False cognates

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GrandPiano
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

There's also English "by" and Mandarin 被 bèi. Interestingly, 给 and 被 both have the ei final.
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Re: False cognates

Post by clawgrip »

There's always Portuguese obrigado "thank you" vs. Japanese arigatō "thank you", though the Portuguese one actually means "(I am) obliged" or some such, and the Japanese one means "it is difficult to exist (in this world)" i.e. "I am thankful to have that special gift of life" (it was originally a religious expression but it's been bleached out to just plain old "thank you")
Last edited by clawgrip on 29 Jan 2015 14:28, edited 1 time in total.
Prinsessa
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Re: False cognates

Post by Prinsessa »

Don't forget that it's an adjective, so that females say obrigada.
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k1234567890y
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

Malay/Indonesian kota "city" and Ainu Itak kotan "village" is possibly an example.
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 »

Side note: isn't saying "Ainu Itak" somewhat redundant? Wouldn't just "Ainu" do the trick?

Anyway, I'd say that's a good example of a false cognate pair (as far as I know).
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Re: False cognates

Post by Systemzwang »

English 'be' and Nanai (Tungusic) 'bi'.

Georgian genitive -(i)s, Germanic genitive -s.
GrandPiano
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

shimobaatar wrote:Side note: isn't saying "Ainu Itak" somewhat redundant? Wouldn't just "Ainu" do the trick?
Well, "aynu" can also mean "person", so maybe saying "Aynu Itak" clarifies the meaning, the way we say "English language" instead of just "English" because English is also an adjective meaning "of, from, or related to England".
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Re: False cognates

Post by shimobaatar »

GrandPiano wrote:
shimobaatar wrote:Side note: isn't saying "Ainu Itak" somewhat redundant? Wouldn't just "Ainu" do the trick?
Well, "aynu" can also mean "person", so maybe saying "Aynu Itak" clarifies the meaning, the way we say "English language" instead of just "English" because English is also an adjective meaning "of, from, or related to England".
  • In front of an Ainu word, especially in a forum/thread like this, context makes it clear that the language is meant.
  • If you really don't trust context (and I don't see why you wouldn't), why not say "Ainu language"?
Using an example I posted two pages ago:

Japanese atsui "hot" and English hot

Isn't it obvious that I'm talking about the languages? I don't need to say:

Japanese language atsui "hot" and English language hot

Because it wouldn't make sense for "English" and "Japanese" to mean "of, from, or related to" England or Japan, respectively.

Also, "Ainu" is an English (and Japanese) word for the language/people/etc. The Ainu word/spelling of the word is "Aynu", as you've used above. Saying "Aynu Itak" is sticking in a few Ainu words into an English sentence, like saying "Nihongo" in the middle of speaking English. "Ainu Itak" is like saying "Japanese Go" in English.

But that's not really the point. Look, I'm not trying to change the way anyone types or speaks or anything, but I'm just curious, for lack of a better word.
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gach
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Re: False cognates

Post by gach »

Have some long range comparison:

Haida kíl vs. Eurasian forms like Estonian keel and Written Mongolian kele, all "language".
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GrandPiano
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

@shimobaatar: OK, I see your point.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Znex »

:grc: δεῖ vs. :zho: děi both mean "must" to some degree.
:eng: : [tick] | :grc: : [:|] | :chn: :isr: :wls: : [:S] | :deu: :ell: :rus: : [:x]
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Dezinaa
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Re: False cognates

Post by Dezinaa »

I found an interesting one. Mbabaram dog "dog" and English dog.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Prinsessa »

The classic example! c:
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Imralu
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Re: False cognates

Post by Imralu »

:deu: nass (wet)
Montana Salish: nas (wet)
clawgrip wrote:Not false cognates, just a weird coincidence, but where else am I going to post this

English "to" and "two" essentially translate to Japanese "ni" and "ni". It's just a weird coincidence that they are homonyms of each other in both languages.
Similar to this, in Scots English and some other varieties, there's I and aye (= yes) being pronounced the same way, which a Swedish girl I knew found very interesting when she lived in Scotland because in Swedish, jag (I) and ja (yes), can be pronounced the same way.

Which reminds me of another false cognate.

:gla: :eng: aye
:nzl: āe (yes, to agree, to give assent)
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Xonen
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Re: False cognates

Post by Xonen »

k1234567890y wrote:Malay/Indonesian kota "city" and Ainu Itak kotan "village" is possibly an example.
Cf. also Finnish kota, which refers to a type of hut or tent, with cognates in other Uralic languages typically meaning something like 'house'.
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Re: False cognates

Post by CMunk »

:jpn: -nai (negative morpheme) ~ :dan: nej (no)
:jpn: sou (as in "sou desu ne" = 'is that so?') ~ :eng: so

And in the following example, I am not quite sure of the second word's origin or spelling, but I think this is it.
:fra: papillon (butterfly) ~ nahuatl: papatl papalotl (butterfly)
Edit: Found the right word: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/papalotl
Last edited by CMunk on 01 Apr 2015 14:41, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: False cognates

Post by qwed117 »

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian:duha (two)
Latin:duo (two)
PMP:matay (die)
Esp:matar (kill)
PMP:layap (to fly)
Eng:Levitate
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GrandPiano
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

English fortune and Mandarin 福 "fortune"?

Also, a bit iffy, but English yet or yes and Mandarin 也 "also"?
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CMunk
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Re: False cognates

Post by CMunk »

Well, on that iffy note:
:hun: igen (yes) ~ :dan: igen (again)
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GrandPiano
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

CMunk wrote:Well, on that iffy note:
:hun: igen (yes) ~ :dan: igen (again)
How about :dan: igen "again" and :eng: again?
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