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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.
-- 


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