False cognate

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Distinguish". False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds or spelling and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family.Template:Sfnp For example, the English word dog and the Mbabaram word dog have exactly the same meaning and very similar pronunciations, but by complete coincidence. Likewise, English much and Spanish mucho came by their similar meanings via completely different Proto-Indo-European roots, and same for English have and Spanish haber. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, and may or may not be cognates. Within a language, if they are spelled the same, they are homographs; if they are pronounced the same, they are homophones. Cross-linguistic or interlingual homographs or homophones sometimes include cognates; non-cognates may more specifically be called homographic or homophonic noncognates.[1]

Even though false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them (for example by phono-semantic matching or folk etymology).

Phenomenon

The term "false cognate" is sometimes misused to refer to false friends, but the two phenomena are distinct.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp False friends occur when two words in different languages or dialects look similar, but have different meanings. While some false friends are also false cognates, many are genuine cognates (see False friends § Causes).Template:Sfnp For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin.[2]

"Mama and papa" type

The basic kinship terms mama and papa constitute a special case of false cognates; many languages share words of similar form and meaning for these kinship terms, but due to common processes of language acquisition rather than relatedness of the languages.[3][4][5][6]

Examples

Note: Some etymologies may be simplified to avoid overly long descriptions.

Within English

Term 1 Etymology 1 Term 2 Etymology 2
day Old English dæġ
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Proto-Germanic *dagaz
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ-[7] || diary || Latin diārium << dies ("day")
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Proto-Italic *djēm
  4. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven")Template:Thin space[8][9]
island Middle English iland
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Old English īeġland
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą || isle || Middle English ile
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Old French i(s)le
  4. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Latin insula
(government) policy[10] Middle English policie
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Old French policie
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Late Latin politia
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Ancient Greek politeía || (insurance) policy || French police
  4. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Italian polizza
  5. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Medieval Latin apodissa
  6. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Ancient Greek apódeixis

Between English and other languages

English term English etymology Foreign term Foreign etymology
bad Possibly from OE bæddel ("hermaphrodite, effeminate man")
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PGmc *bad- ("defile") || Persian Script error: No such module "Lang"., badTemplate:Thin space[11][9] || Middle Iranian *vat
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *wed(h)-
better OE betera Persian Script error: No such module "Lang"., behtar, Hindi Script error: No such module "Lang"., bahatar به (beh, "good") + تر (-tar, "-er")
cinder OE sinder
<< PGmc *sendra- "slag"
<< PIE *sendhro- "coagulating fluid" 		French cendre ("ash") Latin cinerem
<< PIE *ken- ("to arise, begin")
day OE dæġ
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PGmc *dagaz
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *dʰeǵʰ-[7] || Latin dies ("day") and descendantsTemplate:Thin space[8][9] || Proto-Italic *djēm
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven")Template:Thin space[8][9]
desert Latin dēserō ("to abandon")
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< ultimately PIE **seh₁- ("to sow") || Ancient Egyptian Deshret (refers to the land not flooded by the Nile)Template:Thin space || from dšr (red)
dog OE docga or dogga Mbabaram dog ("dog")Template:Thin space[9] Proto-Pama-Nyungan *gudaga
emoticon emotion + icon Japanese 絵文字 (emoji) Template:Thin space[12] 絵 (e) ("picture") + 文字 (moji) ("character")[12]
fire OE fȳr

PGmc *fōr ~ *fun-[7][13][9]

  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *péh₂wr̥
 Thai ไฟ ("fire") Proto-Tai *wɤjᴬ (“fire”)
have Middle English haven
<< OE habban ("to have")
<< Proto-West Germanic *habbjan
<< Proto-Germanic *habjaną ("to have"), durative of *habjaną ("to lift, take up")
<< PIE *kh₂pyéti present tense of *keh₂p- ("to take, seize, catch"). 		 Corsican avè ("to have") Latin habēre, present active infinitive of habeō
<< Proto-Italic *habēō << PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- ("to grab").
hollow OE holh
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PGmc *holhwo- || Lake Miwok hólluTemplate:Thin space[11] ||
much OE myċel
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PGmc *mikilaz
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *meǵa- ("big, stout, great") || Spanish mucho ("much")Template:Thin space[9] || Latin multus (many)
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *ml̥tos ("crumbled")
saint Latin sanctus
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *seh₂k- ("to sanctify") via French || Sanskrit sant and descendantsTemplate:Thin space[14] || sat ("truth, reality, essence")
shark Middle English shark from uncertain origin Chinese 鲨 (shā)Template:Thin space Named as its crude skin is similar to sand (沙 (shā))

Between other languages

Term 1 Etymology 1 Term 2 Etymology 2
French feu ("fire") Latin focus German Feuer ("fire") PGmc *fōr ~ *fun-
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *péh₂wr̥
French nuque ('nape') Latin nucha, from Arabic نُخَاع nukhāʻ 'spinal marrow' Hungarian nyak ('neck')[15] Proto-Uralic *ńᴕkkɜ 'neck'
German haben ('to have') PG *habjaną
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< PIE *keh₂p- ("to grasp") || Latin habere ("to have") and descendants[16] || PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- ("to grab, to take")
Swedish göl ("pool") PG *guljō Salar göl ("pool") Proto-Turkic *kȫl ("lake")
German Erdbeere ('strawberry') Erd ('earth') + Beere ('berry') Hungarian eper ('strawberry')[15]
German Haus ('house') Hungarian ház ('house')[15]
Hawaiian kahuna ('priest') Hebrew כהן (kohen) ('priest')[17]
Hungarian nő ('woman') Mandarin Chinese 女 (nǚ) ('woman')[15]
Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ (kayak) Proto-Eskimo *qyaq Turkish kayık ('small boat')[18] Old Turkic kayguk
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Proto-Turkic kay- ("to slide, to turn")
Mayaimi Mayaimi (Big water) Hebrew מים mayim ("water")
Japanese Script error: No such module "Lang". arigatō ("thank you") Clipping of 有難う御座います "arigatō gozaimasu" ("(I) am thankful")
  1. REDIRECT Template:Break<< 有難く "arigataku"
  2. REDIRECT Template:Break<< 有難い "arigatai" ("thankful, appreciated")
  3. REDIRECT Template:Break<< Old Japanese 有難斯 "arigatasi" ("difficult to be")Template:Thin spaceScript error: No such module "Unsubst". || Portuguese obrigado ("thank you")[19]|| Literally "obliged"
  4. REDIRECT Template:Break << Latin obligātus
Hindustani अम्मा / Template:Nq (ammā, "mother") Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀫𑀸 (aṃmā), from Sanskrit Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Transliteration, "mother, feminine honorific") Tamil அம்மா (ammā, "mother") Proto-Dravidian *amma ("mother")
Indonesian tanah ("ground") Proto-Austronesian *tanaq Aleut tanax̂ ("ground") Proto-Eskimo *luna ("earth")
Tagalog bagay ("thing") Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bagay Haitian Creole bagay ("thing") Saint Dominican Creole French bagage
Dusun do ("of") Austronesian o Portuguese do ("of") Latin de
Spanish gusano ("worm, insect larva") Uncertain, possibly from Latin cossus ("woodworm") Russian гусеница (gusenica) ("caterpillar") Proto-Slavic *ǫsěnica ("caterpillar")
Thai พระ (phra) ("priest, monk") From Sanskrit vara (वर): excellent, holy Italian fra ("friar, monk, brother") Latin frāter ("brother")

False cognates used in the coinage of new words

The coincidental similarity between false cognates can sometimes be used in the creation of new words (neologization). For example, the Hebrew word Script error: No such module "Lang". dal ("poor") (which is a false cognate of the phono-semantically similar English word dull) is used in the new Israeli Hebrew expression אין רגע דל en rega dal (literally "There is no poor moment") as a phono-semantic matching for the English expression Never a dull moment.[20]

Similarly, the Hebrew word דיבוב dibúv ("speech, inducing someone to speak"), which is a false cognate of (and thus etymologically unrelated to) the phono-semantically similar English word dubbing, is then used in the Israeli phono-semantic matching for dubbing. The result is that in Modern Hebrew, דיבוב dibúv means "dubbing".[21]

See also

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References

Template:Reflist

Works cited

  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Further reading

  • Rubén Morán (2011), 'Cognate Linguistics', Kindle Edition, Amazon.
  • Geoff Parkes and Alan Cornell (1992), 'NTC's Dictionary of German False Cognates', National Textbook Company, NTC Publishing Group.
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Jakobson, R. (1962) "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?" In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
  4. ↑ Nichols, J. (1999) "Why 'me' and 'thee'?" Historical Linguistics 1999: Selected Papers from the 14th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Vancouver, 9–13 August 1999, ed. Laurel J. Brinton, John Benjamins Publishing, 2001, pages 253-276.
  5. ↑ Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2008) "The Age of Mama and Papa" Bengtson J. D. In Hot Pursuit of Language in Prehistory: Essays in the four fields of anthropology. (John Benjamins Publishing, Dec 3, 2008), pages 417-438.
  6. ↑ Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2013) "Brave new words" In New Perspectives on the Origins of Language, ed. C. Lefebvre, B. Comrie, H. Cohen (John Benjamins Publishing, Nov 15, 2013), pages 333-377.
  7. ↑ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  8. ↑ a b c Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ a b Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 350
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 355
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Page 91 of Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Page 96 of Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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