false friends

[Sardokan1.0]

French :
- acheter (to buy)
- appeler (to call)
- bouffer (to blow, to inflate)
- maison (house)

Sardinian :
- agattare (to find)
- appeddare (to bark)
- buffare (to drink)
- masone (flock of sheeps)

 

[Dymn]

Another item to add to this list:
redaction

English:
"edition", "deletion/censoring of text", etc.
Many/most other European languages:
"editorial staff/department (at a newspaper, etc.)", and in many/most Romance languages, "written composition"

In Spanish it takes all of these three meanings.

 

[AndrasBP]

The word "TUTAJ" means "here" in Polish and "raft" in Hungarian (which is "tratwa" in Polish). The pronunciation is almost the same in the two languages.

It was funny to hear this word in Poland all the time.

 

[bibax]

Czech/English (mostly one-syllable words):

pot (sweat in Czech);
plot (fence);
plod (fruit, foetus);
knot (candle wick);
bob (bean);
bod (point);
lid (nation, folk);
led (ice);
let (noun fly);
i (also, even);
had (snake);
papal ([s/he] ate);
line ([it] wafts);
ovary (plur. boiled pork heads);
chat (gen. plur. cottages, chalets);
pat (gen. plur. heels);
not (gen. plur. notes);
slot (gen. plur. bad-weathers);
far (gen. plur. presbyteries);
bit (pass. part. beaten);
pad (transgr. having falled)

 

[Zareza]

In Romanian :

Czech/English plod (fruit, foetus)

plod = toddler

Czech/English pat (gen. plur. heels)

pat= bed

 

[Penyafort]

Some more between Catalan and Spanish not mentioned before:

​

ampolla 'bottle' vs ampolla 'blister', 'ampoule, vial'​

bolet 'mushroom' vs boleto 'ticket'​

bordar 'to bark' vs bordar 'to embroider'​

calces 'panties' vs calces 'wedges'​

civada 'oats' vs cebada 'barley'​

fressa 'continuous sound/noise' vs fresa 'strawberry'​

fusta 'wood' vs fusta 'riding whip'​

golfes 'attic, loft' vs golfas 'brazen slutty women'​

llevar-se 'get up' vs llevarse 'take away'​

pujar [pu'ʒa] 'go up, lift, raise' vs pujar [pu'xaɾ] 'bid', 'struggle'​

rentar 'to wash' vs rentar 'to yield', 'to let/rent out'​

trepar 'to drill' vs trepar 'to climb'​

vaga 'strike, stoppage' vs vaga 'lazy woman'​

venda 'sale' vs venda 'bandage', 'blindfold'​

 

[Armas]

Finnish novelli is not a novel (Fin. romaani), nor a novella (Fin. pienoisromaani "small novel"), but a short story. Swedish seems to use novell for short story as well.

 

[nimak]

Macedonian – Dutch
almost same pronunciation: ɔ - o; ɛ - e; j /j/; nj /ɲ/

јас (jas) "I" – jas "jacket"
орање (oranje) "plowing" – oranje "orange"
вол (vol) "ox" – vol "full"
сок (sok) "juice" – sok "sock"

 

[Sardokan1.0]

Some more between Catalan and Spanish not mentioned before:

​

ampolla 'bottle' vs ampolla 'blister', 'ampoule, vial'​

civada 'oats' vs cebada 'barley'​

fressa 'continuous sound/noise' vs fresa 'strawberry'​

fusta 'wood' vs fusta 'riding whip'​

llevar-se 'get up' vs llevarse 'take away'​

Catalan and Spanish vs Sardinian

ampulla - bottle
sevada, sebada, seada - typical Sardinian specialty, made with bran, and stuffed with cheese
fresa - typical Sardinian bread, thin and crunchy
fuste - stick, rod, staff (Latin "fustem", accusative of "fustis" - stick, rod, staff)
si levare, si leare - to take away, to remove yourself

 

[AndrasBP]

I've just seen a "Hungarian" word in a Portuguese text.

In Hungarian,"fizesse" is an imperative/subjunctive form of the verb "fizet" (= to pay), meaning "let him pay" or "he should pay" (pron. /'fizɛʃ:ɛ/).
In Portuguese, it is some form of "fazer" (= to make, to do). Is that right?

 

[jazyk]

Yes. It is the imperfective subjunctive in the first and third person singular. Se eu/ele fizesse - if I/he did/made.

 

[Red Arrow]

Some other "real" false friends: the English words "pen", "pencil" and "crayon" can be pretty confusing.

French:
pinceau = paintbrush
crayon = pencil
stylo = ballpoint pen
plume = fountain pen
craie = chalk or crayon

A crayon can also be called "crayon de cire", but crayon usually means pencil.

Dutch:
penseel = paintbrush
potlood (literally pot + lead) = pencil
pen = pen
krijt = chalk or crayon

Swedish:
pensel = paintbrush
penna = pen or pencil
krita = chalk or crayon

You can be more specific in Swedish by calling a pencil a "blyertspenna" (a graphite pen).

 

[AndrasBP]

I've just bought a jar of Dutch "pindakaas" (peanut butter) and found that "pinda" means "pussy" (the female parts) in Czech.

 

[nimak]

Macedonian: дедо (dedo) ['dɛdɔ] = "grandfather"
Spanish (and some other Romance languages): dedo = "finger"

 

[AndrasBP]

Hungarian: galiba = mix-up, mess, confusion (the etymology is unknown)
Turkish: galiba = probably (I think it's also used in Macedonian and Bulgarian)

 

[Jennifer Weiss]

Turkish: "durak" = a (bus) stop
Russian: "дурак" [durak] = a fool, an idiot

Turkish: "bardak" = a glass, a cup
Russian: "бардак" [bardak] = a mess

 

[nimak]

Turkish: galiba = probably (I think it's also used in Macedonian and Bulgarian)

галиба ['galiba]

 

[Penyafort]

One that I still can't get used to between Italian and Catalan:

Italian: aggiornamento = update​

Catalan: ajornament = postponement​

Whenever I see the word in Italian, the first thing I wonder is why that is being postponed...

 

[jazyk]

Ajourner also means postpone in French. And Portuguese has adiar for the same meaning. It looks like Italian is the odd one out here.