Learn about Prussian grammar and derivation through Wikipedia test page on Esperanto

The Prussian Wikipedia test has a new page here, on Esperanto. It starts out with a typical explanation of the language, but soon gets into prefixes and suffixes, which for anyone who knows Esperanto provides a good insight into Prussian grammar. Some interesting examples:

dormi (to sleep) --> migītwei; ekdormi (to begin to sleep) --> enmigtwei
aŭdi (to hear) --> kirdītun; misaŭdi (to mishear) --> blāndewingi kirdītun
skribi (to write) --> peisātun; reskribi (to rewrite) --> preipeisātan
legi (to read) --> skaitātun; legebla (readable) --> mazīngiskas prei skaitāsnan
alta (high) --> alteco (height) --> aūktan
pordo (door) --> wartā; pordeto (small door) --> wartikā
domo (house) --> buttan; domoj (houses) --> butāi; domojn (houses + acc.) --> buttans
estu (be!) --> seī!

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JAXA's excellent video on Venus and Akatsuki

JAXA has once again done an excellent PR job in this video for its newest probe, Akatsuki:



The same video can be seen in Japanese as well, with the exact same length and makeup.



What I'm most looking forward to after Akatsuki's arrival will be determining just why superrotation occurs in the area some 50 km above the surface of the planet, since this is the most Earth-like area in the entire solar system; nowhere else can one find both temperature and atmospheric pressure similar to our own at sea level. This area is both one where humans could potentially live (in aerostats that float due to the air we breathe being less dense than the Venusian atmosphere), but also an area that could potentially harbor life as well.

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Wikipedia in Catalan now over 250,000 articles

See:



At the same time its linguistic cousin (Occitan) is at a bit less than a tenth that number, now at 21,925.

One area where Catalan seems to be lacking compared to its population though is here on Ted.com, where a mere 11 talks have been translated.

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21 Lutetia, WISE and Dawn

Not much has happened in the past few days, but there are a few things coming up in the next two weeks that should be interesting. The first is guaranteed to be interesting: Rosetta is now just 12 days away from its encounter with the large asteroid 21 Lutetia, so there are only a few days left where this is our highest resolution image of it:


WISE is also on the cusp of having surveyed the whole sky once, as can be seen here. Right now total progress is 94%, so only those tiny blue strips have not yet been seen by the infrared telescope.


As for when WISE will begin announcing the bevy of brown dwarf stars it is able to find is uncertain, but it's likely that they will send out a press release after reaching 100% in order to explain how the process of confirming discoveries works, how many brown dwarf candidates (i.e. suspected but unconfirmed) it has so far, etc.

I last wrote about Dawn here a month ago when it finally reached the point where it was closer to Vesta (its first target) than Mars which it had flown by previously, and since then it has gone from a distance of 0.4272 AU to the present 0.3308 AU:

That's now 49.5 million km, 128 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. NASA considers any approach within 80 times that distance to be a close approach, so another two months or so should bring it in to within that distance. Then Dawn will bring its orbit closer and closer to that of Vesta, reaching a point where just the slightest nudge will suffice to capture it and begin its surveying mission.

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Contributing to Wikisource: another good way to learn a language

Depending on the language Wikisource can be a good place to get some practice in while aiding the language you are studying as well. Some Wikisources such as the one in French have a ton of content to type up as well as a setup that makes it easy to contribute. This page for example shows a list of books that have not been typed up yet, and then after clicking on one of the books you are then taken to a page showing which pages of the book have been typed, which have been typed and checked by another user, and so on. Some of the books are quite old (16th century even) and have different orthography. Here's one page as an example. German texts will also often be written in Fraktur. The Norwegian Wikisource feels a bit weird considering how similar old texts are to Danish, even more than modern Norwegian is.

Unfortunately each Wikisource is set up in a different way so it's not always easy to find exactly where to begin contributing. Sometimes the best way will be to check out the recent changes to see what other users are working on at the moment and then go from there.

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Did I just see the ISS?

The ISS is especially visible at the moment as its course is now taking it along the area between day and night, and this results in a lot of sightings per day as well as extra visibility due to the sunlight reflecting off it. It's 7:40 pm here in Seoul, and I left the house for a bit to see a sighting that was supposed to happen now:

Date	Starts			Max. Altitude			Ends
	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.
26 Jun	03:44:37	10	NW	03:47:26	43	NNE	03:50:20	10	ESE
26 Jun	05:21:00	10	W	05:22:32	13	SW	05:24:05	10	SSW
26 Jun	20:11:33	10	SSW	20:14:04	27	SE	20:16:36	10	ENE
26 Jun	21:46:58	10	W	21:49:23	23	NNW	21:51:50	10	NNE
27 Jun	02:36:30	10	NNW	02:38:39	18	NNE	02:40:48	10	ENE
27 Jun	04:11:18	10	WNW	04:14:07	43	SW	04:16:58	10	SSE
27 Jun	20:37:45	10	WSW	20:40:34	66	NW	20:43:32	10	NE
27 Jun	22:15:36	10	NW	22:16:27	11	NNW	22:17:19	10	N
28 Jun	03:02:38	10	NW	03:05:29	50	NE	03:08:25	10	ESE
28 Jun	04:39:30	10	WSW	04:40:32	11	SW	04:41:33	10	SSW
28 Jun	19:29:26	10	SSW	19:32:04	32	SE	19:34:43	10	ENE

(the one at the bottom - see heavens-above.com for passes over your area)

but it's still quite bright right now and a bit hazy so I didn't expect a sighting. I did notice something that looked like an airplane though...and it happened to traverse the exact same route the ISS was supposed to, vanishing at exactly 7:35 pm. The last time I saw the ISS was around February 2009, and since then there has been quite a bit of construction:

- New solar arrays (these are the biggest change in terms of visibility)
- Japanese Exposed Facility
- Poisk
- ExPRESS Logistics Carrier
- Cupola, Tranquility (Node 3)
- Rassvet

So maybe it was the ISS. Seoul will have another pass in two hours so assuming the weather is clear enough I'll find out then whether the ISS has really become this visible over the past year and a half.

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Some example sentences in Dingwa

Dingwa is still the least complete of the four Indo-European IALs, but since its grammar is also ridiculously easy (especially if you know an Altaic or similar language) I've decided to try my hand at writing up a few sentences from the existing vocabulary, about 400 words or so. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for how to use two verbs in a sentence (I want to go, he plans to sleep, etc.) but you can still write quite a bit if you're willing to stay within what vocabulary there already is. Here are my first attempts at writing in the language:

Kuwam widis? -- What do you see?

Newam wido. -- I see nothing.

Ne estu, tostu wide. Owjaim ne widis, jewai djuwasu peten? -- Not here, look there. Don't you see the birds that fly in the sky?

Ah, towei owjaim? Trijei owjaim wido. -- Ah, those birds? I see three birds.

Dina gumaawit, arukas domado ejaawomos. -- Day dawned (day came); we went to the plowman's house.

Sit tuwas snuba esiso, tuwage piskam daniso, tuwas kerdam gurmaagiso, tuwakom snajiso, soluja tuwam lubisen. -- If I am your spouse (if I become your spouse), I will give you fish, I will warm your heart, I will swim with you, everyone will love you.

Kustu gelostei morja 'sit? -- Where is the coldest sea?

Mento, Surdei Morja gelostei morja 'sit. -- I think the Black Sea is the coldest.

Ma Surdei Morjam sousaagisen. -- But they're going to dry the Black Sea.

Nedu. Surdei Morjam lubomes i onaim moraagisomes. Eje, onaikom ukwe ma sit morjam sousaagen, onaim moraage. Towei morja nais gwiwa 'sit. -- Never. We love the Black Sea and we will kill them. Go, talk with them but if they dry the sea, kill them. That sea is our life.

Egam danken! -- They're biting me!

Sit ne swopaawis tuwam ne dankaawen. I memsabi swam ne nigwe. -- If you didn't sleep they wouldn't have bitten you (if you didn't sleep they didn't bite you). And don't wash yourself with meat.

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Swadesh list for English, Lithuanian, Dingwa, Sambahsa, Prussian

Today I received an email from the creator of Dingwa, the (as far as I know) fourth tier of the IALs based on Indo-European vocabulary. The four are: Modern Indo-European (reconstructed, no holds barred), Sambahsa (somewhat reconstructed yet simplified, uses vocabulary from non-IE sources as well where needed), Dingwa (schematic yet with a very non-Eurocreole grammar), and Uropi (IE vocabulary but with a grammar very much resembling English and vocabulary uses modern forms instead of original PIE).

Out of those four then, the languages one would expect to resemble each other the most in terms of vocabulary are Dingwa and Sambahsa, so I've put them next to each other on the list. You can see that at the beginning of the list where pronouns are common they hardly resemble each other at all, but nouns resemble each other quite a bit, and verbs even more so. I've put cognates in bold, as well as where they are cognate in Lithuanian and Prussian as well, or the obvious cognates at least. Some of the words in the list are a bit iffy, kind of obvious when pointed out but perhaps not so much without any hints, so the bolding is a bit subjective. Since Dingwa is the newest addition to the list and thus the focus of attention, all the words in bold are where they resemble Dingwa.

No	English	Lithuanian	Dingwa	Sambahsa	Prussian
1	I	aš	ega, mena	ego, io	as
2	you, thou	Jūs, tu	twa	yu, tu	jūs, tū
3	he	jis	ona	is	tāns
4	we	mes	noi	wey	mes
5	you (pl.)	Jūs	woi	yu	jūs
6	they	jie, jos	onai	ies, ias, ia, i
7	this	šis	ejei	so, sa, tod	šis
8	that	tas, anas	onei	cis, cia, cid	stas
9	here	čia	edi	her
10	there	ten	odi	ter	stwen
11	who	kas	kja	qui(s), qua, quel	kas
12	what	kas	kwa	quod	ka
13	where	kur	kudi	quer	kwēi
14	when	kada	kudu	quan(do)	kaddan
15	how	kaip	kulku, kunsu	kam, quosmed	kāigi, kāi
16	not	ne ...	ne	ne	ni
17	all	viskas, visi	solwei	vasyo, hol, quant	wiss
18	many	daug	polwei	maung	tūlin
19	some	kažkiek	(use genitive)	sem	ainuntkawīds
20	few	keletas	pewei	pau(k)	mazzan
21	other	kitas	aljei	alyo, alter	kits
22	one	vienas	oinei	oin	aīns
23	two	du	dwei	dwo	dwāi
24	three	trys	trijei	tri	trīs
25	four	keturi	kweturei	quar	ketturei
26	five	penki	penkwei	penk(we)	pēnkei
27	big *	didelis	meglei	mier	debiks
28	long *	ilgas	dolgei	long	ilgs
29	wide	platus	urwei	weur	plattus
30	thick	storas, tankus, tirštas	bangwei, tegwei	teug	kāmstu
31	heavy	sunkus	gurnei	gwaur	brendus
32	small *	mažas	minwei, pulei	smulk	līkuts
33	short	trumpas	morgwei, skortei	cort	īnss
34	narrow	siauras	angwei	angh	anzuks
35	thin	plonas	tenwei, spalei	teun	lāils
36	woman *	moteris	guna	gwen(a)	genā
37	man (adult male)	vyras	nera	wir	wīrs
38	man * (human being)	žmogus	wira	mensc	zmūnenawins
39	kid	vaikas	putla	magv	malnīks
40	wife	žmona	snuba, guna	gvibh, esor	genā
41	husband	vyras	snuba, nera	mann	salūbawīrs
42	mother	motina	matra	mater	mūti
43	father	tėvas	patra	pater	tāws
44	animal	gyvulys	gurja, pekwa	animal	zwīrs
45	fish *	žuvis	piska	pisk	zuks
46	bird *	paukštis	owja	av	pippelis
47	hound *	šuo	kwona	kwaun	skalanīks
48	louse *	utėlė	lusa	lus
49	snake	gyvatė	serpa	serpent	āngs
50	worm	kirminas	werma	vehrm	kīrms
51	beam *	medis	spona	dru	laukstītwei
52	forest	miškas	widuwa	forest	meddin
53	stick	lazda	ponkra	gazd	lagzdē
54	fruit	vaisius	pola	fruit	wēisis
55	seed *	sėkla	semena	semen	sīmen
56	leaf *	lapas	bolja	warak	lappan
57	root *	šaknis	urda	raudh	saknis
58	bark * (from tree)	žievė	korta	corce	lātwei
59	flower	gėlė	blosa, anda	flor	kwēitis
60	grass	žolė	gorba	gras	zālis
61	rope	virvė	rezga	seil	wīrbi
62	skin *	oda	skuta, pelna	cuit	keūtā
63	meat	mėsa	memsa, krowa	miems	mēnsa
64	blood *	kraujas	esna	sehrg	krāujā
65	bone *	kaulas	ostja	ost	kaūlin
66	fat * (n.)	riebalai	smorsa	selp, smeru	instran
67	egg *	kiaušinis	owjeka	oiv	pāuts
68	horn *	ragas	kerna	horn	rags
69	tail *	uodega	dokla	swayp	stags
70	feather *	plunksna	petra	ptor	plāugzda
71	hair *	plaukai	pila	kays	skebbelis
72	head *	galva		cap	galwā
73	ear *	ausis	ausa	aur	āuss
74	eye *	akis	okwja	ok	aks
75	nose *	nosis	nosa	nas	nāsī
76	mouth *	burna	osa	stohm	āustā
77	tooth *	dantis	donta	dent	dānts
78	tongue *	liežuvis	dingwa	dingv	inzuws
79	fingernail	nagas	nogla	onkh	naguttis
80	foot *	pėda	poda	ped	pīda
81	leg	koja	krusa	jamb	nagē
82	knee *	kelis	gonwa	genu	klupstis
83	hand *	ranka	gersa	hand	rānkā
84	wing	sparnas	petsna	pterg	skreīlis
85	belly *	pilvas	belga	gventer	wīders
86	guts	viduriai	entai	inster	grābs
87	neck *	kaklas	monja	coll	winzus
88	back	nugara	kruga	regv	rīkisna
89	breast *	krūtis	brusa	pizdan	kreklin
90	heart *	širdis	kerda	kerd	sīran, sīr
91	liver *	kepenys	jekna	lyekwrnt	jaknā
92	drink *	gerti	pojit	poh	pūtun
93	eat *	valgyti	edit	edd	īstun
94	bite *	kąsti	dankit	dehnk	kanstun
95	suck	čiulpti	delit	seug	dītun
96	spit	spjauti	spujit	spieu	wemtwei
97	vomit	vemti	wemit	vomeih	spjāuwan
98	blow	pūsti	blajit	blah	aupūstan
99	breathe	kvėpuoti	anit	annem	dwestwei
100	laugh	juoktis	wridit	gleih	smeītun si
101	see *	matyti	widit	vid	wīdātun
102	hear *	girdėti	klujit	aur	kirdītun
103	know * (a fact)	žinoti	gignit	woid	waīstun
104	think	galvoti	mentit	mehn	mīritwei
105	smell	uosti	odmam anit	neus	ōstun
106	fear	bijoti	bimit	bay	bijjā (only has noun)
107	sleep *	miegoti	swopit	swehp	migītwei
108	live	gyventi	gwiwit	gwiv	gīwītwei
109	die *	mirti	morit	mehr, daunet, nehc	aulaūtwei
110	kill *	žudyti	moraagit	xehn, neic	galīntun
111	fight	kovoti	judit	katue, weigh	ūlintwei
112	hunt	medžioti	woitam kurit	sayd, gverue, agrue	medāni (noun)
113	hit	smogti	slakit, butit	heih, plag, stuned	kīrstun
114	cut	pjauti, kirpti	skijit	(oi)(s)kehrz, seg	pjaūtun
115	split	skelti	skidit	scinesd, finesd	spīltun
116	stab	durti	pugit	dyehgw	none, but pierce - praīmtun
117	scratch	drėksti, brėžti	drnit	graz	glāubtun
118	dig	kasti, rausti	grobit	food, grabh, (oi)(s)kav	kaptun
119	swim *	plaukti	snajit	snah	plūtwei
120	fly * (v.)	skristi	petit	pleuk	skrāistwei
121	walk *	eiti	wadit	ghang	ēitwei
122	come *	ateiti	gumit	gwehm	perēitwei
123	lie *	gulti, gulėti	drugit	lyehg	lanzītwei
124	sit *	sėsti, sėdėti	sedit	sedd	sīndītwei, sīstwei
125	stand *	stoti, stovėti	stanit	stah	stalītwei
126	turn	apsisukti	kulit	wehrt	wartīntun
127	fall	kristi	kidit, rujit	fall	krūtwei
128	give *	duoti	danit	dah	dātun
129	hold	laikyti	derit	dehrj	laikātun
130	squeeze	spausti, gręžti	uskit	sehr	ebglabtun
131	rub	trinti	terit	ghneih, tyehr	draztun
132	wash	plauti, skalbti	nigwit	lav	mūtun
133	wipe	šluoti	tergit	tierg
134	pull	traukti	dukit	trag	wīlktun
135	push	stumti	tudit	pusc	tālkātun
136	throw	mesti	jejit	xeubh	mestun
137	tie	rišti	nedit	behnd	ristun
138	sew	siūti	sjuwit	syuh	šūtun
139	count	skaičiuoti	rimit	lehg, conte	gīrbautun
140	say *	sakyti	ukwit	sayg	gērdautun
141	sing	dainuoti	kanit	sehngv	gremtun
142	play	žaisti	ludit	leik	spīlitun
143	float	plūduriuoti	pluwit	flotte	langītwei
144	flow	tekėti	srowit	sreu	tektwei
145	freeze	šalti	prusit	frehs	pasallintun
146	swell	tinti	tumit	teum	belztwei
147	sun *	saulė	solna	sol	saūli
148	moon *	mėnulis	menesa	meun	mīniks
149	star *	žvaigždė	stera	star	lāuksnā
150	water *	vanduo	udra	wed	undan
151	rain *	lietus	suva	seuy	sūji
152	river	upė	srowa	sreumen	appi
153	lake	ežeras	egera, moritsa	lac	azzaran
154	sea	jūra	morja	mar	jūris
155	salt	druska	salna	sald	sāls
156	stone *	akmuo	kagla	petra	stabs
157	sand *	smėlis	molma	sand	zigzdā
158	dust	dulkės	molmitsa	duil	pūslē
159	earth *	žemė	degmena	ardh, (di)ghom	zemē
160	cloud *	debesis	nebesa	nebh	uppin
161	fog	rūkas	migla	nebule	none, but misty = kupsīniskas
162	sky	dangus	djuwa	waurn	dāngs
163	wind	vėjas	veja	wind	wītra
164	snow	sniegas	snigwa	sneigv	snāigs
165	ice	ledas	pruswa	glehdj	lads
166	smoke *	dūmai	duma	dum	dūms
167	fire *	ugnis	ognja	ogwn, piurn	pannu, ugnis
168	ashes *	pelenai	degura	bur, ascha, kenis	pelanni
169	burn *	degti	indit	aydh	deggintun
170	road *	kelias	soda	strad	grīnsli (roadway)
171	mountain *	kalnas	kolna	ghyor(a)	gārbs
172	red *	raudonas	redrei	rudh	wūrmis
173	green *	žalias	gelnei	glend	zallis
174	yellow *	geltonas	glorei	gehlb	geltaīns
175	white *	baltas	albei	albh (kweit)	gaīls
176	black *	juodas	surdei	sword	kīrsnas
177	night *	naktis	nokta	noct	nakts
178	day	diena	dina	dien	dēinā
179	year	metai	wetsa	yar	mettan
180	warm *	šiltas	gurmei	warm	tappis
181	cold *	šaltas	gelei	srig	saltan
182	full *	pilnas	polnei	plen	pilns
183	new *	naujas	newei	nov	naws
184	old	senas	senekei	veut	wūrs
185	good *	geras	mirei, su-	sell, gohd, dohbro	labs
186	bad	blogas	dusei	khiter, khak, (s)mal	wārgs
187	rotten	supuvęs	putei	saup	rot (noun) - trustis
188	dirty	nešvarus, purvinas	mowei	murdar	mīlins
189	straight	tiesiai	ordwei	seid	tìkriskas
190	round *	apskritas	lobei, kurwei	rund	skrits
191	sharp	aštrus	skirei, tigei	ak	astars, aīkuls
192	dull	bukas	duntei	stump	preiilgewingis
193	smooth	glotnus	glodei	glat, sliv	līgus
194	wet	drėgnas	mudei, medrei	smeu	mārks, wilgs
195	dry *	sausas	sousei	siuk	sāuss
196	correct	teisingas	rektei	prabh, correct	tikkars
197	near	arti, šalia	adei, u, ulegontei	prokwem	taūws
198	far	toli	postanontei, wiitei	dalg	tāls
199	right	dešinė	deksnei	dexter	tikrōms
200	left	kairė	laiwei	levter	kāirs
201	at	į	u + locative	ad	prēi
202	in	į	en	in	ēn
203	with	su	sun, -kom + instrumental	con
204	and	ir	i, kwe	ed	be, aīnat
205	if	jei	sit	sei, an, kwe(ter)	ik, ikkai
206	because	nes, kadangi	eru	ob	beggi, paggan
207	name *	vardas	nomena	nam	emmens

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Economic effect of winning at the World Cup (in Korea)

Here's an interesting article in Korean reporting on research done on the economic effect of winning at the World Cup in Korea. Korea on the whole is somewhat interested in football/soccer but one certainly couldn't call it a football-loving country, but since hosting the World Cup in 2002 the four-year event has taken on the mood of a national celebration. According to the article getting into the Round of 16 resulted in a 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) direct and indirect economic bonus, including not only direct sales but also brand recognition, an amount equivalent to the yearly sales of semiconductors by Samsung Electronics. The reason why Samsung is referenced here is because the research was carried out by the Samsung Economics Institute (삼성경제연구소). In comparison, the economic benefit from the 2002 World Cup was 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion). No detailed information is given in the article so I would take the numbers with a grain of salt, but as a very general figure it may be worth remembering.

Korea lost to Uruguay yesterday though so the mood today is more that of a hangover.

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Exoplanet news roundup

There has been quite a bit of exoplanet news over the past few days so here are a few stories in a single post. Given how many candidates have been put forth by Kepler (700 or so) as well as the other 400 or so that the Kepler team itself is now investigating, perhaps in a short time every story on exoplanets will have to contain news on much more than one in a manner similar to asteroid discoveries of today. WISE alone discovers a few dozen every single day.

First of all we have the discovery of a fourth planet around Gliese 876 with a mass similar to that of Ouranos (Uranus). Now the Gliese 876 system we know about looks like this:


Much more interesting than this though is this new technique developed that will enable Earth-like planets to be discovered much more easily. It's a technique called a nulling inferemoter that uses observations from four telescopes to completely cancel out the light from the star, making planets orbiting it that much easier to see.

This article on exoplanets has a line I consider to be quoteworthy:

After all, anthropocentric belief is not that appalling, if we regard ourselves as part of the nature along with whatever we find. As the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson noted, "We are in the universe and the universe is in us."

This is a question that comes up every once in a while - "doesn't thinking about the vastness of space make a person feel small and insignificant?" The full quote from Neil deGrasse Tyson is:

"The knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on earth - the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars- the high mass ones among them- went unstable in their later years- they collapsed and then exploded- scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy- guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems- stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up- many people feel small, cause their small and the universe is big. But I feel big because my atoms came from those stars. "

Finally, an article here on brown dwarf stars and habitability. This is a crucial subject since it's very likely that we'll find one or more of them in our neighborhood, closer even than Alpha Centauri.

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Prussian now kind of has its own Wikipedia

Back in 2008 a request was made for a Wikipedia in Prussian, which was then rejected due to having been extinct since the 18th century. Interesting logic considering that Wikipedia is available in Anglo-Saxon, Gothic, Latin, and so on. But since that was the decision made, the only option for Prussian was to start its own Wikipedia. A few days ago I noticed a post here on the Prussian discussion board announcing the creation of a Wiki(pedia) in the language, and you can see it here. So far it has two pages besides the main page, one here on the crow (wārnis) and another here on Tilia cordata (līkutailappiska līpa), a kind of deciduous tree.

Prussian on the whole seems a bit "friendlier" to an English speaker than Lithuanian from first impressions alone, probably due to the lack of hooked vowels and some other similarities. English speakers are also much more used to dealing with four cases (no locative, vocative, or instrumental). Some examples:

• In Lithuanian is lietuviškai (lit. Lithuanianly), in Prussian is en prūsisku
• 3rd person singular to be ("it is") is ast instead of yra. A small point but a very frequently encountered word.
  
• Eraīns mazzi teikātun prūsiskan wikipēdijan. --> Anyone can contribute to the Prussian Wikipedia. Note the -n at the end for the accusative, where Lithuanian has hooked vowels instead.
  

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Is Old Latin a better option for revival than Classical Latin?

When discussing revival of Latin, the subject usually centers around whether Classical Latin or Medieval (Church) Latin would be best. One option rarely (if ever) discussed though is the option of choosing Old Latin, that used before 75 B.C and yet with quite a large corpus thanks to writers like Plautus. The interesting thing about Old Latin is that the older forms of words usually end up being more aesthetically pleasing and/or clear than those from Classical Latin. For example rēx (king) which becomes rēgis in CL is simply rēgs and then rēges in OL, no switching from x to g. One also finds o in place of u much of the time (sum --> som, campus --> campos), thus resembling modern Romance languages a bit more.

Declension is the most interesting part however, as the genitive, dative and ablative seem to be particularly clear. Students of Classical Latin are always having to play around with vowel length in order to distinguish one from the other, whereas Old Latin more often makes a clear distinction with consonants at the end. Classical Latin pullae could either mean of the girl, to the girl, or girls. But in Old Latin we have puellās for of the girl, puellāi for to the girl, and puellāī for girls. The distinction isn't quite so striking in other declensions yet they still end up being a bit clearer; campō in Classical Latin could be either dative or ablative, whereas in Old Latin campō is dative whereas campōd is ablative.

Old Latin does have a large number of alternate forms, but if we are treating it as a revived language then it should be no problem to simply choose the easiest and clearest form (modern users may prefer campe as the plural of campos for example as it is easy to pronounce and doesn't conflict with any other declensions) and then go with that.

Here are some words for comparison. Old Latin is on the left, Classical Latin on the right.


Classical puella, -ae, Old puellā, –āī
girl, maiden f.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	puellā	puellāī		puella	puellae
Genitive	puell-ās/-āī/-ais	puell-om/-āsōm		puellae	puellārum
Dative	puellāi	puell-eis/-abos		puellae	puellīs
Accusative	puellam	puellās		puellam	puellās
Ablative	puellād	puell-eis/-abos		puellā	puellīs

Classical campus, -ī, Old campos, –ī
field, plain m.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	campos	camp-oe/-e/-ei/-ī /-ēs/-eis/-īs		campus	campī
Genitive	camp-ī/-ei	camp-ōm/-ūm		campī	campōrum
Dative	campō	camp-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		campō	campīs
Accusative	campom	campōs		campum	campōs
Ablative	campōd	camp-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		campō	campīs

Classical saxum, -ī, Old saxom, –ā
rock, stone n.

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	saxom	sax-ā/-ă		saxum	saxa
Genitive	saxī	sax-ōm/-ūm		saxī	saxōrum
Dative	saxō	sax-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		saxō	saxīs
Accusative	saxom	sax-ā/-ă		saxum	saxa
Ablative	saxōd	sax-ois/-oes/-eis/-īs		saxō	saxīs

Classical rēx, rēgis, Old rēgs, -ēs

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	rēgs	rēg-eīs/-īs/-ēs/-ĕs		rēx	rēgēs
Genitive	rēg-es/-is/-os/-us	rēg-om/-um/-erum		rēgis	rēgum
Dative	rēg-ei/-ī/-ē/-ě	rēg-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		rēgī	rēgibus
Accusative	rēgem	rēg-eīs/-īs/-ēs		rēgem	rēgēs
Ablative	rēg-īd/-ĭd/-ī/-ē/-ĕ	rēg-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		rēge	rēgibus

Classical senātus, Old senātus

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	senātus	senātūs		senātus	senātūs
Genitive	senāt-uos/-uis/-ī/-ous/-ūs	senāt-uom/-um		senātūs	senātuum
Dative	senātuī	senāt-ubus/-ibus		senātuī	senātibus
Accusative	senātum	senātūs		senātum	senātūs
Ablative	senāt-ūd/-ud	senāt-ubus/-ibus		senātū	senātibus

	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	ign-is/-es	ign-eīs/-ēs/-īs/-ĕs		ignis	ignēs
Genitive	ignis	ign-iom/-ium		ignis	ignium
Dative	ign-i/-eī/-ē	ign-ibus/-ibos		ignī	ignibus
Accusative	ignim	ign-eīs/-ēs/-īs		ignem	ignīs, ignēs
Ablative	ign-īd/-ĭd /-ī/-ē/-ĕ	ign-ebus/-ebūs /-ibos/-ibus		ignī, igne	ignibus

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Swadesh list for English, French, Lithuanian, PIE and (Old) Prussian

I came across a dictionary the other day (here it is, pdf) of recovered and reconstructed Prussian, and since Prussian is apparently an even more conservative (=underwent less change over time) language than Lithuanian adding it to the Swadesh list seemed like a good idea. In the list I've put words in bold where either Lithuanian or Prussian seem to be cognates with PIE while the other is not. Though a pretty rough overview, Prussian seems to have a lot more PIE cognates than Lithuanian although every once in a while it's not easy to tell whether it's a PIE word that has been retained over time or whether it's a loanword. Sīmen for seed (PIE sēmṇ) for example could easily be a Latin loanword. These cases are rare though, as the vast majority of the PIE cognates are words that don't seem to be loanwords from any languages of major influence.

The PIE dictionary (or more specifically, Europaiom) I used was lacking in a lot of these words though so I think I'll come up with my own list later on, starting with PIE and then Prussian to be sure that I'll be able to properly compare them.

Edit: thanks to some helpful comments I can add to the Lithuanian part of the list. These new words will be in italics.

No	English	French	Lithuanian	PIE	Prussian
1	I	je	aš	egō	as
2	you, thou	vous, tu	Jūs, tu	juwes, juwe, tū	jūs, tū
3	he	il	jis		tāns
4	we	nous	mes	nsme, wejes-	mes
5	you (pl.)	vous	Jūs	juwes, juwe	jūs
6	they	ils, elles	jie, jos
7	this	ceci	šis	sā/sī tod	šis
8	that	cela	tas, anas	ei	stas
9	here	ici	čia	kei
10	there	là	ten	idhei	stwen
11	who	qui	kas		kas
12	what	quoi	kas	qis, qid	ka
13	where	où	kur	qodhei, qoi, qomde	kwēi
14	when	quand	kada	jom, qmdo, qom	kaddan
15	how	comment	kaip	jota, qālis, qota	kāigi, kāi
16	not	ne...pas	ne ...	ghawōd, mē	ni
17	all	tout	viskas, visi	oljoi	wiss
18	many	plusieurs	daug	(much = pelu)	tūlin
19	some	quelques	kažkiek		ainuntkawīds
20	few	peu	keletas		mazzan
21	other	autre	kitas		kits
22	one	un	vienas	oinos	aīns
23	two	deux	du	dwou	dwāi
24	three	trois	trys	trejes	trīs
25	four	quatre	keturi	qətwṛes	ketturei
26	five	cinq	penki	penqe	pēnkei
27	big *	grand	didelis	crotsos, məgnos	debiks
28	long *	long	ilgas	dḷḷnghos	ilgs
29	wide	large	platus	urús	plattus
30	thick	épais	storas, tankus, tirštas	dṇsus	kāmstu
31	heavy	lourd	sunkus	cṛ(āw)ús	brendus
32	small *	petit	mažas	alpos	līkuts
33	short	court	trumpas	mṛghús	īnss
34	narrow	étroit	siauras	amghús	anzuks
35	thin	mince	plonas	tṇus	lāils
36	woman *	femme	moteris	cenā, morignā	genā
37	man (adult male)	homme	vyras	wīrós	wīrs
38	man * (human being)	homme	žmogus	mánnusos	zmūnenawins
39	kid	enfant	vaikas		malnīks
40	wife	femme, épouse	žmona	sṃloghós, uksōr	genā
41	husband	mari, époux	vyras		salūbawīrs
42	mother	mère	motina	ammā, mātḖr	mūti
43	father	père	tėvas	pətēr	tāws
44	animal	animal	gyvulys	cīwotos	zwīrs
45	fish *	poisson	žuvis	piskis	zuks
46	bird *	oiseau	paukštis	awis, petsnós	pippelis
47	hound *	chien	šuo	kolignos, kwōn	skalanīks
48	louse *	pou	utėlė	lousēn
49	snake	serpent	gyvatė	enchis, kélodhros, sérpenos, snoghā	āngs
50	worm	ver	kirminas	longhros, ochis	kīrms
51	beam *	arbre	medis	tegnom, trabhis	laukstītwei
52	forest	forêt	miškas	kselwā, nemos	meddin
53	stick	bâton	lazda	ghaisējō	lagzdē
54	fruit	fruit	vaisius	ágrēnom, bhreugs	wēisis
55	seed *	graine	sėkla	sēmṇ	sīmen
56	leaf *	feuille	lapas	bholjom, leups	lappan
57	root *	racine	šaknis	wṛdjā, wṛrādīks	saknis
58	bark * (from tree)	écorce	žievė	baubājai	lātwei
59	flower	fleur	gėlė	bhlōtis, bhlos	kwēitis
60	grass	herbe	žolė	ghrāsmṇ, ghrāsom	zālis
61	rope	corde	virvė	resgtis, sognos	wīrbi
62	skin *	peau	oda	kūtis, pelnis	keūtā
63	meat	viande	mėsa	mēmsóm	mēnsa
64	blood *	sang	kraujas	ēsṛ, kruwós	krāujā
65	bone *	os	kaulas	ostis	kaūlin
66	fat * (n.)	graisse	riebalai	lajos	instran
67	egg *	œuf	kiaušinis	ṓw(ij)om	pāuts
68	horn *	corne	ragas	kṛnu	rags
69	tail *	queue	uodega	doklom, dumbos, ersábhaljom, ersā, pukos	stags
70	feather *	plume	plunksna	petsnā, plousmā	plāugzda
71	hair *	cheveu	plaukai	ghaitā, pilos	skebbelis
72	head *	tête	galva	gheblā	galwā
73	ear *	oreille	ausis	ousis	āuss
74	eye *	œil	akis	oqos	aks
75	nose *	nez	nosis	nāsis	nāsī
76	mouth *	bouche	burna	ōs	āustā
77	tooth *	dent	dantis	dentis	dānts
78	tongue *	langue	liežuvis	dṇghwā	inzuws
79	fingernail	ongle	nagas	onchis	naguttis
80	foot *	pied	pėda	pods	pīda
81	leg	jambe	koja	kanmā, krous	nagē
82	knee *	genou	kelis	genu, teupō	klupstis
83	hand *	main	ranka	wṛonkā	rānkā
84	wing	aile	sparnas	agslā, peterós	skreīlis
85	belly *	ventre	pilvas	tarsós	wīders
86	guts	entrailles	viduriai	sorwā, sternom	grābs
87	neck *	cou	kaklas		winzus
88	back	dos	nugara	awou, gurnos	rīkisna
89	breast *	sein, poitrine	krūtis	bhrusos	kreklin
90	heart *	cœur	širdis	kṛdi / kṛdjom	sīran, sīr
91	liver *	foie	kepenys	jeqṛ	jaknā
92	drink *	boire	gerti	pōtis, pibō	pūtun
93	eat *	manger	valgyti, ėsti	edmi, weskai	īstun
94	bite *	mordre	kąsti	denkō	kanstun
95	suck	sucer	čiulpti	dheimi	dītun
96	spit	cracher	spjauti	spjewō, spjwtos	wemtwei
97	vomit	vomir	vemti	wémāmi	spjāuwan
98	blow	souffler	pūsti	bhesmi, bhlāmi	aupūstan
99	breathe	respirer	kvėpuoti	etō, pneusō	dwestwei
100	laugh	rire	juoktis	wṛisdējō	smeītun si
101	see *	voir	matyti	widējō	wīdātun
102	hear *	entendre	girdėti	gheusō, kḷneumi, kluwējō	kirdītun
103	know * (a fact)	savoir	žinoti	woida	waīstun
104	think	penser	galvoti	sṇtējō	mīritwei
105	smell	sentir	uosti		ōstun
106	fear	craindre, avoir peur	bijoti	bhíbeimi	bijjā (only has noun)
107	sleep *	dormir	miegoti	swepō	migītwei
108	live	vivre	gyventi	cejwō	gīwītwei
109	die *	mourir	mirti	mṛijai	aulaūtwei
110	kill *	tuer	žudyti	nékāmi	galīntun
111	fight	se battre	kovoti	katos, streudō	ūlintwei
112	hunt	chasser	medžioti	(wí)weimi	medāni (noun)
113	hit	frapper	smogti, kirsti (to hit with an axe)	bhətjō	kīrstun
114	cut	couper	pjauti, kirpti	kaidō	pjaūtun
115	split	fendre	skelti	delō, skḷjō, skerjō, skindō, spleidō	spīltun
116	stab	poignarder	durti	pinjos	none, but pierce - praīmtun
117	scratch	gratter	drėksti, brėžti, krapštyti	gṛbhō, gredō, meukō, skabhō	glāubtun
118	dig	creuser	kasti, rausti	bhodhjō, kánāmi	kaptun
119	swim *	nager	plaukti	snāmi	plūtwei
120	fly * (v.)	voler	skristi	cḷājō	skrāistwei
121	walk *	marcher	eiti	steighō, wadhō	ēitwei
122	come *	venir	ateiti	cemjō	perēitwei
123	lie *	s'étendre	gulti, gulėti	leghō	lanzītwei
124	sit *	s'asseoir	sėsti, sėdėti		sīndītwei, sīstwei
125	stand *	se lever	stoti, stovėti	(sí)stāmi	stalītwei
126	turn	tourner	apsisukti, apsiversti, verstis	wṛtō	wartīntun
127	fall	tomber	kristi	kadō, palnō	krūtwei
128	give *	donner	duoti	(dí)dōmi	dātun
129	hold	tenir	laikyti	potējō	laikātun
130	squeeze	serrer	spausti, gręžti	wēskō	ebglabtun
131	rub	frotter	trinti	melkō, terjō	draztun
132	wash	laver	plauti, skalbti	lowō	mūtun
133	wipe	essuyer	šluoti	tergō
134	pull	tirer	traukti		wīlktun
135	push	pousser	stumti	agō, kelō	tālkātun
136	throw	jeter	mesti, sviesti	supājō	mestun
137	tie	lier	rišti		ristun
138	sew	coudre	siūti	sjewō	šūtun
139	count	compter	skaičiuoti		gīrbautun
140	say *	dire	sakyti	seqō	gērdautun
141	sing	chanter	dainuoti, giedoti	kanō, senchō	gremtun
142	play	jouer	žaisti		spīlitun
143	float	flotter	plūduriuoti		langītwei
144	flow	couler	tekėti	srewō	tektwei
145	freeze	geler	šalti	prunsō	pasallintun
146	swell	gonfler	tinti	bhreusō, turgējō	belztwei
147	sun *	soleil	saulė	sā́wel(jos)	saūli
148	moon *	lune	mėnulis, mėnuo	louksnā	mīniks
149	star *	étoile	žvaigždė	steros	lāuksnā
150	water *	eau	vanduo	wodā	undan
151	rain *	pluie	lietus	plówijā	sūji
152	river	rivière	upė	dānus	appi
153	lake	lac	ežeras	ágherom, lakus	azzaran
154	sea	mer	jūra	mari, tríjətos	jūris
155	salt	sel	druska	saldō	sāls
156	stone *	pierre	akmuo	akmōn	stabs
157	sand *	sable	smėlis	samdhos	zigzdā
158	dust	poussière	dulkės	pelwos	pūslē
159	earth *	terre	žemė	dheghom	zemē
160	cloud *	nuage	debesis	nebhis	uppin
161	fog	brouillard	rūkas	kalgōn, nebhlā	none, but misty = kupsīniskas
162	sky	ciel	dangus		dāngs
163	wind	vent	vėjas	gergō, wentos	wītra
164	snow	neige	sniegas	sneighs	snāigs
165	ice	glace	ledas	eisom, gelu	lads
166	smoke *	fumée	dūmai	dhūmós	dūms
167	fire *	feu	ugnis	egnis, pāwṛ	pannu, ugnis
168	ashes *	cendres	pelenai	āsos, kenēs	pelanni
169	burn *	brûler	degti	aidhō, dhechō	deggintun
170	road *	route	kelias	kelus	grīnsli (roadway)
171	mountain *	montagne	kalnas	ceri	gārbs
172	red *	rouge	raudonas	rudhrós	wūrmis
173	green *	vert	žalias		zallis
174	yellow *	jaune	geltonas	bhlāwos, knakos	geltaīns
175	white *	blanc	baltas	albhos, kweidos	gaīls
176	black *	noir	juodas	kṛsnos	kīrsnas
177	night *	nuit	naktis	noqtis	nakts
178	day	jour	diena	djnos	dēinā
179	year	an, année	metai	atnos	mettan
180	warm *	chaud	šiltas	chormos	tappis
181	cold *	froid	šaltas	srīgos	saltan
182	full *	plein	pilnas	plēnós	pilns
183	new *	nouveau	naujas	new(ij)os	naws
184	old	vieux	senas	senēks, wetwos	wūrs
185	good *	bon	geras	ēsús	labs
186	bad	mauvais	blogas	dus	wārgs
187	rotten	pourri	supuvęs	pūterós	rot (noun) - trustis
188	dirty	sale	nešvarus, purvinas	coudhros	mīlins
189	straight	droit	tiesiai		tìkriskas
190	round *	rond	apskritas, apavalus	wolwós	skrits
191	sharp	tranchant, pointu, aigu	aštrus	akris	astars, aīkuls
192	dull	émoussé	bukas, atšipęs		preiilgewingis
193	smooth	lisse	glotnus	rastós, sleigō	līgus
194	wet	mouillé	drėgnas, šlapias	molqos, wosmós	mārks, wilgs
195	dry *	sec	sausas	sisqos, susdos	sāuss
196	correct	juste, correct	teisingas, tikras		tikkars
197	near	proche	arti, šalia, netoliese, netoli	nedjos	taūws
198	far	loin	toli	porsōd	tāls
199	right	à droite	dešinė	déksteros	tikrōms
200	left	à gauche	kairė	laiwos	kāirs
201	at	à	į	ad	prēi
202	in	dans	į	en	ēn
203	with	avec	su	kom
204	and	et	ir	atqe	be, aīnat
205	if	si	jei, jeigu		ik, ikkai
206	because	parce que	nes, kadangi	jod-qid	beggi, paggan
207	name *	nom	vardas	nōmṇ	emmens

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