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Cognate (etymology)

Cognates in linguistics are words that have a common etymology|etymological origin. An example of cognates within the same language would be English ''shirt'' vs. ''skirt'', the former from Old English ''scyrte'', the latter List of English words of Old Norse origin|loaned from Old Norse ''skyrta'', both from the same Common Germanic ''*skurtjōn-''. Further cognates of the same word in other Germanic languages would include German ''Schürze'' and Dutch ''schort'' "apron". The word ''cognate'' derives from Latin '':wikt:cognatus|cognatus'' "blood relative". from ''co'' (''with'') +''gnatus'', ''natus'', past participle of ''nasci'' "to be born". ''Cassell's Latin Dictionary. The English word can also have a range of meaning "related by blood, having a common ancestor, or related by an analogous nature, character, or function". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition s.v. ''cognate''.

Characteristics of cognate words

Cognates need not have the same meaning: ''dish'' (English language|English) and ''Tisch'' ("table", German language|German), or ''starve'' (English language|English) and ''sterben'' ("die", German language|German), or ''head'' (English language|English) and ''chef'' ("chief, head", French language|French), serve as examples as to how cognate terms may semantic drift|diverge in meaning as languages develop separately, eventually becoming false friends. In addition to having separate meanings, cognates through processes of linguistic change may no longer resemble each other phonetically: ''cow'' and ''beef'' both derive from the same Indo-European root ''*g''''ou''-, ''cow'' having developed through the Germanic family|Germanic language family while ''beef'' has arrived in English from the Italo-Romance family descent. (ModE ''cow'' < ME ''cou'' < OE ''cū'' < PIE ''*g''''ou'' > Latin ''bov-'' (stem; dictionary form is ''bos'', borrowed from some Osco-Umbrian dialect) > OFr ''boef'' > ME ''beef'')

Cognates across languages

Examples of cognates in Indo-European languages are the words ''night'' (English language|English), ''nuit'' (French language|French), ''Nacht'' (German language|German), ''nacht'' (Dutch Language|Dutch), ''nicht'' (Scots language|Scots), ''natt'' (Swedish language|Swedish, Norwegian language|Norwegian), ''nat'' (Danish language|Danish), ''noc'' (Czech language|Czech, Polish language|Polish), ночь, ''noch'' (Russian language|Russian), ''нощ'', ''nosht'' (Bulgarian language|Bulgarian), ''ніч'', ''nich'' (Ukrainian language|Ukrainian), ''ноч'', ''noch''/''noč'' (Belarusian language|Belarusian) ''noć'' (Croatian language|Croatian, Serbian language|Serbian), νύξ, ''nyx'' (Greek language|Greek), ''nox'' (Latin), ''nakt-'' (Sanskrit), ''natë'' (Albanian language|Albanian), ''noche'' (Spanish language|Spanish), ''nos'' (Welsh language|Welsh), ''noite'' (Portuguese language|Portuguese and Galician language|Galician), ''notte'' (Italian language|Italian), ''nit'' (Catalan language|Catalan), ''noapte'' (Romanian language|Romanian), ''nótt'' (Icelandic language|Icelandic), and ''naktis'' (Lithuanian language|Lithuanian), all meaning "night" and derived from the Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European (Proto-Indo-European language|PIE) , "night". Another Indo-European example is ''star'' (English language|English), ''str-'' (Sanskrit), ''astre'' or ''étoile'' (French language|French), ''αστήρ (astēr)'' (Greek language|Greek), ''stella'' (Latin, Italian language|Italian), ''stea'' (Romanian language|Romanian and Venetian language|Venetian), ''stairno'' (Gothic language|Gothic), ''astl'' (Armenian language|Armenian), ''Stern'' (German), ''ster'' (Dutch and Afrikaans), ''starn'' (Scots), ''stjerne'' (Norwegian language|Norwegian and Danish), ''stjarna'' (Icelandic language|Icelandic), ''stjärna'' (Swedish language|Swedish), ''setare'' (Persian language|Persian), ''stoorei'' (Pashto language|Pashto), ''seren'' (Welsh language|Welsh), ''steren'' (Cornish language|Cornish), ''estel'' (Catalan language|Catalan), ''estrella'' (Spanish), ''estrela'' (Portuguese language|Portuguese and Galician language|Galician) and ''estêre'' (Kurdish language|Kurdish), from the PIE , "star". The Hebrew language|Hebrew ''shalom'', the Arabic language|Arabic ''salaam'' and the Amharic language|Amharic ''selam'' ("peace") are also cognates, derived from Proto-Semitic :wikt:Appendix:Proto-Semitic *šalām-|*šalām-. Cognates may often be less easily recognised than the above examples and authorities sometimes differ in their interpretations of the evidence. The English word ''milk'' is clearly a cognate of German ''Milch''. On the other hand, French ''lait'' and Spanish language|Spanish ''leche'' (both meaning "milk") are less obviously cognates of Greek language|Greek ''galaktos'' (genitive form of ''gala'', milk) (<''*g(a)lag-'', ''galakt-''), but on the other hand the Spanish adjective forms "lácteo" or "láctico" better prove this common origin, through the Latin "lactis", as well as the English word ''lactic'' (and many many other English words derived or borrowed from Latin, directly or through other Romance languages).

Cognates within the same language

Cognates can exist within the same language. For example, English ''ward'' and ''guard'' (Old Norse language|Old Norse (which was mutually intelligible with Old English language|Old English) borrowed when the Vikings conquered part of England. Sometimes, both cognates come from other languages, often the same one but at different times. For example, the word ''chief'' comes from the Middle French ''chef'', and its modern pronunciation preserves the Middle French consonant sound. The word ''chef'' was borrowed from the same source centuries later, by which time the consonant had changed to a "sh"-sound in French. Such words are said to be etymological twins.

False cognates

False cognates are words that are commonly thought to be related (have a common origin) whereas linguistic examination reveals they are unrelated. Thus, for example, on the basis of superficial similarities one might suppose that the Latin verb ''habere'' and German ''haben'', both meaning 'to have', are cognates. However, an understanding of the way words in the two languages evolve from Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European (PIE) roots shows that they cannot be cognate (see for example Grimm's law). German ''haben'' (like English ''have'') in fact comes from PIE ''*kap'', 'to grasp', and its real cognate in Latin is ''capere'', 'to seize, grasp, capture'. Latin ''habere'', on the other hand, is from PIE ''*gʰabʰ'', 'to give, to receive', and hence cognate with English ''give'' and German ''geben''. The similarity of words between languages is ''not'' enough to demonstrate that the words are related to each other, in much the same way that facial resemblance does not imply a close genetic relationship between people. Over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, words may change their sound completely. Thus, for example, English ''five'' and Sanskrit ''pança'' are cognates, while English ''over'' and Hebrew language|Hebrew ''′avar'' are not, and neither are English ''dog'' and Mbabaram language|Mbabaram ''dog''. Contrast this with false friends, which frequently ''are'' cognate.

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