> **Swadesh lists** were originally devised by the linguist [Morris Swadesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Swadesh "w:Morris Swadesh"). In the 1940s to 1950s, Swadesh developed word lists of body parts, verbs, natural phenomena, in order to compute the relationships of languages > ... > A Swadesh list may also be useful to achieve knowledge of some universal terms in other languages. This is because, for basic communication, knowledge of vocabulary is more important than knowledge of grammar and syntax. Sometimes it is even possible to achieve (very) basic communication skills with no knowledge of the target language syntax whatsoever. \- From Wiktionary's Swadesh List Appendix > The Swadesh list is _traditional_ for conlangers, but is not actually very good for language invention purposes if your aim is communication. How often, for example, do you find yourself needing to say "louse," unless you teach elementary school? \- Reddit [comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/366d3m/the_swadesh_list_an_extremely_useful_list_of/crbalew/) The Swadesh [[Word Lists]] were created to establish a baseline set of words that are expected to change little across long periods of time and are unlikely to be loaned. This is to assist with quickly comparing languages to see if they may be related, and if so, how closely. The original list has been criticized heavily and it mostly obsolete, however it is well documented and widespread so it still forms a useful corpus and starting point - particularly for conlangers. # Resources - Wiktionary Swadesh List Appendix: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists#Indo-European_languages(Proto-Indo-European) - https://linguifex.com/wiki/Swadesh_list - https://cals.conlang.org/word/list/ - https://conlang.fandom.com/wiki/Swadesh_list_for_Romance_languages - https://conlang.fandom.com/wiki/Swadesh_lists_for_Arabic_Varieties - https://conlang.fandom.com/wiki/Swadesh_list_for_Germanic_languages - http://wold.clld.org - The World Loanword Database # See Also - https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/366d3m/the_swadesh_list_an_extremely_useful_list_of/ - https://conlang.stackexchange.com/questions/666/swadesh-list-for-verb-infinitives - https://valpal.info/ ## Semantic Frequency Lists - https://cofl.github.io/conlang/resources/games/concepts.html # References