Dolgopolsky list
The Dolgopolsky list is a word list compiled by Aharon Dolgopolsky in 1964. It lists the 15 lexical items that have the most semantic stability, i.e. they are the 15 words least likely to be replaced by other words as a language evolves. It was based on a study of 140 languages from across Eurasia.
The words, arranged from most stable to least stable, are:
- I/me
- two/pair
- you (singular, informal)
- who/what
- tongue
- name
- eye
- heart
- tooth
- no/not
- nail (finger-nail)
- louse/nit
- tear/teardrop
- water
- dead
The first item in the list, I/me, has been replaced in none of the 140 languages during their recorded history; the fifteenth, dead, has been replaced in 25% of the languages.
The term ”nit / louse” is well kept in the North Caucasian languages, Dravidian and Turkic, but not in other proto-languages.
See also
References
- Trask, Robert Lawrence (2000). The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics. p. 96.