Indo-European cognates in Non-IE languages

[Lucus Eques]

Hey all, here's something bizarre: sample vocabulary from the Tarahumara language of Chihuahua, Mexico:

http://www.native-languages.org/tarahumara_animals.htm

Crow is "korachi" and horse is "kawé" Is that not insanely close to korax and ekwos/equus ?

How can this happen? How is it that the Japanese word for "name" is "onamae" ?

[Damoetas]

There will always be chance resemblances between unrelated languages. In fact, it would be statistically remarkable if you didn't occasionally find a similar-sounding word with a similar meaning, just by random chance. Here is an article that investigates it:

http://www.zompist.com/chance.htm

[Estoniacus Inoriginale]

Oooo... alternative...

I think these indeed could be Indo-European... but HOW?

[annis]

I think these indeed could be Indo-European... but HOW?

I have no idea about crow, but considering no one in Chihuahua would have had occasion to see a horse until after the Spanish arrived, I trust "kawé" is Indo-European — from Spanish caballo.

[Estoniacus Inoriginale]

That certainly makes sense... caballo to kawe.