Indo-European languages Numeral Sanskrit Slavonic Greek Latin German (Gothic) 2
3 4
10
100
Dvau
Trayas
Catvaras
Dasa Satam
D(u)va
Tri
Cetyre
Desatb
Sbto
Dyo
Treis
Tettares
Deka
He-katon
Duo
Tres
Quattuor
December
Centum
Twai
Threis
Fidwor
Taihun
Hund
We can be certain that words similar in form are cognates if they express
material phenomena Ii ke "night", "star", "snow", "wind", "thunder": animals like
"hound", "goat", "ox", "steer"; parts of a house like "door", "timber"; parts of the
human body like "ear", "tooth", "heart", "foot"; and most significant of all, words
which express family relationships like "father", "mother", brother" and "sister", The
following chart illustrates this:
Modern English Sanskrit Slavonic Greek Latin German (Gothic) Father
Mother
brother
daughter
Pitar
Matar
Bhratar
Duhitar
mati
bray(r)b
dbshti
Pater Meter
Phrator
Thygater
Pater
Mater
Frater
Fadar
Modar
Brother
dauhtar
But mere coincidences of related words are not enough to prove their close
kinship. Jones pointed outlast long ago as 1786 that grammatical forms had to be
taken into consideration because only resemblances in the grammatical forms and the
meaning expressed by them are absolutely reliable. If the same grammatical
meanings are expressed in the same grammatical forms in the compared languages,
we can be sure of their close relationship. Take, for instance, the verb "to take" in
