False cognates

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Aevas
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Re: False cognates

Post by Aevas »

English Ferris wheel (from the person G.W.G. Ferris)

Swe/Dan/Nor pariserhjul (from the city of Paris)
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All4Ɇn
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Re: False cognates

Post by All4Ɇn »

Aszev wrote: 10 Jun 2018 19:02 English Ferris wheel (from the person G.W.G. Ferris)

Swe/Dan/Nor pariserhjul (from the city of Paris)
Oh wow that's a really interesting one!
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Re: False cognates

Post by Shemtov »

:lat: IOVE /jowe/ "To Jupiter" :isr: The Tetragrammaton according to Genesius; both are /jVwe/ sequences.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Shemtov »

:ind: पैसा /pɛsa/"Unit of Indian currency" :esp: Peso "Unit of currency in many Hispanic countries"
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k1234567890y
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

Just found this:

Chichewa ufa "flour" and Manchu ufa "flour"
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Re: False cognates

Post by eldin raigmore »

Shemtov wrote: 20 Jun 2018 01:46 :ind: पैसा /pɛsa/"Unit of Indian currency" :esp: Peso "Unit of currency in many Hispanic countries"
How do we know this is a false cognate?
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Re: False cognates

Post by Shemtov »

eldin raigmore wrote: 19 Jul 2018 21:08
Shemtov wrote: 20 Jun 2018 01:46 :ind: पैसा /pɛsa/"Unit of Indian currency" :esp: Peso "Unit of currency in many Hispanic countries"
How do we know this is a false cognate?
The Hindi word actually comes from PIE *pods "Foot", meaning "A Foot-Length of something" that somehow became a unit of weight. Peso comes from a Latin word related to the Latin word that gave us "Pound", which both come from PIE *(s)pend "To stretch"
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Re: False cognates

Post by Imralu »

So, generally I'd be skeptical of conlang examples without some pretty involved justification to show that there wasn't even subconscious borrowing, but it just so happens my conlang Wena (which I'm now calling Ngehu) has this:
  • :con: Ngehu: mwalimu = teacher, mentor, guru (from mwa "leader" + limu "learner", which in turn comes from li "beginner" + mu "knowing one")
  • :tan: Swahili: mwalimu (pl. walimu) = teacher (from Arabic: مُعَلِّم‎ muʿallim "teacher", which is derived from عَلَّمَ‎ ʿallama "to teach", from the root ع ل م‎ ʿ-l-m which is related to knowing and knowledge)
So, the reason it fits here is it's not even a subconscious borrowing. I came up with all the syllabic roots for Wena/Ngehu well before I started learning Swahili or ever knew the word mwalimu. The obvious word for "teach(er)" would be zyelimu, basically "one who causes/makes learners" but that sounds very much more like the compulsory education word - someone who forces learning. When I was writing it down I suddenly thought "That sounds like Swahili mwalimu!" and I realised that using mwa "leader", we get a softer sounding word, more like a facilitator of learning, mentor, guru etc., which also matches how mwalimu is used as an honorific title Swahili, especially referring to Julius Nyerere. So, indirectly, it's kind of a borrowing because I thought of using mwa because of Swahili, but without Swahili I could easily have created this word from these roots, especially if looking for an honorific kind of word for a teacher/mentor.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Iyionaku »

:fin: ilma - air
:isl: ilma - to smell pleasant

It looks to good not to be true, but apparently they are really not related. The Finnic word is of Proto-Uralic origin and I doubt that there are too many Uralic loanwords in Icelandic, let alone ones that have maintained their original form so well.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Pabappa »

Oh, thanks, you just reminded me of my all time favorite : ) From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Icelandic: :isl: Menn eru gæddir vitsmunum og samvizku,

Welsh :wls: Fe'u cynysgaeddir â rheswm a chydwybod,

Apparently both words have the same meaning, roughly "endowed", and are not cognate to each other .... the Icelandic one is distantly cognate to English "get" and the Welsh one goes back to a separate PIE root that also gave rise to the "have/had" family.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Pabappa »

:eng: flake ~ :esp: flaco "thin" are apparently unrelated, unless the spanish goes back to an unknown Latin loan. But the meanings seem to drift further apart going back in time.
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

English Tungus(a member of Tungusic peoples) and Turkish Domuz "Pig"(from Proto-Turkic *doŋuŕ) might not be cognates, while some claims that the English word might ultimately from the word for pig in a Turkic language(e.g. Yakut).
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

Double post =_=|||

English obsolete common noun steven and English proper noun Steven/Stephen
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False cognates

Post by eldin raigmore »

k1234567890y wrote: 30 Jul 2018 18:58 Double post =_=|||

English obsolete common noun steven and English proper noun Steven/Stephen
(Please tell us what Chaucer meant when he wrote “steven”. Or “stevene”. And how he thought his characters and his readers would pronounce it. )

It’s a great example!
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

eldin raigmore wrote: 30 Jul 2018 19:57
k1234567890y wrote: 30 Jul 2018 18:58 Double post =_=|||

English obsolete common noun steven and English proper noun Steven/Stephen
(Please tell us what Chaucer meant when he wrote “steven”. Or “stevene”. And how he thought his characters and his readers would pronounce it. )

It’s a great example!
steven meant "voice" in older English, btw. and is a native word; while Steven as a proper noun is a Greco-Latin word and means "crown, wreath" in Ancient Greek.
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Pabappa »

Apparently it survives as "even steven" .... I'd always assumed that that was just a rhyme based on the proper name.
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

Pabappa wrote: 30 Jul 2018 21:16 Apparently it survives as "even steven" .... I'd always assumed that that was just a rhyme based on the proper name.
how so?
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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Re: False cognates

Post by shimobaatar »

k1234567890y wrote: 30 Jul 2018 21:40
Pabappa wrote: 30 Jul 2018 21:16 Apparently it survives as "even steven" .... I'd always assumed that that was just a rhyme based on the proper name.
how so?
What's unclear?
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Re: False cognates

Post by All4Ɇn »

Really cool one I just discovered:
:deu: Vielfraß "glutton" (from Old German compound vilifrāʒ)
:deu: Vielfraß "wolverine" (from Old Norse fjellfräs meaning mountain cat)
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

All4Ɇn wrote: 31 Jul 2018 06:40 Really cool one I just discovered:
:deu: Vielfraß "glutton" (from Old German compound vilifrāʒ)
:deu: Vielfraß "wolverine" (from Old Norse fjellfräs meaning mountain cat)
nice (:
shimobaatar wrote: 31 Jul 2018 00:17
k1234567890y wrote: 30 Jul 2018 21:40
Pabappa wrote: 30 Jul 2018 21:16 Apparently it survives as "even steven" .... I'd always assumed that that was just a rhyme based on the proper name.
how so?
What's unclear?
was wondering what made him/her think the proper noun possibility at first
I prefer to not be referred to with masculine pronouns and nouns such as “he/him/his”.
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