False cognate

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.Jakobson, R. (1962) "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?" In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.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.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.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.

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 << Proto-Germanic *dagaz<< Proto-Indo-European *dʰeǵʰ-Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill diary Latin diārium << dies ("day")<< Proto-Italic *djēm << PIE *dyḗws ("heaven")Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition. island Middle English iland<< Old English īeġland<< Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą isle Middle English ile<< Old French i(s)le<< Latin insula(government) policy Middle English policie<< Old French policie<< Late Latin politia<< Ancient Greek politeía (insurance) policy French police<< Italian polizza<< Medieval Latin apodissa<< Ancient Greek apódeixis

Between English and other languages English term English etymology Foreign term Foreign etymology bad Possibly from OE bæddel ("hermaphrodite, effeminate man")<< PGmc *bad- ("defile") Persian , badLyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 350 Old Iranian *wata- better OE betera Persian , behtar, Hindi , bahatar به (beh, "good") + تر (-tar, "-er") bone ME bon << OE bān "bone, tusk, or hard animal tissue" Japanese hone ("bone")If rendaku is used, then the word "hone" will sound like "bone." Proto-Japonic *pəneycinderOE sinder<< PGmc *sendra- "slag"<< PIE *sendhro- "coagulating fluid"French cendre ("ash")Latin cinerem<< PIE *ken- ("to arise, begin")day OE dæġ << PGmc *dagaz << PIE *dʰeǵʰ- Latin dies ("day") and descendants Proto-Italic *djēm << PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") desert Latin dēserō ("to abandon") << ultimately PIE **seh₁- ("to sow") 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 *gudagaemoticonemotion + iconJapanese 絵文字 (emoji) 絵 (e) ("picture") + 文字 (moji) ("character")fireOE fȳr PGmc *fōr ~ *fun-Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 355<< PIE *péh₂wr̥Thai ไฟ ("fire")Proto-Tai ("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 << PGmc *holhwo- Lake Miwok hóllu much OE myċel << PGmc *mikilaz << PIE *meǵa- ("big, stout, great") Spanish mucho ("much") Latin multus ("many") saint Latin sanctus<< PIE *seh₂k- ("to sanctify") via French 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-<< PIE *péh₂wr̥ French nuque ('nape') Latin nucha, from Arabic نُخَاع nukhāʻ 'spinal marrow' Hungarian nyak ('neck') Proto-Uralic *ńᴕkkɜ 'neck' German haben ('to have') PG *habjaną<< PIE *keh₂p- ("to grasp") 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 << Proto-Turkic kay- ("to slide, to turn") Mayaimi Mayaimi (Big water) Hebrew מים mayim ("water") Proto-Semitic *māy- Japanese 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") Portuguese obrigado ("thank you") Literally "obliged" << Latin obligātus Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) मज़ा / مزہ (Mazah, "Fun") From Classical Persian مزہ, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh2k. Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) मज़ाक़ / مذاق (Mazaaq, "Prank/Joke/Fun/Mockery") From Arabic "مذاق" (Arabic->Persian->Hindustani). 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 Hebrew שֵׁשׁ (šeš) ("six") Proto-Semitic *šidṯum Persian شش (šaš) ("six") from Proto-Iranian *šwáš and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs 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") Hebrew אֶלָּא (elá) ("but, except") From Aramaic אלא, blend of אִן (ʾin "if") and לָא (lā "not") Modern Greek αλλά (allá) ("but") >>Ancient Greek ἀλλά, the neuter accusative plural of ἄλλος (“another, different”) >> PIE *h₂élyos 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 Scots Gaelic bò ("cow") Proto-Indo-European gʷṓws Vietnamese bò ("cow") Proto-Vietic bɔː Japanese あなた (anata) ("you") Old Japanese spatial deictic anata ("that side, yonder")<< a (distal demonstrative prefix) + nata (variant of kata "direction") Arabic أَنْتَ (anta) ("you" [masc. sing.]) Proto-Semitic *ʼanta ("you")<< *ʼan- (pronominal base) + *-ta (second person masculine marker) Shona mangwana ("tomorrow") Proto-Bantu *-ngwana Spanish mañana ("tomorrow") Latin māne ("early")

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 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.Page 91 of

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".Page 96 of

False cognate

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