False cognate

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Not to be confused with False friend.
A packet of strawberry-flavoured Kit Kat bars from Japan. Initial marketing of the brand in Japan utilised a coincidental false cognate in its advertising; the English Kit Kat bears a resemblance to the Japanese Kitto katsu (きっと勝つ), which roughly translates to "You will surely win",[1][2] cementing the notion of the confectionery being given as a good luck charm.[3]

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.[4] 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 English "have" and Spanish "haber" are similar in meaning but come from different Proto-Indo-European roots. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, but which may in fact be etymologically related.

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.[4][5] 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).[5] For example, English pretend and French prétendre are false friends, but not false cognates, as they have the same origin.[6]

"Mama and papa" type[]

The basic kinship terms mama and papa comprise a special case of false cognates.[7][8][9][10]

Examples[]

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

Within English[]

Term 1 Etymology 1 Term 2 Etymology 2
day OE dæġ
<< PGmc *dagaz
<< PIE *dʰeǵʰ-[11]		 diary Latin diārium << dies ("day")
<< Proto-Italic *djēm
<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") [12][13]
island OE īġland
<< PGmc *awjōlandą
or ea + land		 isle Latin insula

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 بد, bad [14][13] Middle Iranian *vat
<< PIE *wed(h)-
dog OE docga or dogga Mbabaram dog ("dog") [13] Proto-Pama-Nyungan *gudaga
day OE dæġ
<< PGmc *dagaz
<< PIE *dʰeǵʰ-[11]		 Latin dies ("day") and descendants [12][13] Proto-Italic *djēm
<< PIE *dyḗws ("heaven") [12][13]
emoticon emotion + icon Japanese 絵文字 emoji [15] 絵 e ("picture") + 文字 moji ("character")[15]
hollow OE holh
<< PGmc *holhwo-		 Lake Miwok hóllu [14]
much OE myċel
<< PGmc *mikilaz
<< PIE *meǵa- ("big, stout, great")		 Spanish mucho ("much") [13] Latin multus
<< PIE *ml̥tos ("crumbled")
saint Latin sanctus
<< PIE *seh₂k- ("to sanctify") via French		 Sanskrit sant and descendants [16] sat ("truth, reality, essence")

Between other languages[]

Term 1 Etymology 1 Term 2 Etymology 2
French feu ("fire") Latin focus German Feuer ("fire") PGmc *fōr ~ *fun-[11][17][13]
<< PIE *péh₂wr̥
German haben ("to have") PG *habjaną
<< PIE *keh₂p- ("to grasp")		 Latin habere ("to have") and descendants[18] PIE *gʰeh₁bʰ- ("to grab, to take")
Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ (kayak) Proto-Eskimo *qyaq Turkish kayık[19] Old Turkic kayguk
<< Proto-Turkic kay- ("to slide, to turn")
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")[20] Literally "obliged"
<< Latin obligātus
Italian sette ("seven") Latin septem
<< PIE *septm̥		 Sakha сэттэ/sette (seven) Old Turkic "yeti"

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.[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 today's Israel, דיבוב dibúv means "dubbing".[22]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "It surely wins: Kit Kat's supremacy in Japan". A Hundred Monkeys. 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  2. ^ Cleary, Bev (2020-06-06). "'You will surely win!' - How KitKats conquered Japan and now come in over 300 varieties". Where I Live. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  3. ^ "Kit Kats Are Huge In Japan Because They Symbolize Good Luck". NowThis News. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Moss (1992), p. ?.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Chamizo-Domínguez (2008), p. 166.
  6. ^ Harper, Douglas. "Pretend". The Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
  7. ^ Jakobson, R. (1962) "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?" In Jakobson, R. Selected Writings, Vol. I: Phonological Studies, pp. 538–545. The Hague: Mouton.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Campbell, Lyle; Mixco, Mauricio J. (2007). A Glossary of Historical Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-7486-2378-5.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 350
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Taggart, Caroline (5 November 2015). New Words for Old: Recycling Our Language for the Modern World. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 9781782434733 – via Google Books. 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 3rd edition, p. 355
  18. ^ "have - Search Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "'Arigato in Japanese and Obrigado in Portuguese', Semantic Enigmas". The Guardian. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  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.

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.
  • Chamizo-Domínguez, Pedro J. (2008), Semantics and Pragmatics of False Friends, New York/Oxon: Routledge
  • Jakobson, Roman (1962), "Why 'mama' and 'papa'?", Selected Writings, I: Phonological Studies, The Hague: Mouton, pp. 538–545
  • Moss, Gillian (1992), "Cognate recognition: Its importance in the teaching of ESP reading courses to Spanish speakers", English for Specific Purposes, 11 (2): 141–158, doi:10.1016/s0889-4906(05)80005-5

External links[]

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