Word equation (linguistics)
A word equation is a series of words from different languages that list similar words in these languages with the same or similar meaning. The etymology studied (using the methods of historical linguistics ) whether the similarity to a common ancestor of the words or Lehnwortbildung back or whether there is a chance resemblance. If the words of a word equation have a common origin, they are also called (primary) relatives .
Examples
The following table summarizes word equations of Germanic languages .
language | father | mother | daughter | heart | knee | foot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
German | father | mother | daughter | heart | knee | foot | one) | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten |
Luxembourgish | - | - | Thief | Häerz | Knee | Fouss | een (t) | two | dräi | four | fënnef | six | siwen | aight | néng | zéng |
Yiddish | foter | mother | tokhter | hard | knee | fus | eyn (s) | tsvey | dray | fir | fin (e) f | zeks | zibn | akht | nayn | tsen |
Cimbrian | vaatar | muutar | tòkhtar | hèertze | chnie | vuus | òan | zbòa | drai | viar | vüf | sèks | siban | eight | well | zègan |
Swiss German | Dad | Mothers | daughter | Harz | Chnöi, Chnü | Fuess | ai (s) | two, two | push, three | four | füf, foif | saxon | sibe | eight | well | tough (e) |
Old High German | fater | muoter | tohter | herza | kneo, kniu | fuoz | a (az) | two | drī | fior | fimf | see | sibun | ahto | niun | zehan |
Dutch | Vader | moeder | wick | hard | knee | voet | één | twee | three | four | vijf | zes | zeven | eight | negen | tien |
Low German | Vader | Moder | Daughter | Hard | knee | Foot | een | twee | dree | veer | fief | sauce | söven | eight | negen | teihn |
Old Saxon | fadar | mōdar | dohtar | herta | knio | fōt | ēn | twē | thrīe | fiuwar | fīf | see | siƀun | ahto | nigun | tehan |
West Frisian | faar | moer | wick | hert | - | fet | ien | twa | trije | fjouwer | fiif | seis | sân | eight | njogging | tsien |
Old Frisian | feather | murderer | wick | came | knī | fōt | ān, ēn | twā, twē | thrē, thriā | fiūwer | fīf | sex | siugun | eight a | niugun | tiān |
English | father | mother | daughter | heart | knee | foot | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | th |
Scots | fader | moder, mither | wick | hert | knee | fit | ane | twa | three | fower | five | sax | seiven | aight | nine | th |
Old English | fæder | mōdor | dohtor | heorte | cnēo | fōt | on | twā | þrī | fēower | fīf | sex | seofon | eahta | niġon | tīen |
Swedish | far, fader | mor, moder | yolk | hjärta | knä | fot | en | (två) | tre | fyra | fem | sex | sju | åtta | nio | tio |
Old Norse | faðir | móðir | dóttir | hiarta | kné | fótr | an | (tvá) | þrír | fiórir | fimm | sex | siau | átta | níu | tíu |
Gothic | fadar | mōþar | daúhtar | haírtō | kniu | fetus | áins | twái | þreis | fidwōr | fimf | saíhs | sibun | ahtáu | niun | taíhun |
Urgermanic | * faðēr | * mōðēr | * duχtēr | * χertān | * knewan | * fōt- | * ainaz | * twai | * þrīz | * feðwōr (iz) | * fimfe | * seχs | * seƀun | * aχtōu | * newun | * teχunt |
The following table summarizes word equations in Indo-European languages .
language | father | mother | daughter | heart | knee | foot |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hittite | - | - | duttarii̯ata / i- | ker (Dat. kardi) | enough ~ ganu- | pāt- ~ pat- |
Ancient Greek | patḗr | meter | thygátēr | kē̃r / kardía | góny | poús (Gen. podós) |
Latin | pāter | māter | futír ( Oscan ) | cor (Gen. cordis) | genū | pēs (Gen. pedis) |
Old Irish | athir | máthir | duxtir ( Gallic ) | cride | glún | ed 'step, interval' |
Tocharian A / B | pācar / pācer | mācar / mācer | ckācar / tkācer | kri 'will' / käryāñ | kanweṃ / kenīne | pe / paiyye |
Gothic | fadar | mōþer | daúhtar | haírtō | kniu | fetus |
Lithuanian | - | mótė 'wife' | duktė͂ | širdìs | - | pãdas 'sole' / pėdà 'footprint' |
Albanian | - | motër 'sister' | - | - | gju | - |
Old Armenian | hayr (Gen. hawr) | mayr (Gen. mawr) | industrial | sirt | cun-r | otn |
Avestisch | ptā | māta | dugǝdar- | zǝrǝd- | žnūm | pad- |
Old Indian | pitā́ (stem pitár-) | mātā́ (stem mātár-) | duhitā́ (stem duhitár-) | hṛdaya | jā́nu | pā́t (acc.pā́dam) |
Indo-European | * ph₂tḗr | * méh₂tēr | * dʰugh₂tḗr | * ḱḗr (Gen. ḱrd-ós) | * ǵenu- | * pṓds (Gen. pḗds) |
The sound laws of a language family can be determined from these word equations and the common starting form of the relatives in the original language of this language family can be deduced (see the reconstructed Indo-European approaches in the last line of the table).
Word equations are - in addition to morphological comparisons - an indispensable aid when investigating the genetic relationships of a group of languages. A language group for which such equations cannot be systematically established cannot be regarded as a genetic unit .
Word equations for “stable terms” - kinship terms, body parts - which are usually not borrowed from one language to another , but rather belong to the common primordial stock of a language family, are particularly important . According to Aharon Dolgopolsky (1986) the 23 most "stable" terms in this sense are:
- me / me - two / couple - you / you - who / what - tongue / language - name - eye - heart - tooth - no / not - fingernail / toenail / claw - louse - tear - water - dead - hand - night - Blood - horn - full - sun - ear - salt
This list, arranged according to “stability” (decreasing from top to bottom), is based on the study of 140 languages from different language families in Europe and Asia. It is also often used to investigate distant genetic relationships (see Macro Family ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Aharon Dolgopolsky: A probabilistic hypothesis concerning the oldest relationships among the language families in northern Eurasia . In: Vitaly Shevoroshkin, Thomas Markey (Eds.): Typology, relationship, and time. Karoma, Ann Arbor (Michigan) 1986, pp. 27-50.