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False cognate
Words that look or sound alike, but are not related
Words that look or sound alike, but are not related
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. 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.
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. 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). For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin.
"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.
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* Kroonen, Guus (2013) *Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic* (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill | ||
| **island** | Middle English *iland* | **isle** | Middle English *ile* |
| **(government) policy** | Middle English *policie* | **(insurance) policy** | French *police* |
Between English and other languages
| English term | English etymology | Foreign term | Foreign etymology | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **bad** | Possibly from OE * bæddel* ("hermaphrodite, effeminate man") | Persian **بد**, *bad* | Old Iranian **wata-* | ||||||||
| **better** | OE *betera* | Persian **بهتر**, *behtar*, Hindi **बहतर**, *bahatar* | به (*beh*, "good") + تر (*-tar*, "-er") | ||||||||
| **cinder** | OE *sinder* | ||||||||||
| French *cendre* ("ash") | Latin *cinerem* | ||||||||||
| **day** | OE *dæġ* | Latin ***dies*** ("day") and descendants | Proto-Italic **djēm* | ||||||||
| **desert** | Latin *dēserō* ("to abandon") | Ancient Egyptian ***Deshret*** (refers to the land not flooded by the Nile) | from *dšr* (red) | ||||||||
| **dog** | OE *docga* or *dogga* | Mbabaram ***dog*** ("dog") | Proto-Pama-Nyungan **gudaga* | ||||||||
| **emoticon** | *emotion* + *icon* | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VPO4CgAAQBAJ | title=New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World | first=Caroline | last=Taggart | date=5 November 2015 | publisher=Michael O'Mara Books | via=Google Books | isbn=9781782434733 | quote=*Emoji* is made up of the Japanese for *picture* (e) and *character* (*moji*) so its resemblance to *emotion* and *emoticon* is a particularly happy coincidence.}} | *絵 (e)* ("picture") + *文字 (moji)* ("character") |
| **fire** | OE *fȳr* | Thai ***ไฟ*** ("fire") | Proto-Tai ** ("fire") | ||||||||
| **have** | Middle English *haven* | ||||||||||
| Corsican ***avè*** ("to have") | Latin *habēre*, present active infinitive of *habeō* | ||||||||||
| **hollow** | OE *holh* | Lake Miwok ***hóllu*** | |||||||||
| **much** | OE *myċel* | Spanish ***mucho*** ("much") | Latin *multus* ("many") | ||||||||
| **saint** | Latin *sanctus* | Sanskrit ***sant*** and descendants | *sat* ("truth, reality, essence") | ||||||||
| **shark** | Middle English *shark* from uncertain origin | Chinese **鲨** (shā) | 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-*** | ||||||
| French ***nuque*** ('nape') | Latin *nucha*, from Arabic نُخَاع *nukhāʻ* 'spinal marrow' | first=Géza | last=Bárczi | year=1958 | title=A magyar szókincs eredete | location=Budapest | publisher=Tankönyvkiadó | page=8}} | Proto-Uralic **ńᴕkkɜ* 'neck' |
| German ***haben*** ('to have') | PG **habjaną* | Latin ***habere*** ("to have") and descendants | 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') | Proto-Ugric **äppärĕ-kə* | ||||||
| German ***Haus*** ('house') | Proto-Germanic **hūsą* | Hungarian ***ház*** ('house') | Proto-Uralic **kota* | ||||||
| Hawaiian ***kahuna*** ('priest') | Proto-Polynesian **tupuŋa* | Hebrew **כהן** (*kohen*) ('priest') | Proto-West Semitic **kāhin-* | ||||||
| Hungarian ***nő*** ('woman') | Proto-Uralic **niŋä* | Mandarin Chinese **女** (*nǚ*) ('woman') | Proto-Sino-Tibetan **naq* | ||||||
| Inuktitut **ᖃᔭᖅ** (*kayak*) | Proto-Eskimo **qayaʀ* | Turkish ***kayık*** ('small boat') | Old Turkic kayguk | ||||||
| Mayaimi **Mayaimi** (*Big water*) | Hebrew **מים** mayim ("water") | Proto-Semitic **māy-* | |||||||
| Japanese **ありがとう** *arigatō* ("thank you") | Clipping of 有難う御座います "arigatō gozaimasu" ("(I) am thankful") | Portuguese ***obrigado*** ("thank you") | Literally "obliged" | ||||||
| Hindustani **अम्मा** / **** (*ammā*, "mother") | Prakrit 𑀅𑀁𑀫𑀸 (*aṃmā*), from Sanskrit अम्बा (sa, "mother, feminine honorific") | Tamil **அம்மா** (*ammā*, "mother") | Proto-Dravidian **amma* ("mother") | ||||||
| Indonesian ***tanah*** ("ground") | Proto-Austronesian **tanaq* | Aleut ***tanax̂*** ("ground") | Cognate with Proto-Eskimo **nuna* ("earth") | ||||||
| Tagalog ***bagay*** ("thing") | Proto-Malayo-Polynesian **bagay* | Haitian Creole ***bagay*** ("thing") | Saint Dominican Creole French *bagage* | ||||||
| Dusun ***do*** ("of") | 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") | ||||||
| Hebrew ***אוֹ (ʔo)*** ("or") | Proto-Semitic **ʔaw* | Spanish ***o*** ("or") | Latin *aut* |
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 דַּל 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.
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".
References
Works cited
- {{citation
- {{citation
References
- Szubko-Sitarek, Weronika. (2014-10-07). "Multilingual Lexical Recognition in the Mental Lexicon of Third Language Users". Springer.
- Harper, Douglas. "Pretend". The Online Etymological Dictionary.
- [[Roman Jakobson. Jakobson, R.]] (1962) [https://archive.org/stream/selectedwritings01jako#page/538/mode/2up "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?"] In Jakobson, R. ''Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies'', pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
- [[Johanna Nichols
- Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2008) [https://books.google.com/books?id=MV46AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA417 "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.
- Bancel, P.J. and A.M. de l'Etang. (2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=S64bAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA333 "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.
- [[Oxford English Dictionary]], Second edition.
- "policy".
- [[Lyle Campbell]], Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 350
- (2007). "A Glossary of Historical Linguistics". Edinburgh University Press.
- Taggart, Caroline. (5 November 2015). "New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World". Michael O'Mara Books.
- [[Lyle Campbell]], Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 355
- (1987). "The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India". Motilal Banarsidass.
- Bárczi, Géza. (1958). "A magyar szókincs eredete". Tankönyvkiadó.
- "have - Search Online Etymology Dictionary".
- Hevesi, Francis. "Kahuna and kohen: A study in comparative religion". Social Process in Hawaii.
- de la Fuente, José Andrés Alonso. (2010). "Urban legends: Turkish kayık 'boat' {{!}} "Eskimo" Qayaq 'Kayak'". Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis.
- "'Arigato in Japanese and Obrigado in Portuguese', Semantic Enigmas". The Guardian.
- Zuckermann, Ghil'ad. (2003). "[[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]". [[Palgrave Macmillan]].
- Zuckermann, Ghil'ad. (2020). "[[Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond]]". [[Oxford University Press]].
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