False cognate

The term "false cognate" is sometimes used incorrectly for False friend.

False cognates are pairs of words in the same or different languages that are similar in form and meaning but have different roots. That is, they appear to be, or are sometimes considered, cognates, when in fact they are not. This is different from a false friend, which is where the words in fact have similar roots but have diverged in meaning.

Even if false cognates lack a common root, there may still be an indirect connection between them, and in any case they can still be helpful in learning another language.

Phenomenon

As an example of false cognates, the word for "dog" in the Australian Aboriginal language Mbabaram happens to be dog, although there is no common ancestor or other connection between that language and English (the Mbabaram word evolved regularly from a protolinguistic form *gudaga). Similarly, in the Japanese language the word 'to occur' happens to be okoru (起こる).

The term "false cognate" is sometimes misused to describe false friends. One difference between false cognates and false friends is that while false cognates mean roughly the same thing in two languages, false friends bear two distinct (sometimes even opposite) meanings. In fact, a pair of false friends may be true cognates (see false friends: causes).

A related phenomenon is the expressive loan, which looks like a native construction, but is not.

Some historical linguists presume that all languages go back to a single common ancestor. Therefore, a pair of words whose earlier forms are distinct, yet similar, as far back as they have been traced, could in theory have come from a common root in an even earlier language, making them real cognates. The further back in time language reconstruction efforts go, however, the less confidence there can be in the outcome. Attempts at such reconstructions typically rely on just such pairings of superficially similar words, but the connections proposed by these theories tend to be conjectural, failing to document significant patterns of linguistic change. Under the disputed Nostratic theory and similar theories such as that of monogenesis, some of these examples would indeed be distantly related cognates, but the evidence for reclassifying them as such is insufficient. (Alternatively, apparent cognates in Eurasian language families far removed from each other could also be early loanwords, compare Wanderwort.) The Nostratic hypothesis is however based on the comparative method, unlike some other superfamily hypotheses.

"Mama and papa" type

The basic kinship terms mama and papa (together with the wider class of Lallnamen) comprise a special case of false cognates. The striking cross-linguistical similarities between these terms are thought to result from the nature of language acquisition (Jakobson 1962). According to Jakobson, these words are the first word-like sounds made by babbling babies; and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves. Thus, there is no need to ascribe the similarities to common ancestry. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that these terms are built up from speech sounds that are easiest to produce (nasals like m or n, typically for "mother" words, or plosives like p/b and t/d, typically for "father" words, along with the basic vowel a). However, variants do occur; for example, in proto-Old Japanese, the word for "mother" was *papa, and in Slavic languages, baba is a common nickname for "grandmother". In Georgian, the usual pattern (nasal for "mother", plosive for "father") is inverted: the word for "father" is mama and the word for "mother" is deda.

Examples

• Arabic/Hebrew akh/aḥ (brother) and Mongolian akh (brother)
• Arabic sharif (and its Portuguese descendant xerife) and English sheriff
• Arabic ana/Amharic ena (I) and Gondi ana (I)
• Arabic arḍ (earth) and Dutch aarde (earth)
• Arabic/Amharic anta (you, masculine singular) and Japanese anata (貴方, あなた) / anta (あんた) (you, informal or rude) and Malay anda (you)
• Arabic ma and Greek mē (Doric ma) (not)
• Arabic walad (ولد) (boy, son) and English lad
• Aramaic di or de- (which, of), and Italian di and Spanish and French de (of)
• Ashkenazi Hebrew meis (dead)/ mos (Death of ___, or Die, as imperative) and Latin mors (death); Sephardi Hebrew mot (death of) and Italian morte
• Bengali fela (throw away/put down) and English fell (make something fall) and fall and Hebrew pol (which becomes fol after a vowel sound)
• Bikol aki (child) and Korean agi (child)
• Blackfoot aki (woman) and Even akhi (woman)
• Coptic per (house) and Etruscan pera (house) and Hittite pēr (house)
• Dutch elkaar (each other) and Basque elkar (each other)
• Dutch maar (but, from PIE *ne h₂wes-) and Italian ma (but, from PIE *meǵh₂) and Vietnamese mà (but)
• Egyptian bity and English bee
• Egyptian *marar (to see, to look) and Japanese miru (見る) (to look) and Spanish mirar (to look at, to watch)/Portuguese mirar (to stare)
• Egyptian mennu (food) and French menu
• English among and Visayan among (accidentally included)
• English lake (from PIE *leg-, to leak) and Latin lacus (lake, pond, from PIE *lakw-)
• English able and Turkish -abil/-ebil (ability infix)
• English am (first person present tense of to be), Etruscan am (to be), and Sumerian am (to be)
• English amenable and English amenity
• English and and Indonesian dan
• English arse coitus (anal sex) and Koine Greek arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται; term used by Paul of Tarsus for going to bed with another male)
• English aye (yes, affirmative vote) and Japanese hai (はい) (yes) and Cantonese hai (係) (yes)
• English bad and Farsi bad, and Armenian vad (ւադ) (bad)
• English buy and Japanese on'yomi bai (買, to buy)
• English beat and Russian бить (to hit or batter; both words also pronounced nearly identically)
• English boy, Japanese bōya (坊や) (young male child), and Finnish poika (boy, son)
• English brush and Texmelucan Zapotec brush
• English can and Japanese kan (缶) (portable container) Note: regarding the primary usage of both terms to denote fist-sized cylindrical metal container the use of 缶 is actually a form of ateji
• English canteen and Chinese cāntīng (餐厅) (dining room, cafeteria), although Pinyin <c> has the value [ts]
• English cheek and Russian shcheka (щека; cheek)
• English chop and Uzbek chop
• English cover and Biblical Hebrew kaphar (Hebrew word #3722 in Strong's) (appease, cover over)
• English cut and Vietnamese cắt (to cut)
• English dairy and Russian/Ukrainian doyar (дояр; milker), doyarka (milkmaid)
• English day, daily and Spanish día (day) (or Latin dies (day) or even English diary)
• English delete and Russian udalit' (удалить; to delete, remove)
• English die and Thai dtâi (ตาย) (to die)
• English dog and Mbabaram dog
• English dork and Russian durak (дурак)
• English dragon and Dzongkha Druk
• English dung and Korean 똥 ttong (excrement)
• English earth and Hebrew erets (אֶרֶץ) (land, earth)
• English egg, Ganda eggi (egg) and Egyptian Arabic eggah (omelette)
• English evaporate and Ukrainian vyparovuvaty (випаровувати);
• English eye Hebrew `ayin/ Arabic `ain (eye)
• English fee and Chinese fèi (simplified Chinese: 费; traditional Chinese: 費)/ Vietnamese phi
• English fire and Thai fai (ไฟ)
• English fruit, and Hebrew perot (פֵּרוֹת) (which becomes ferot after a vowel sound)
• English hair and Armenian hēr (հեր) (hair)
• English have and French avoir
• English have and Latin habeo
• English hole and Mayan hol
• English honest and Japanese honne
• English house, Hungarian ház (house, block of flats)
• English hut and Ukrainian hata (хата)
• English Indian (native American) and Mescalero Inde (Apache, person)
• English island and isle
• English it, Russian eto(это) and Tagalog eto/ito (it, this)
• English kitten, Indonesian and Malaysian kucing (cat) and Tagalog kuting (kitten)
• English laser and Scottish Gaelic lasair (light beam, flame)
• English male and English female, which come from the Latin masculinus and foemella, respectively.
• English man and Latin humanus (people, mankind)
• English many and Korean 많이 mani (much, many)
• English market and Kannada maarukatte
• English mount (short form of mountain), and Hawaiian mauna (mountain)
• English much and Spanish mucho
• English mysterious and Hebrew mistori (מִסְתּוֹרִי)
• English name and Japanese 名前 namae (name)
• English neck/German Nacken and Spanish nuca and Hungarian nyak
• English nerdy and Chuvash nĕrtte (awkward, inept)
• English pan and Mandarin pan/Vietnamese bàn (pan, shallow plate, table)
• English pear and Korean 배 pay, bae (Korean pear)
• English pen and pencil
• English persecution and Russian presechenie (пресечение; persecution, suppression, injunction)
• English portion and Hebrew parashat (פָּרָשַׁת; weekly Torah portion)
• English pusillanimous (cowardly, from Latin meaning "tiny-spirited") and English pussy
• English pussy (pet name for cat); Samoan pusi (cat) / Tagalog pusa (cat); and Turkish pisi (cat)
• English reason and Russian razum (разум)
• English road and French route
• English seed and Korean 씨 ssi (pip)
• English stone and Mandarin shítou (traditional 石頭, simplified 石头)
• English strange and Italian strano (both from Latin extraneus) and Russian stranno (странно)
• English stranger and Russian strannik (странник)
• English trawl (to fish by dragging a net) and English troll (to fish by trailing a line, or to provocate someone on purpose)
• English two and Korean 두 tu (two)
• English villain and English vile
• English viscosity and Russian vyazkost' (вязкость)
• English why and Korean 왜 wae (what for)
• English yea and Korean 예 ye (yes)
• Estonian/Finnish ei (no, not), Etruscan ei (no, not), and Norwegian ei/Swedish ej (not)
• Estonian mina/Finnish minä (I), and Zulu mina (I)
• Estonian sina/Finnish sinä (singular you) and Turkish sen (singular you) (see also: Ural–Altaic languages)
• Estonian ta (short form of tema) (he/she) and Mandarin tā (他) (he/she)
• Estonian/Finnish ja (and) and Japanese ya (や) (and, used in an incomplete list)
• Estonian kalamari (roe, caviar) and Italian calamaro, Slovene kalamari (squid)
• Estonian -ki, -gi (too, also) and Latin -que (and)
• Estonian seitse (seven) and Japanese shichi (seven)
• Etruscan ac (to make, act) and Sumerian ak (to make,act)
• Etruscan an (he/she/it) and Sumerian ane (he/she/it)
• Etruscan ipa (who, which) and Sumerian aba (who)
• Etruscan mi (I/me), Sumerian ma (I/me) and Lombard mi (I/me)
• Finnish kaataa (to cut down) and English cut down (to hew)
• Finnish kasa (pile) and Japanese kasamu (嵩む) (to pile up)
• Finnish hän (he, she) and Swedish/Norwegian/Danish han (he)
• French écouter (listen) and Greek akouō (hear)
• French caisse/Italian cassa (money box) and Tamil kasu (an ancient monetary unit) (see Cash (disambiguation))
• French le (the) and Samoan le (the)
• French lien (link) and Mandarin lián/ Vietnamese liên (link)
• French papillon (butterfly) and Nahuatl papalotl (butterfly)
• French qui est-ce? (who is this?)/ Italian chi è? (Who is this?) and Hungarian ki ez? (who is this?)
• French rue (road) and Mandarin lù (路) (road)
• Ga ba (come) and Hebrew ba (בא) (came) and Tamil Va (Come). (Hebrew ba becomes va after a vowel sound)
• Ganda na ('and') and Dutch en (and)
• German Ach, so! and Japanese Aa, soo (ああ、そう) (I see)
• German haben (to have) and Latin habere (to have)
• German Kreuz (cross) and Russian krest (крест; cross)
• Greek thesato and Russian sosat' (сосать; to suck)
• Greek root -lab- and Sanskrit root -labh- (take)^{[citation needed]}
• Greek pou (where) and Hebrew poh (here)/ephoh (where)
• Greek stylos (column) and Latin stilus (pen): the English spellings "style" and "stylus" result from a false etymology
• Greek theos (god) and Greek Zeus (the king of all gods)
• Greek theos (god) and Latin deus (god)
• Greek theos (god) and Nahuatl teo (god - absolutive: teotl)
• Greenlandic tallimat and Filipino lima (five)
• Hawaiian kahuna (priest) and Hebrew k'huna (כְּהוּנָה) (priesthood)
• Hawaiian pau (finished, done, end) and Greek pauo (παύω, stop, cease)
• Hawaiian/Maori wahine (woman) (and similar forms in other Polynesian languages) and Latin vagina and Ancient Greek gyné (γυνή; woman)
• Hebrew/Aramaic ella (but rather) and Greek alla (but)
• Hebrew ish (man) and Yana Ishi (man)
• Hebrew ish (man; can be used for "each") and English "each"
• Hebrew ari (lion) and Tamil ari (lion) and Kazakh Aristan
• Hebrew derekh (דֶרֶך) (way, route) and Russian doroga (дорога; road), Ukrainian doroha (дорога)
• Hebrew shesh (שׁשׁ) (six) with Persian shesh (six), Hurrian šeše (six), Spanish seis (six), Russian shest (шесть) (six)
• Hebrew sheva (seven) and English seven
• Icelandic fold (earth, land, ground) and Hungarian föld (earth, land, soil)
• Indonesian dua (two) and Pashto dwa (two) and Korean dul (two) and Mandarin dui (simplified Chinese: 对; traditional Chinese: 對)/ Vietnamese đôi (pair)
• Indonesian kepala (head) and Greek kephale (head)
• Inuktitut kayak and Turkish kayık and Choco language group cayuca (rowing boat)
• Italian "ciao" and Vietnamese "chao" (greetings, hi)
• Italian donna and Japanese onna (女) (woman)
• Italian micio (small cat) and Quechua michi (cat)
• Italian popolo (people) and K’iche’ popol (people)
• Italian roba (set of things) and Croatian roba (goods, things for sale)
• Japanese arigatō (ありがとう; thank you) and Portuguese obrigado (thank you)
• Japanese baba (祖母/ばば) (grandmother) and Russian baba (бабушка, баба; grandmother) and Yiddish Bubbe (Grandmother)
• Japanese gaijin (外人) (non-Japanese), Romani gadjo (non-Romani), Hebrew and Yiddish goy (non-Jew), Spanish gringo – all can mean stranger, foreigner
• Japanese ne (ね), colloquial German ne, colloquial Portuguese né (all tag question markers)
• Japanese shiru (知る) (know) and Latin scire (know)
• Korean tokki (axe) and Mapuche natives and Easter Island Polynesian toki (axe)
• Korean nan (난) and Tamil naan (நான்) (I)
• Kyrgyz ayal (woman) and Parji ayal (woman)
• Latin duo and Malay dua (two)
• Latin ego (I) and Tagalog ako (I)
• Latin Iov- (Jupiter, oblique case stem) and Medieval Latin Iehovah (Jehovah)
• Malay atuk (grandpa) and Inuit atuk (grandfather)
• Malay mata and modern Greek mati (eye)
• Mandarin Chinese nǐ (你), Swedish ni and Tamil nii (நீ). All three words mean you.
• Mandarin Chinese er (耳) and English ear.
• Mandarin Chinese de (的) and Spanish de, both used for possession
• Mandarin Chinese "māma" (妈妈) and Russian "мама" (mama) meaning "mom" or "mother"
• Minangkabau duo (two) and Latin duo (two)
• Persian se (سه) and Korean se (세) and Shanghainese 三 se, all meaning: three.
• Polish mieszkanie (apartment) and Hebrew mishkan (מִשׁכָּן) (dwelling)
• Romanian rău and Hebrew ra (רַע) (both masculine forms of adj. "bad")
• Russian нам (nam, us, dative of мы (my, we)) and Ngarrindjeri nam (us)
• Spanish como (as/like) and Hebrew k'mo (כְּמוֹ) (as/like) and Arabic kma (as/like)
• Sanskrit urj (ऊर्ज्) (strength, vigour) and English urge
• Santali seta (dog) and Ainu seta/sita (dog)
• Spanish diez ('ten') and Hungarian tiz
• Spanish y [i] ('and') and Slavic и/i [i] (and)
• Spanish first-person pronoun yo (I) and archaic Japanese first-person pronoun yo (よ) (I)
• Tamil "amma" (அம்மா)(mother) and Korean "amma" (엄마) (mother)
• Tamil "appa" (அப்பா) (father) and Korean "appa" (아빠) (father)
• Turkish bir (one) and Ingain biré (one)
• Turkish dil and Tagalog dila (tongue)
• Welsh cwmwl / Latin cumulus and Japanese kumo (雲) (cloud)

See also

• False friend
• Phono-semantic matching

• Translation

References

• Jakobson, R. (1962) ‘Why “mama” and “papa”?’ In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.

• Geoff Parkes and Alan Cornell (1992), 'NTC's Dictionary of German False Cognates', National Textbook Company, NTC Publishing Group.

External links

• A list of false cognates
• Of false friends and deceptive cognates