False cognate

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False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. [1] 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.

Contents

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. [1] [2] 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). [2] For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin. [3]

"Mama and papa" type

The basic kinship terms mama and papa comprise 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. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Examples

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

Within English

Term 1Etymology 1Term 2Etymology 2
day OE dæġ
<< PGmc *dagaz
<< PIE *dʰeǵʰ- [8]
diaryLatin diārium << dies ("day")
<< Proto-Italic *djēm
<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") [9] [10]
islandOE īġland
<< PGmc *awjōlandą
or ea + land
isleLatin insula

Between English and other languages

English termEnglish etymologyForeign termForeign etymology
badPossibly from OE bæddel ("hermaphrodite, effeminate man")
<< PGmc *bad- ("defile")
Persian بد, bad [11] [10] Middle Iranian *vat
<< PIE *wed(h)-
betterOE beteraPersian بهتر, behtar and Hindustani descendants
cinderOE sinder
<< PGmc *sendra- "slag"
<< PIE *sendhro- "coagulating fluid"
French cendre ("ash")Latin cinerem
<< PIE *ken- ("to arise, begin")
dogOE docga or dogga Mbabaram dog ("dog") [10] Proto-Pama-Nyungan *gudaga
dayOE dæġ
<< PGmc *dagaz
<< PIE *dʰeǵʰ- [8]
Latin dies ("day") and descendants [9] [10] Proto-Italic *djēm
<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") [9] [10]
hollowOE holh
<< PGmc *holhwo-
Lake Miwok hóllu [11]
muchOE myċel
<< PGmc *mikilaz
<< PIE *meǵa- ("big, stout, great")
Spanish mucho ("much") [10] Latin multus (many)
<< PIE *ml̥tos ("crumbled")
desertLatin dēserō ("to abandon")
<< ultimately PIE **seh₁- ("to sow")
Ancient Egyptian Deshret (refers to the land not flooded by the Nile)from dšr (red)
saint Latin sanctus
<< PIE *seh₂k- ("to sanctify") via French
Sanskrit sant and descendants [12] sat ("truth, reality, essence")
sharkMiddle English shark from uncertain originChinese (shā)Named as its crude skin similar to sand (沙 (shā))
haveMiddle 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”).

Between other languages

Term 1Etymology 1Term 2Etymology 2
French feu ("fire")Latin focusGerman Feuer ("fire") PGmc *fōr ~ *fun- [8] [13] [10]
<< PIE *péh₂wr̥
French nuque ('nape')Latin nucha, from Arabic نُخَاع nukhāʻ 'spinal marrow'Hungarian nyak ('neck') [14] Proto-Uralic *ńᴕkkɜ 'neck'
German haben ('to have')PG *habjaną
<< PIE *keh₂p- ("to grasp")
Latin habere ("to have") and descendants [15] PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- ("to grab, to take")
Swedish göl ("pool")PG *guljōSalar göl ("pool")Proto-Turkic *kȫl ("lake")
German Erdbeere ('strawberry')Erd ('earth') + Beere ('berry')Hungarian epér ('strawberry') [14]
German Haus ('house')Hungarian ház ('house') [14]
Hawaiian kahuna ('priest')Hebrew כוהן (kohen) ('priest') [16]
Hungarian ('woman')Mandarin Chinese (nü̆) ('woman') [14]
Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ ( kayak ) Proto-Eskimo *qyaq Turkish kayık ('small boat') [17] Old Turkic kayguk
<< Proto-Turkic kay- ("to slide, to turn")
Mayaimi Mayaimi (Big water) Hebrew מים mayim ("water")
Japanese ありがとう arigatō ("thank you")Clipping of 有難う御座います "arigatō gozaimasu" ("(I) am thankful")
<< 有難く "arigataku"
<< 有難い "arigatai" ("thankful, appreciated")
<< Old Japanese 有難斯 "arigatasi" ("difficult to be")[ citation needed ]
Portuguese obrigado ("thank you") [18] Literally "obliged"
<< Latin obligātus
Hindustani अम्मा / اما (ammā, "mother") Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀫𑀸 (aṃmā), from Sanskrit अम्बा (ambā, "mother, feminine honorific") Tamil அம்மா (ammā, "mother") Proto-Dravidian *amma ("mother")
Indonesian tanah ("ground") Proto-Austronesian *tanaq Aleut tanax̂ ("ground") Proto-Eskimo *luna ("earth")
Spanish gansa ("female goose") Gothic *𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍃 Tagalog gansa ("goose") Malay angsa [19] [20]
Tagalog bagay ("thing") Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *bagay Haitian Creole bagay ("thing") Saint Dominican Creole French bagage
Dusun do ("of")Austronesian oPortuguese do ("of")Latin de

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 דַּלdal ("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. [21]

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". [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghil'ad Zuckermann</span> Israeli-born language revivalist and linguist

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<i>Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew</i> Israeli hebrew

Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew is a scholarly book written in the English language by linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, published in 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan. The book proposes a socio-philological framework for the analysis of "camouflaged borrowing" such as phono-semantic matching. It introduces for the first time a classification for "multisourced neologisms", new words that are based on two or more sources at the same time.

References

  1. 1 2 Moss (1992), p. ?.
  2. 1 2 Chamizo-Domínguez (2008), p. 166.
  3. Harper, Douglas. "Pretend". The Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
  4. Jakobson, R. (1962) "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?" In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 1 2 3 Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  9. 1 2 3 Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Campbell, Lyle; Mixco, Mauricio J. (2007). A Glossary of Historical Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press. p. 29. ISBN   978-0-7486-2378-5.
  11. 1 2 Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 350
  12. Schomer, Karine; McLeod, W. H. (1987). The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. p. 3. ISBN   978-81-208-0277-3. OCLC   879218858 . Retrieved 7 November 2018. Thus conceptually as well as etymologically, it differs considerably from the false cognate 'saint' which is often used to translate it. Like 'saint', 'sant' has also taken on the more general ethical meaning of the 'good person' whose life is a spiritual and moral exemplar, and is therefore attached to a wide variety of gurus, 'holy men', and other religious teachers.
  13. Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 355
  14. 1 2 3 4 Bárczi, Géza (1958). A magyar szókincs eredete. Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó. p. 8.
  15. "have - Search Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
  16. Hevesi, Francis. "Kahuna and kohen: A study in comparative religion". Social Process in Hawaii. 16: 30–33.
  17. de la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso (2010). "Urban legends: Turkish kayık 'boat' | "Eskimo" Qayaq 'Kayak'" (PDF). Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
  18. "'Arigato in Japanese and Obrigado in Portuguese', Semantic Enigmas". The Guardian. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  19. Zorc, David Paul (1982) Core Etymological Dictionary of Filipino: Part 3, page 133
  20. Potet, Jean-Paul G. (2016) Tagalog Borrowings and Cognates, Lulu Press, page 282
  21. Page 91 of Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew . Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN   9781403917232.
  22. Page 96 of Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2020). Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199812790.

Works cited

Further reading