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Databases & Linguistic Sources — Etymology Atlas

Etymology Atlas brings together phonetic transcriptions, genealogical language trees, expert cognacy judgments, and lexical etymologies from several open research datasets.

1. ASJP v21 (Automated Similarity Judgment Program) Phonetic & Geographic Data

The ASJP database provides standardized phonetic transcriptions (ASJP code) and geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for over 5,000 languages and dialects worldwide.

Wichmann, Søren, Eric W. Holman, and Cecil H. Brown. The ASJP Database.

2. IE-CoR v1.2 (Indo-European Cognate Relationships) CC-BY 4.0

IE-CoR provides expert historical linguistic cognacy judgments, Proto-Indo-European (PIE) reconstructed roots, cladistic evolution trees, and cognate set groupings across the Indo-European family.

Heggarty, Paul, et al. (2023). "Language trees with sampled ancestors support a hybrid model for the origin of Indo-European languages." Science, 381(6656), eabgfea2.

3. Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0 / GFDL

Wiktionary is queried for on-demand lexical enrichment: native orthographic spellings, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) pronunciations, etymological origin narratives, chronological ancestry chains ({{inh}}, {{der}}), and cross-language cognate links ({{cog}}).

4. Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Wikipedia interlanguage sitelinks are used during lexical enrichment to map concept terms and discovery across global language editions.

5. UraLex Database CC-BY 4.0 · Uralic Cognates

UraLex provides expert cognacy judgments, Proto-Uralic reconstructions, and basic vocabulary across 43 Uralic languages and dialects (Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Saami, Mari, Komi, Mansi, Khanty, etc.).

Syrjänen, Kaj, et al. (2021). "UraLex basic vocabulary dataset." de Heer, M. et al. (2024).

6. Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (ABVD) CC-BY 4.0 · Austronesian Cognates

ABVD provides comprehensive basic vocabulary and expert cognate set judgments for nearly 2,000 Austronesian languages spanning Madagascar, Island Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R. & Gray, R.D. (2008). "The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics." Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4, 271-283.

7. Grollemund Bantu Database Africa / Atlantic-Congo Cognates

Comprehensive comparative basic vocabulary and cognate classifications for over 420 Bantu languages across Sub-Saharan Africa, enabling ancestral fan charts and root groupings across Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa.

Grollemund, R., Branford, S., Bostoen, K., Meade, A., Venditti, C. & Pagel, M. (2015). "Bantu expansion shows that habitat altered the route and pace of human dispersals." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(43), 13296-13301.

8. Uto-Aztecan & Nahuatl Databases North & Mesoamerica Cognates

Lexical cognate sets connecting indigenous languages of North America and Mexico, from Shoshone and Hopi to classical and modern Nahuatl dialects.

9. South American Indigenous Language Databases Tupían, Arawakan, Chibchan, Tukanoan

Curated CLDF cognate datasets covering major language families across Amazonia, the Andes, and Central America, including Tupí-Guaraní, Arawak, Chibcha, and Tukano.

10. Australian Pama-Nyungan Database Australia · 190 Languages

Comprehensive comparative dataset of the Pama-Nyungan language family across Australia, documenting lexical forms and cognate relationships across 190 indigenous languages.

11. Cartography & Basemaps OpenStreetMap & OpenFreeMap

Geographic map tiles come from OpenFreeMap (Dark and Positron styles) built on OpenStreetMap data, with optional Humanitarian OpenStreetMap and OpenHistoricalMap styles. The basemap credit is also shown in the bottom-right corner of the map.

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