This feature allows to generate a graphic representation of the supposed genetic relationships between the language set included in the database, in the form of a genealogical tree (it is also implemented in the StarLing software). The tree picture also includes separation dates for various languages, calculated through standardized glottochronological techniques; additionally, a lexicostatistical matrix of cognate percentages can be produced if asked for.
The tree can be generated by a variety of methods, and you can modify some of the parameters to test various strategies of language classification. The pictures can be saved in different graphic formats and used for presentation or any other purposes.
This option displays the full description for the selected database, including: (a) the complete list of primary and secondary bibliographical sources for the included languages, including brief descriptions of all titles; (b) general notes on said languages, e. g. sociolinguistic information, degree of reliability of sources, notes on grammatical and lexical peculiarities of the languages that may be relevant for the compilation of the lists, etc.; (c) details on the transcription system that was used in the original data sources and its differences from the UTS (Unified Transcription System) transliteration.
This option, when checked, uses a set of different color markers to highlight groups of phonetically similar words in different languages with the same Swadesh meaning.
Phonetic similarity between two different forms is defined in the GLD as a situation in which the aligned consonants of the compared forms (usually the first two) are deemed «similar» to each other. In order for two consonants to be «similar», they have to belong to the same «consonantal class», i.e. a group of sounds that share the same place and a similar manner of articulation. The current grouping of sounds into sound classes can be found here.
Accordingly, the aligned forms undergo a process of «vowel extraction» (all vowels are formally assumed to belong to «class H», together with «weak» laryngeal phonemes), and the individual consonants are then converted to classes, e. g. dog → TK, drink → TRNK (in comparisons, only the first two consonants will be used, so, actually TR), eat → HT (word-initial vowel is equated with lack of consonant or «weak» consonant), fly → PR (l and r belong to the same class) and so on.
If both of the first two consonants of the compared forms are found to correlate, i.e. belong to the same class, the words are deemed similar (e. g. English fly and German fliegen both have the consonantal skeleton PR). If at least one differs, the words are not deemed similar (e. g. English tooth → TT and Old Norse tɔnn → TN, although they are etymological cognates, will not pass the similarity tense because of the second position).
In most cases, checking this option will highlight phonetically similar forms that are also etymological cognates and share the same numeric cognation indexes. Occasionally, however, the checking will also yield «false positives» (accidentally phonetically similar forms that do not share a common origin) and «false negatives» (phonetically dissimilar forms, not highlighted, but actually cognate). It should be noted that one should never expect this method to yield a 100% accurate picture of etymological cognacy. Rather, the method is useful for the following goals: (a) assess the amount of phonetic change that took place between related languages; (b) give a general idea of the degree of closeness of relationship for those languages where phonetic correspondences have not yet been properly established; (c) assess the average number of «chance similarities» that may arise between different languages.
The last task is particularly instructive if the «Highlight...» option is used between two different languages from different databases, i.e. not related to each other or distantly related: in most cases, it will yield around 2-3 accidental color highlights, but occasionally, the count may go as high up as 5 or 6.
This option unfolds all of the notes that accompany the individual forms in the database. Sometimes these notes only consist of a basic reference to the bibliographical source, but at other times, they can be quite expansive, which makes browsing through the wordlist quite cumbersome. By default, the notes stay hidden (each note can also be opened separately by clicking on the sign next to the word).
Balg 1887: 21. The word is used in Gothic both in the meaning of 'totus, whole' (cf. Mtth. 5:29: allata leik þein "all of your body" [Ulfilas 1896: 4]) and 'omnis, every(one)' (cf. Mtth. 9:35: bitauh Iesus baurgs allos "Jesus walked around all the towns" [Ulfilas 1896: 12]).
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 16; Zoega 1910: 10; De Vries 1962: 7. Used both in the meaning of 'totus, whole' (in the sg. form all-r) and in the meaning of 'omnis, every(one)' (in the pl. form all-ir).
Haraldsson 1996: 63; Berkov 1962: 39. Used both in the meaning of 'totus, whole' (in the sg. form allur) and in the meaning of 'omnis, every(one)' (in the pl. form allir).
Young & Clewer 1985: 10. Used both in the meaning of 'totus, whole' (in the sg. form allur) and in the meaning of 'omnis, every(one)' (in the pl. form allir).
Balg 1887: 39. Fem. gender; stem in -n-. Cf. Mtth. 11:21: airis þau in sakkau jah azgon idreigodedeina "they would have repented long ago, in sackcloth and ashes" [Ulfilas 1896: 14].
Young & Clewer 1985: 31. Neuter gender. The masculine form børk-ur [Young & Clewer 1985: 74] is marked as "rare" in the meaning 'bark', but "common" in the meaning 'skin (on boiled milk, paint, varnish and the like)'.
Balg 1887: 528. Fem. gender. Most of the contexts refer to the semantics of 'womb' (referring primarily to the Mother of God), but there are a few passages that confirm the general meaning 'belly' as well, cf. Mk. 7:19: ni galeiþiþ imma in hairto, ak in wamba "it does not enter in his heart, but in his belly" [Ulfilas 1896: 32], etc.
It is somewhat hard to establish the difference between wamb-a and its quasi-synonym qiþus, glossed in [Balg 1887: 229] as 'womb; stomach'. The latter, however, never translates Greek κοιλια 'belly', and is at least once encountered in the precise meaning 'stomach' (body organ rather than body part), cf. I Tim. 5:23: weinis leitil brukjais in qiþaus þeinis "take a little wine for your stomach" [Ulfilas 1896: 204]. It may, therefore, be surmised that wamba referred primarily to the inside part of the body (which is the required Swadesh meaning', whereas qiþus had the polysemous semantics of 'womb / stomach' ('organ inside the belly').
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 364; Zoega 1910: 254; De Vries 1962: 338. Masculine gender. Polysemy: 'belly / womb'. Distinct from magi [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 408], which is predominantly 'stomach' or 'maw', and from vɔmb [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 722] which seems to be a "vulgar" equivalent of 'belly' (Cleasby: "mostly in a low sense, especially of beasts"). Overall, there is some significant contextual overlap between all the three words, but the underlying opposition of 'belly ~ womb', 'stomach', and 'belly (vulg.)' seems to suggest kvið-r as the most eligible candidate (contra [Bergsland & Vogt 1962: 117], where 'belly' is still rendered as magi, whereas kvið-r is glossed as 'less inclusive; womb' - this judgement is not supported well by the data in Cleasby's dictionary, but, perhaps, a more detailed scrutiny is required).
Young & Clewer 1985: 67. Meaning glossed as 'abdomen, stomach, belly; waist; (ballad) body'. The partial synonym magi [Young & Clewer 1985: 372], glossed as 'stomach, belly', seems to be primarily referring to 'stomach' as an organ or to the interior part of the belly. Cf. also kviður 'abdomen, stomach' [Young & Clewer 1985: 327], although this word is never given as the default Faroese equivalent for 'belly' in any of the sources. On the whole, this seems like one of the very few Swadesh items to reflect a lexicostatistical difference between Icelandic and Faroese.
Arakin 2000: I, 520; Berkov 2006: 229. "Traditional Bokmål": màve (Danish-influenced form). Polysemy: 'belly / stomach'. Distinct from buk 'belly (of animal)', used also of persons in a vulgar sense [Arakin 2000: I, 146; Berkov 2006: 229].
Krymova et al. 2000: 418; Harrit & Harrit 2002: 105. Polysemy: 'stomach / belly / bowels'. Another synonym is bug [Krymova et al. 2000: 103], usually seen as a more vulgar (and statistically less frequent) equivalent (see the same situation carried over to Bokmål Norwegian). The word abdomen, listed as another equivalent for 'belly' in [Harrit & Harrit 2002: 105], is a specialized anatomical term.
Marklund-Sharapova 2007a: 436; Marklund-Sharapova 2007b: 154. Polysemy: 'stomach / belly'. Definite form: mag-e-n. Plural: mag-ar. Another synonym is buk [Marklund-Sharapova 2007a: 95], but it seems to be confined to the "vulgar" register, as in Danish.
Haraldsson 1996: 38; Berkov 1962: 709. Cf. also mikill 'big' [Berkov 1962: 448]. In Old Norse (cf. notes) the semantic difference between mikill and storr is still rather smudged, but in Modern Icelandic stór seems to have firmly stabilized as the default "neutral" equivalent, whereas mikill is used more generally in the abstract sense ('great', 'important', etc.). That said, this is a situation of lexical replacement from Proto-Germanic to Modern Icelandic rather than to Old Norse, where the old word is still competing with the new one.
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 596; Zoega 1910: 411; De Vries 1962: 551. The difference between mikill and stoːrr in Old Norse texts is difficult to formalize; overall, from a historical point of view it seems that we are dealing with a case of "transit synonymy", where the original word (mikill) is gradually shifting to the marked ("magnificative") meaning 'great', replaced by the new word (stoːrr) in the basic (neutral) meaning 'big'. However, it cannot be stated with certainty at which precise chronological point the transition was already complete (or, at least, requires very detailed textual research); therefore, we include both words as "quasi-synonyms".
Balg 1887: 50. Attested in just a single context, but quite reliable, since it translates Greek δακνω 'to bite': Galat. 5:15: iþ jabai izwis misso beitiþ jah fairinoþ "and if you keep biting and accusing each other..." [Ulfilas 1896: 169].
Balg 1887: 415. Attested only once, but in a reliable passage, Mtth. 5:36: ni magt ain tagl hweit aiþþau swart gataujan "you cannot make a single hair white or black". A derived noun is also attested in II Cor. 3:3: swart-izl 'ink (= that which is black)' [Ulfilas 1896: 415].
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 607; Zoega 1910: 419; De Vries 1962: 565. This seems to have been the most basic and neutral equivalent for 'black' in Old Norse. Much less eligible for inclusion are: (a) blakk-r (cf. in [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 67]: "svartr ... represents the Lat. niger; while blakkr corresponds to the Lat. ater 'dead or dusky black'"), translated as 'black, dun-coloured' in [Zoega 1910: 56] and as 'pale; yellow-brownish (of horses)' in [De Vries 1962: 42]; and (b) blaːr, translated as 'dark blue, livid' [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 68] (applied to lead, among other things); 'blue, livid; black' in [Zoega 1910: 57]; 'blue, dark, black' in [De Vries 1962: 42]. Both of these adjectives seem to refer to various dark shades of color, but not to the proverbial 'black' as such.
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 69; Zoega 1910: 59; De Vries 1962: 44. Neuter gender. Distinct from the somewhat more specialized word dreyri, defined in [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 106] as "blood, esp. gore; properly 'blood oozing out of the wound'" (corresp. to Latin cruor rather than sanguis); as "blood, gore" in [Zoega 1910: 95].
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 55; Zoega 1910: 45; De Vries 1962: 30. Neuter gender. Polysemy: 'bone / leg (from the knee to the foot)' (according to Cleasby, the latter meaning is very rare in Icelandic texts).
Young & Clewer 1985: 34. Neuter gender. Polysemy: 'leg / limb / bone / dead body, corpse (pl.)'. Additional synonym: knota 'bone, ossicle' [Young & Clewer 1985: 309]. Various contexts and sources show that the old word bein is still the default equivalent for the Swadesh meaning.
Arakin 2000: I, 90; Berkov 2006: 355. Definite form: be(i)n-et. The orthographic variant ben is marked as "traditional Bokmål" in [Berkov 2006] (i. e. identified as a Danish-influenced form), while the "standard" form is given as bein, reflecting a more colloquial Norwegian pronunciation. However, [Arakin 2000] clearly identifies the "default" Bokmål variant as ben. Clearly a mixed situation here; we list both variants as primary.
Krymova et al. 2000: 336; Harrit & Harrit 2002: 160. Definite form: knogl-en. The situation here is complex: most modern dictionaries give two equivalents for the meaning 'bone' - the German borrowing knogle as well as the older ben [Krymova et al. 2000: 67]. However, analysis of various contexts shows that the main meaning of ben in modern Danish is undeniably 'leg'; in the meaning 'bone' it is usually only encountered in bound expressions, compounds, as well as the secondary meaning 'bone (material)' rather than 'bone (part of skeleton)'. It seems safe to assume that ben is no longer truly eligible for inclusion on the Swadesh wordlist and should be replaced by knogle.
Balg 1887: 62. Attested in the literal meaning only once, but in a reliable context that clearly refers to '(male) chest': Lu. 18:13: sa motareis... sloh in brusts seinos... "this publican... beat his breast" [Ulfilas 1896: 86]. Several other contexts feature the figurative meaning 'inside, inner senses, heart', e. g. Fil. 20: anaþrafstei meinos brusts in Xristau "refresh my bowels in the Lord" [Ulfilas 1896: 213]. Should be stricly distinguished from barm-s 'lap, bosom' [Ulfilas 1896: 45].
Young & Clewer 1985: 62. Neuter gender. Applicable both to 'male breast' ('chest') and 'female breast'. Secondary synonym: bringa 'breast; chest' [Young & Clewer 1985: 61], applicable primarily to male chests. However, evidence that would suggest the lexical usage of these two terms is significantly different from Icelandic is lacking.
Balg 1887: 59. This is a regular causative formation from the intransitive verb brinn-an [Balg 1887: 61], but it is not attested on its own without certain modifying prefixes, e. g. ga=brann-yan in I Cor. 13:3 (jabai atgibau leik mein ei gabrannjaidau "if I give away my body to be burnt" [Ulfilas 1896: 142]). Still, there is little reason to doubt that this root was the main equivalent for 'to burn (tr.)' in Gothic, given that this is the only attested candidate that, additionally, is well supported by external evidence.
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 79; Zoega 1910: 69; De Vries 1962: 56. Both transitive and intransitive meanings are attested. Distinct from sviːð-a 'to burn, to singe; to smart, burn (of a wound)' [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 612].
Haraldsson 1996: 191; Berkov 1962: 92. Used in both transitive and intransitive functions. Distinct from the quasi-synonym svíða 'to burn, to singe, to scorch' [Berkov 1962: 736].
Balg 1887: 282. Masc. gender; stem in -n- (the final element -ma(n-) is a complex nominal suffix). Cf. Mk. 9:7: warþ milhma jah ufarskadwida ins "there came a cloud and overshadowed them" [Ulfilas 1896: 76].
Arakin 2000: II, 202; Berkov 2006: 504. Definite form: sky-en. According to [Bergsland & Vogt 1962: 117], this form is borrowed from Swedish (technically, it could also be of Danish origin, since both Swedish and Danish preserve original sk-, whereas in colloquial Norwegian sk- > sy-).
Marklund-Sharapova 2007a: 461; Marklund-Sharapova 2007b: 361. Definite form: moln-et. In modern Swedish, this seems to be the basic equivalent for 'cloud' rather than sky, going back to the common Scandinavian equivalent for 'cloud': this latter term is glossed as 'thin and light cloud' in [Marklund-Sharapova 2007b: 361] and, with polysemy, as 'cloud, small cloud / Heavens' in [Marklund-Sharapova 2007a: 651].
Balg 1887: 225. Cf. Mtth. 6:10: qimai þindinassus þeins "let Your kingdom come" [Ulfilas 1896: 6]; used passim all over the text, either all by itself or in combination with various directional prefixes (ana=kʷim-an, etc.).
Preserved in Crimean Gothic: kommen 'come' [Costello 1973: 486].
Balg 1887: 68. Cf. Mtth. 8:32: jah gadauþnodedun in watnam "and they (the pigs) perished (died) in the water" [Ulfilas 1896: 10]; Mk. 9:48: þarei maþa ize ni gadauþniþ "where their worm does not die" [Ulfilas 1896: 38]. A prefixal formation from the unattested simple verb *dɔːθ-n-an, which is, itself, a derivative from the noun dauθ-s 'death' [Balg 1887: 68]. The even older and simpler verbal base diw- 'to die', from which dauθ-s was derived already in Proto-Germanic, is only preserved in Gothic in the archaic idiom þata diw-ano "that which is mortal, mortality" [Balg 1887: 72].
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 99; Zoega 1910: 88; De Vries 1962: 76. Cf. the past tense form: doː. Secondary synonym: svelt-a [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 609], with polysemy: 'to starve, suffer hunger / to die'. According to Cleasby, "this sense (to die), which agrees with the use in Gothic and Anglo-Saxon, is disused in the Northern language and remains only in poetry". It seems that (probably just as in the other ancient Germanic languages) we are dealing here with a euphemistic equivalent of the original 'to die', which failed to acquire basic status in Old Norse.
Balg 1887: 421. Without accompanying prefixes, attested only once, in Lc. 8:42: jah so swalt "and she was dying" [Ulfilas 1896: 73]. Much more frequently used with the prefix ga=, cf. Mtth. 9:24: ni gaswalt so mawi "this maid is not dead" [Ulfilas 1896: 11]; Mk. 12:22: spedumista allaize gaswalt jah so qens "last of all, the woman also died" [Ulfilas 1896: 43].
Although (ga=)swilt-an is attested in the text of Ulfilas much more frequently than ga=dauθ-n-an, it is impossible to establish a transparent semantic difference between the two. There are at least several instances in which both words are found in adjacent contexts, translating the same Greek equivalent. For instance, the phrase "where their worm does not die" is translated as þarei maþa ize ni gadauþniþ in Mtth. 9:48, but as þarei maþa ize ni gaswiltiþ in Mtth. 9:44 and 9:46 [Ulfilas 1896: 37]. It is highly likely that one of the words is a "regular" equivalent and the other one is a "stylistic" (euphemistic, polite, etc.) equivalent, but there is hardly any way, based on internal Gothic evidence, to determine which is which. We include both words in the list as "technical" synonyms.
Balg 1887: 184. Masc. gender; a-stem. Cf. Lc. 16:21: jah hundos atrinnandans bilaigodedun banjos is "and the dogs ran up and licked his sores" [Ulfilas 1896: 84].
Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 292; Zoega 1910: 215; De Vries 1962: 267. Masculine gender. Secondary synonym: rakk-i [Cleasby & Vigfusson 1874: 181] (probably "a sort of dog" rather than a generic term for dogs).
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