurnos	rīkisna
89	breast *	sein, poitrine	krūtis	bhrusos	kreklin
90	heart *	cœur	širdis	kṛdi / kṛdjom	sīran, sīr
91	liver *	foie	kepenys	jeqṛ	jaknā
92	drink *	boire	gerti	pōtis, pibō	pūtun
93	eat *	manger	valgyti, ėsti	edmi, weskai	īstun
94	bite *	mordre	kąsti	denkō	kanstun
95	suck	sucer	čiulpti	dheimi	dītun
96	spit	cracher	spjauti	spjewō, spjwtos	wemtwei
97	vomit	vomir	vemti	wémāmi	spjāuwan
98	blow	souffler	pūsti	bhesmi, bhlāmi	aupūstan
99	breathe	respirer	kvėpuoti	etō, pneusō	dwestwei
100	laugh	rire	juoktis	wṛisdējō	smeītun si
101	see *	voir	matyti	widējō	wīdātun
102	hear *	entendre	girdėti	gheusō, kḷneumi, kluwējō	kirdītun
103	know * (a fact)	savoir	žinoti	woida	waīstun
104	think	penser	galvoti	sṇtējō	mīritwei
105	smell	sentir	uosti		ōstun
106	fear	craindre, avoir peur	bijoti	bhíbeimi	bijjā (only has noun)
107	sleep *	dormir	miegoti	swepō	migītwei
108	live	vivre	gyventi	cejwō	gīwītwei
109	die *	mourir	mirti	mṛijai	aulaūtwei
110	kill *	tuer	žudyti	nékāmi	galīntun
111	fight	se battre	kovoti	katos, streudō	ūlintwei
112	hunt	chasser	medžioti	(wí)weimi	medāni (noun)
113	hit	frapper	smogti, kirsti (to hit with an axe)	bhətjō	kīrstun
114	cut	couper	pjauti, kirpti	kaidō	pjaūtun
115	split	fendre	skelti	delō, skḷjō, skerjō, skindō, spleidō	spīltun
116	stab	poignarder	durti	pinjos	none, but pierce - praīmtun
117	scratch	gratter	drėksti, brėžti, krapštyti	gṛbhō, gredō, meukō, skabhō	glāubtun
118	dig	creuser	kasti, rausti	bhodhjō, kánāmi	kaptun
119	swim *	nager	plaukti	snāmi	plūtwei
120	fly * (v.)	voler	skristi	cḷājō	skrāistwei
121	walk *	marcher	eiti	steighō, wadhō	ēitwei
122	come *	venir	ateiti	cemjō	perēitwei
123	lie *	s'étendre	gulti, gulėti	leghō	lanzītwei
124	sit *	s'asseoir	sėsti, sėdėti		sīndītwei, sīstwei
125	stand *	se lever	stoti, stovėti	(sí)stāmi	stalītwei
126	turn	tourner	apsisukti, apsiversti, verstis	wṛtō	wartīntun
127	fall	tomber	kristi	kadō, palnō	krūtwei
128	give *	donner	duoti	(dí)dōmi	dātun
129	hold	tenir	laikyti	potējō	laikātun
130	squeeze	serrer	spausti, gręžti	wēskō	ebglabtun
131	rub	frotter	trinti	melkō, terjō	draztun
132	wash	laver	plauti, skalbti	lowō	mūtun
133	wipe	essuyer	šluoti	tergō
134	pull	tirer	traukti		wīlktun
135	push	pousser	stumti	agō, kelō	tālkātun
136	throw	jeter	mesti, sviesti	supājō	mestun
137	tie	lier	rišti		ristun
138	sew	coudre	siūti	sjewō	šūtun
139	count	compter	skaičiuoti		gīrbautun
140	say *	dire	sakyti	seqō	gērdautun
141	sing	chanter	dainuoti, giedoti	kanō, senchō	gremtun
142	play	jouer	žaisti		spīlitun
143	float	flotter	plūduriuoti		langītwei
144	flow	couler	tekėti	srewō	tektwei
145	freeze	geler	šalti	prunsō	pasallintun
146	swell	gonfler	tinti	bhreusō, turgējō	belztwei
147	sun *	soleil	saulė	sā́wel(jos)	saūli
148	moon *	lune	mėnulis, mėnuo	louksnā	mīniks
149	star *	étoile	žvaigždė	steros	lāuksnā
150	water *	eau	vanduo	wodā	undan
151	rain *	pluie	lietus	plówijā	sūji
152	river	rivière	upė	dānus	appi
153	lake	lac	ežeras	ágherom, lakus	azzaran
154	sea	mer	jūra	mari, tríjətos	jūris
155	salt	sel	druska	saldō	sāls
156	stone *	pierre	akmuo	akmōn	stabs
157	sand *	sable	smėlis	samdhos	zigzdā
158	dust	poussière	dulkės	pelwos	pūslē
159	earth *	terre	žemė	dheghom	zemē
160	cloud *	nuage	debesis	nebhis	uppin
161	fog	brouillard	rūkas	kalgōn, nebhlā	none, but misty = kupsīniskas
162	sky	ciel	dangus		dāngs
163	wind	vent	vėjas	gergō, wentos	wītra
164	snow	neige	sniegas	sneighs	snāigs
165	ice	glace	ledas	eisom, gelu	lads
166	smoke *	fumée	dūmai	dhūmós	dūms
167	fire *	feu	ugnis	egnis, pāwṛ	pannu, ugnis
168	ashes *	cendres	pelenai	āsos, kenēs	pelanni
169	burn *	brûler	degti	aidhō, dhechō	deggintun
170	road *	route	kelias	kelus	grīnsli (roadway)
171	mountain *	montagne	kalnas	ceri	gārbs
172	red *	rouge	raudonas	rudhrós	wūrmis
173	green *	vert	žalias		zallis
174	yellow *	jaune	geltonas	bhlāwos, knakos	geltaīns
175	white *	blanc	baltas	albhos, kweidos	gaīls
176	black *	noir	juodas	kṛsnos	kīrsnas
177	night *	nuit	naktis	noqtis	nakts
178	day	jour	diena	djnos	dēinā
179	year	an, année	metai	atnos	mettan
180	warm *	chaud	šiltas	chormos	tappis
181	cold *	froid	šaltas	srīgos	saltan
182	full *	plein	pilnas	plēnós	pilns
183	new *	nouveau	naujas	new(ij)os	naws
184	old	vieux	senas	senēks, wetwos	wūrs
185	good *	bon	geras	ēsús	labs
186	bad	mauvais	blogas	dus	wārgs
187	rotten	pourri	supuvęs	pūterós	rot (noun) - trustis
188	dirty	sale	nešvarus, purvinas	coudhros	mīlins
189	straight	droit	tiesiai		tìkriskas
190	round *	rond	apskritas, apavalus	wolwós	skrits
191	sharp	tranchant, pointu, aigu	aštrus	akris	astars, aīkuls
192	dull	émoussé	bukas, atšipęs		preiilgewingis
193	smooth	lisse	glotnus	rastós, sleigō	līgus
194	wet	mouillé	drėgnas, šlapias	molqos, wosmós	mārks, wilgs
195	dry *	sec	sausas	sisqos, susdos	sāuss
196	correct	juste, correct	teisingas, tikras		tikkars
197	near	proche	arti, šalia, netoliese, netoli	nedjos	taūws
198	far	loin	toli	porsōd	tāls
199	right	à droite	dešinė	déksteros	tikrōms
200	left	à gauche	kairė	laiwos	kāirs
201	at	à	į	ad	prēi
202	in	dans	į	en	ēn
203	with	avec	su	kom
204	and	et	ir	atqe	be, aīnat
205	if	si	jei, jeigu		ik, ikkai
206	because	parce que	nes, kadangi	jod-qid	beggi, paggan
207	name *	nom	vardas	nōmṇ	emmens

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Adding 4000 years to the calendar and counting human history from the invention of the wheel

Here's an article on a pretty interesting idea to add 4000 years to the current calendar, making the current year 6010. Why? The date roughly coincides with the time when the wheel first rolled into Europe and Western Asia. It's also around the time when the Bronze Age began and humanity began moving away from stone tools, so a rough estimate of when advanced human civilization began.

The article remarks that the idea is interesting but that it would be a bit like Esperanto in its difficulty of implementation, but it's a bit simpler than that --  because it simply involves tacking on 4000 years to any date, and then adding 1 if B.C. 4000 B.C. for example would become 1, and 2001 B.C. would be 2000. The same awkwardness involving adding a 1 is also found now, since there was no zero; after 1 B.C. was 1 A.D. One large difference though would be that because the numbers would now be counting up, dates would go from 1 to 99 instead of 99 to 1, and this would probably be the main problem with implementing a calendar like that as dates now remembered as B.C. would all be turned around.

The other interesting thing about the idea is that it roughly coincides with Proto-Indo-European, which also was used roughly around that time.

The difficulty with this though is that these are all very rough dates. The wheel was invented more than 6000 years ago, the beginning of the Bronze Age varies depending on what part of the world you're in, and there are many theories on when Proto-Indo-European was used and in which part of the world. Later research may turn up new dates for the origins of many implements and dates we now consider to be about 6000 years old.

Adding an extra 4000 years to old dates though is quite interesting, as it removes the negative number from ancient dates and brings them into the same era that we're in right now. Using that, Gilgamesh now would have ruled in the year 1300, Plato would have been born around 3574, and Rome would have been founded in 3243.

Calendars are always quite messy though, and have always been. Not only do the months not make sense anymore (September = 7th month, October = 8th month, etc.) but months have been robbed of days (February was robbed to make August match July in length), leap years are annoying to keep track of, and on top of it all minutes are based on an originally Babylonian numbering system using 60 (sexagesimal). Oh, and the days (in English anyway) are named after Norse gods, except for Saturday. It's fascinating how such a patchwork system still manages to work.

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