Appendix:Hausa Swadesh list
This is a Swadesh list of words in Hausa, compared with definitions in English.
Presentation
- For further information, including the full final version of the list, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list.
American linguist Morris Swadesh believed that languages changed at measurable rates and that these could be determined even for languages without written precursors. Using vocabulary lists, he sought to understand not only change over time but also the relationships of extant languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings he presumed would be available in as many cultures as possible. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting in 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew to 215 in 1952, which was so expansive that many languages lacked native vocabulary for some terms. Subsequently, it was reduced to 207, and reduced much further to 100 meanings in 1955. A reformulated list was published posthumously in 1971.
List
No. | English | Hausa هَوْسَ |
---|---|---|
1 | I | ni |
2 | you (singular) | kai |
3 | he, she, it | shi |
4 | we | mu |
5 | you (plural) | ku |
6 | they | su |
7 | this | wannan |
8 | that | wancan |
9 | here | nan |
10 | there | can |
11 | who | wa (interrogative) |
12 | what | me (interrogative) |
13 | where | ina (no movement, interrogative) |
14 | when | yaushe (interrogative) |
15 | how | yaya (interrogative) |
16 | not | ba ... |
17 | all | duk |
18 | many | da yawa |
19 | some | waɗansu |
20 | few | kaɗan |
21 | other | wancan |
22 | one | ɗaya |
23 | two | biyu |
24 | three | uku |
25 | four | huɗu |
26 | five | biyar |
27 | big | babba |
28 | long | dogo |
29 | wide | mai faɗi |
30 | thick | mai kauri |
31 | heavy | mai nauyi |
32 | small | ƙarami |
33 | short | gajere |
34 | narrow | mai ƙunci |
35 | thin | siriri |
36 | woman | mace |
37 | man (adult male) | mutum |
38 | man (human being) | ɗan Adam |
39 | child | yaro (boy), yarinya (girl) |
40 | wife | mata |
41 | husband | miji |
42 | mother | uwa |
43 | father | uba |
44 | animal | dabba |
45 | fish | kifi |
46 | bird | tsuntsu |
47 | dog | kare |
48 | louse | kwarkwa |
49 | snake | maciji |
50 | worm | tsutsa |
51 | tree | itace |
52 | forest | ƙungurmin daji |
53 | stick | sanda |
54 | fruit | ’ya’yan itace |
55 | seed | iri |
56 | leaf | ganye |
57 | root | saiwa |
58 | bark (of a tree) | ɓawon itace |
59 | flower | fure |
60 | grass | ciyawa |
61 | rope | igiya |
62 | skin | fata |
63 | meat | nama |
64 | blood | jini |
65 | bone | ƙashi |
66 | fat (noun) | ƙiba, mai |
67 | egg | ƙwai |
68 | horn | ƙaho |
69 | tail | wutsiya |
70 | feather | gashin tsuntsu |
71 | hair | suma |
72 | head | kai |
73 | ear | kunne |
74 | eye | ido |
75 | nose | hanci |
76 | mouth | baki |
77 | tooth | haƙori |
78 | tongue (organ) | harshe |
79 | fingernail | farce |
80 | foot | ƙafa |
81 | leg | ƙafa |
82 | knee | gwiwa |
83 | hand | hannu |
84 | wing | fiffike |
85 | belly | ciki |
86 | guts | hanji |
87 | neck | wuya |
88 | back | baya |
89 | breast | nono, ƙirji |
90 | heart | zuciya |
91 | liver | hanta |
92 | to drink | sha |
93 | to eat | ci |
94 | to bite | ciza |
95 | to suck | tsotsa |
96 | to spit | tofa |
97 | to vomit | yi amai |
98 | to blow | busa, hura |
99 | to breathe | yi numfashi |
100 | to laugh | yi dariya |
101 | to see | gani |
102 | to hear | ji |
103 | to know | sani |
104 | to think | yi tsammani |
105 | to smell | sansana |
106 | to fear | tsoro |
107 | to sleep | yi barci |
108 | to live | yi rai |
109 | to die | mutu |
110 | to kill | kashe |
111 | to fight | yi faɗa |
112 | to hunt | yi farauta |
113 | to hit | buga |
114 | to cut | yanka |
115 | to split | raba |
116 | to stab | soka |
117 | to scratch | karce |
118 | to dig | haƙa |
119 | to swim | yi iyo |
120 | to fly | tashi |
121 | to walk | yi tafiya a ƙas |
122 | to come | zo |
123 | to lie (as in a bed) | yi kwanciya (action), kwanta (state) |
124 | to sit | zauna (action, state) |
125 | to stand | miƙe tsaye (action), tsaya (state) |
126 | to turn (intransitive) | juya |
127 | to fall | faɗi |
128 | to give | ba |
129 | to hold | riƙe |
130 | to squeeze | matsa |
131 | to rub | goge |
132 | to wash | wanke |
133 | to wipe | shafa |
134 | to pull | ja |
135 | to push | tura |
136 | to throw | jefa |
137 | to tie | ɗaura |
138 | to sew | ɗinka |
139 | to count | ƙidaya |
140 | to say | ce |
141 | to sing | rera waƙa |
142 | to play | yi wasa |
143 | to float | taso kan ruwa |
144 | to flow | gudana |
145 | to freeze | daskara |
146 | to swell | kumbura |
147 | sun | rana |
148 | moon | wata |
149 | star | tauraro |
150 | water | ruwa |
151 | rain | ruwan sama |
152 | river | kogi |
153 | lake | tabki |
154 | sea | teku |
155 | salt | gishiri |
156 | stone | dutse |
157 | sand | rairayi |
158 | dust | ƙurar ƙasa |
159 | earth | kasa |
160 | cloud | gajimare |
161 | fog | hazo |
162 | sky | sama |
163 | wind | iska |
164 | snow | ƙanƙara |
165 | ice | ayis, galas |
166 | smoke | hayaƙi |
167 | fire | wuta |
168 | ash | toka |
169 | to burn | ƙone |
170 | road | haniya |
171 | mountain | babban dutse |
172 | red | ja |
173 | green | kore |
174 | yellow | rawaya |
175 | white | fari |
176 | black | baƙi |
177 | night | dare |
178 | day | rana, yini |
179 | year | shekara |
180 | warm | mai ɗumi |
181 | cold | mai sanyi |
182 | full | cikakke |
183 | new | sabo |
184 | old | tsoho |
185 | good | mai kyau |
186 | bad | maras kyau |
187 | rotten | ruɓaɓɓe |
188 | dirty | mai dauɗa |
189 | straight | miƙaƙƙe |
190 | round | mai da’ira |
191 | sharp (as a knife) | mai kaifi |
192 | dull (as a knife) | maras kaifi |
193 | smooth | mai santsi |
194 | wet | jiƙaƙƙe |
195 | dry | maras laima |
196 | correct | madaidaici |
197 | near | kusa da |
198 | far | mai nisa |
199 | right | dama |
200 | left | hagu |
201 | at | a, wurin |
202 | in | a, cikin |
203 | with | da |
204 | and | da, kuma |
205 | if | in, idan |
206 | because | don |
207 | name | suna |
- Orthography :
No diacritics showing tones or length of vowels are used; orthography is the one currently used outside the dictionaries.
See also
Bibliography
- Hausa-English English-Hausa Dictionary (Nicholas Awde), Hippocrene Books, New York 1996, →ISBN
- Les langages de l'humanité (Michel Malherbe), Robert Laffont, Paris 1995 - →ISBN
Further reading
- Online English to Hausa dictionary
- G.P. Bargery's monumental Hausa dictionary
- Hausa vocabulary (UCLA)
- University of Vienna/Austria Kamus Hausa Deutsch/German English