>But a Swadesh list by convention must be restricted to one dialect (in this
>case standard Romanian),
Well, then in standard (i.e. ... artificial :-)) Romanian, <femeie> is the
most common word; otherwise rather <muiere> and... <fumeie> + <fimeie>.
>and give only one form (the most common, "normal" one) per entry.
Yeah, but look at <odorare, annusare>; <craindre, avoir peur>;
<frukta, rädas>; <dividere, separare>; <scindere, partiri>;
<asciutto, secco>; <aguzzo, afillato>; <agudo, afilato>.
BTW: <sharp> -- Lat. <acer>. But Rum. <acru> means "sour". So, if I
include <iute> for "sharp" (e.g. in chili con carne), then I have to drop
<acru>, and no one sees this reflex of <acer>. (On top of that, of course
that all kind of... acritudes must be... acid and... sour. :-)
> >>person om
> >
> >?!?
>
>I'm not a native speaker. In Spanish, <hombre> is the general term for man
>and human being.
That's <om> in Romanian. But Engl. <person> is Rum. <persoana>. (And
<male> is <barbat> in Romanian; <om> gets this meaning only in certain
cases, yet hardly in the stiffest standard style. :-))
>You must choose one. Now that you mention it, I guess <pom> is more common
>than <arbore>?
I'd say (1) <copac>, (2) <pom> (this one is rather specialized, i.e., fruit
tree;
except for <pom de iarna> verbatim "winter tree," which is the Xmas fir-tree;
(3) arbore.
>Miguel
George
[I mean that these Swadesh lists cannot take into consideration various
semantic shifts & style (i.e. social & regional aspects), but which are very
important for showing closeness. For example Italian vs Romanian: <donna>
- <femeie>: the Rum. counterpart for the Italian word is... <doamna>
"lady; Mrs."; whereas Rum. <muiere> "woman" vs. Ital. <moglie> "wife."
Or take Engl. <wife> vs. German <Weib & Wi:p> "woman" (plus a pejorative
connotation in certain stylistic circumstances, in contrast with <Frau>).]