False Cognates

robbie_SWE said:
PS: the Romanian verb "a face" is in the first person "(eu) fac". This fac is pronounced exactly like the English word "fuck" :warning: ...:p In Swedish we have the word "fack" which also is pronounced like "fuck", but means safety deposit box (the bank) or worker’s union. So if you hear Romanians and Swedes say this to you they are not trying to be deliberately rude, they’re just saying “I do” and “safety deposit box/union”! :D :D
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I already knew the Swedish one. I think it was here on WR where I read a story about two elderly ladies who went to London and asked in a hotel, "How much do you want for a fuck/fack?" :D :D
 
    • jester. said:
    I already knew the Swedish one. I think it was here on WR where I read a story about two elderly ladies who went to London and asked in a hotel, "How much do you want for a fuck/fack?" :D :D
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    Yeah, I've heard that one too. "Do you want a little fack or a big fack" said the Swedish banker to his English costumer. :D :D :D

    :) robbie
     
    Sorry Jazyk, but "a urca" in Romanian means "to rise".
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    Sorry, my bad. I meant to go up, as can be seen by the Catalan example, pujar.

    What a different a small word can make!
     
    robbie very fanny.. :) I have some fanny too :)

    and Latvian šitas (slang - this) sounds like shit ass :D
    spanish hui sounds like russian хуй (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)
    Czech pozor (attention, watch) sounds like russian позор (pozor) - dishonour
    in Danish fartplan means timetable :D
    when Gipsy shouts - dik! dik ! (dick! dick!), he means - look! look!

    in Latvia we have city Ogre
    and who dont know village Fucking in Austria?
     
    spanish hui sounds like russian хуй (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)
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    I beg to differ. The h in Romance languages (except Romanian, as far as I know) is not pronounced, so it doesn't sound like хуй, also because in хуй you have a diphthong, and in hui is pronounced closer to French oui or English we.
     
    Oh! I remembered today the conjugation of the verb 'to go" in the present in Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian is very confusing:

    Portuguese:
    Eu vou
    Tu vais
    Ele vai

    Spanish:
    Yo voy
    Tú vas
    Él va

    French:
    Je vais
    Tu vas
    Il va

    Italian:
    Io vo
    Tu vai
    Lui va
     
    jester said:
    Italian:
    Io vado
    Tu vai
    Lui va
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    Io vo is not wrong, although it is used only in Tuscany. Io vado is the common form.


    Other false cognates:

    burro (IT)= butter - burro (ES)= donkey

    aceto (IT)= vinegar - aceite (ES)= oil
    (At an Italian restaraunt every time a Spanyard asks for oil they bring him vinegar and viceversa :D)

    largo (IT)= wide - largo (ES)= long

    officina (IT)= workshop - oficina (ES)= office

    tenda (IT)= tent - tienda (ES)= shop
    carpa (IT)= carp (fish) - carpa (ES)= tent


    As for other roman languages, there are false cognates with sopportare, sostenere, subire and salire


    zaigucis said:
    latvian elle (hell)
    french elle (she)
    german elle (ulna)
    italian elle (name of the letter 'l')
    ...
    latvian mute (mouth)
    polish mute (deaf)
    spanish mute (mutate)
    italian mute (feminine plural of dumb)

    latvian, slovak, croatian, swedish skola (school)
    lithuanian skola (debt)
    icelandic skola (flush, irrigate)
    italian scola ('it drains') - same sound

    latvian, hungarian kanna (can)
    swedish kanna (jug, pot)
    italian canna (cane, but also slang for joint) - same sound
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    There are many false cognates between Japanese and Italian too.
     
    Portuguese speakers should be very careful using the verb "ficar" in Italy, if you want a lady to stay with you do not say "fica!"
     
    In Eastern Norwegian, the adjective snål means 'weird' (in some dialects it means 'nice', 'pleasant'), but in Swedish it means 'stingy, niggardly' (it has the same meaning in some northern dialects).

    Fart means 'speed' and fag means 'subject', just to mention a few Norwegian-English.
     
    Chinese vs Russian:

    Chinese Mandarin:
    hui (has a lot of meaning depending on the tone and character used)

    Russian:
    хуй (khuy) :cross:
    dick, cock :cross:

    The Chinese hui is pronounced almost exactly as хуй :cross:, which causes both embarassment and laugh with Russian (and Slavic) learners of Chinese.
     
    Constipado in Spanish is ill in English. I remember my high school spanish teacher telling me she was caught off guard when she was studying abroad in high school and someone asked her if she is constipada.:)

    Embarezada en Spanish is pregnant, not embarrassed.

    In Panjabi and Hindi, /khiir/ (kheer) is a sweet rice pudding. In Farsi, it's penis!

    In Panjabi, /lund/ is penis. And then of course there is the city, London...nyuk nyuk nyuk!
     
    Let me add....
    zaigucis said:
    latvian mati (hair plural)
    croatian mati (parent)
    jazyk said:
    And Greek μάτι means eye.
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    Malay mati (die)

    latvian laka (varnish)
    polish laka (meadow)
    Malay lakar (sketch)

    latvian, slovak, croatian, swedish skola (school)
    lithuanian skola (debt)
    icelandic skola (flush, irrigate)
    Malay sekolah (school)


    latvian ola (egg)
    irish, scottish ola (oil)
    lithuanian ola (cave)
    portuguese ola (motor pool)
    spanish ola (wave)
    Malay olah (attitude)
    Click to expand...
     
    Anatoli said:
    Chinese vs Russian:

    Chinese Mandarin:
    hui (has a lot of meaning depending on the tone and character used)

    Russian:
    хуй (khuy) :cross:
    dick, cock :cross:

    The Chinese hui is pronounced almost exactly as хуй :cross:, which causes both embarassment and laugh with Russian (and Slavic) learners of Chinese.
    Click to expand...

    Oh my...what the...:eek: Remind me never to utter my given name in Russia... Just think, my mother yelling my name across the street...it cannot bear imagining...:eek:
     
    A friend once related an incident about working with a group of Japanese in Kenya. Apparently, many Japanese names, while not perfect cognates, are close enough to rude and funny words in Swahili that they had to stop introducing most of the Japanese visitors by their real names (becoming instead, Mr. Director of the X of Y) in public gatherings. Would love to get more details on that .
     
    Dutch:
    vrede = peace
    wrede = cruel (in Belgium, wr- is pronounced the same as vr-)

    Swedish:
    fred = peace
    vrede = anger
     
    ergaster said:
    Io vo is not wrong, although it is used only in Tuscany. Io vado is the common form.


    Other false cognates:

    burro (IT)= butter - burro (ES)= donkey

    aceto (IT)= vinegar - aceite (ES)= oil
    (At an Italian restaraunt every time a Spaniard asks for oil they bring him vinegar and viceversa :D)

    largo (IT)= wide - largo (ES)= long

    officina (IT)= workshop - oficina (ES)= office

    tenda (IT)= tent - tienda (ES)= shop but tienda de acampada= tent
    carpa (IT)= carp (fish) - carpa (ES)= tent, fish (also)


    As for other roman languages, there are false cognates with sopportare, sostenere, subire and salire
    There are many false cognates between Japanese and Italian too.
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    SEMBRARE (IT. from lat. SIMILARE/SIMULARE ) =to seem/ to look like and SEMBRAR (SP: from lat. SEMINARE)= to sow

    PRONTO (from lat. PROMPTUS)
    it. ready
    sp. soon

    SALIRE/SALIR (lat. SALIRE)
    it. to go up
    sp. to go out

    SUBIRE/ SUBIR (lat. SUBIRE)
    it. to suffer, to undergo
    sp. to go up

    TOPO
    it. mouse
    sp. mole

    GUARDARE/ GUARDAR
    it. to look
    sp. to keep, to guard

    A CÂȘTIGA/ CASTIGAR

    Romanian -> a CÂȘTIGA to win
    Spanish -> Castigar to punish

    AMAR

    Ro. Bitter (Amargo in Spanish)
    Sp. to love

    CALE / CALLE (from lat. CALLIS)

    Ro. path
    Sp. street


    zaigucis said:
    spanish hui sounds like russian хуй (xuy)- slang dick (very popular rude word, like english fuck - widely used, it can have any meaning, depending on the context)
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    Hui does not exist in Spanish, only exist Hoy (Today) but h is mute in Spanish so it would sound like "Oy"
     
    I think some onomatopoeic words are false cognates because they're not etymologically related and they arose independently.

    Czech: kvákat

    English: quack
    German: quaken
     
    Dymn said:
    I guess the topic of the thread is not "false cognates" anymore... :oops:
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    So obviously I missunderstood the thread and wrote "False Friends", sorry for that!:);)

    False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages.[1] For example, the English word dog and the Mbabaram word dog have the exact same meaning, but by complete coincidence. This is different from false friends, which are similar-sounding words with different meanings, but which may in fact be etymologically related. (For example: Spanish dependiente looks like dependent, but means employee.)
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