Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ptsfa.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!qantel!dual!ptsfa!rob From: rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: False cognates Message-ID: <723@ptsfa.UUCP> Date: Thu, 11-Jul-85 01:50:14 EDT Article-I.D.: ptsfa.723 Posted: Thu Jul 11 01:50:14 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 11-Jul-85 05:25:36 EDT References: <277@mit-athena.UUCP> <3318@dartvax.UUCP> Reply-To: rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) Distribution: net.nlang Organization: Pacific Bell, San Francisco Lines: 41 Summary: In article <3318@dartvax.UUCP> betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry) writes: >Mr. Chambers is using 'false cognate' in a completely different >sense than I was taught it in language class; we used 'false >cognate' to mean "words that look the same but have different >meanings." The classic pair in spanish/english is >embarazada/embarrassed. > >Unfortunately, embarazada means pregnant; it's the classic female >foreign-student gaffe. > >Does anybody know what the correct description for this sort of pair is, >if it isn't 'false cognate'? > When I took French, it was called 'faux ami' ('false friend'). Two words are "cognate" if they are related; they need not have retained the same or similar meaning. Does "false cognate" mean they appear to be cognate but aren't, or does it mean because they appear to be cognate we are misled to think they have the same meaning? I think we have two issues at hand: 1. Two words in two different languages may appear to be cognate, but aren't. Can't think of a good example right now; I usually marvel at cases of the opposite, where two words do not at all appear related but are. 2. Two words in two different languages are cognate but have different meanings. -- +--------------+-------------------------------+ | Rob Bernardo | Pacific Bell | +--------------+ 2600 Camino Ramon, Room 4E700 | | 415-823-2417 | San Ramon, California 94583 | +--------------+-------------------------------+---------+ | ihnp4!ptsfa!rob | | {nsc,ucbvax,decwrl,amd,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob | +--------------------------------------------------------+