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.

 

[DarkChild]

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

We don't have that.

 

[TheCrociato91]

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...

The most common meaning of aggiornamento is update, as you say. However, in limited contexts (mainly legal/political discourse and mainly in reference to a meeting or session) it does mean postponement:

Il rinviare ad altro giorno: fu deliberato l’a. della riunione alla settimana seguente.

aggiornaménto in Vocabolario - Treccani

The same applies to the verb "aggiornare" (aggiornare in Vocabolario - Treccani).

 

[Welsh_Sion]

One that I learnt after giving my first Welsh lesson in a Polish university. Cue much mirth from the students:

Welsh: cwrdd â = To meet (with) s.o.
Polish: 'A very common swear word'

Work it out for yourselves!

 

[AndrasBP]

Welsh: cwrdd â = To meet (with) s.o.
Polish: 'A very common swear word'

Work it out for yourselves!

They sound similar, but not the same.
The Polish word is 'kurwa', which would be 'cwrfa' if written in Welsh.

 

[Perseas]

Greek: Ναι [ne] = yes
Korean: 네 [ne] = yes

 

[Welsh_Sion]

Ok, @AndrasBP, I accept your being strict for accuracy - but it did help to break the ice between teacher and students on the first day, and probably helped the latter to remember the Welsh expression. (It also taught me one of my first few words of PL, too!)

In other matters, distinguish well this pair in the Brythonic languages:

Welsh: gwin coch 'red win'
Breton: gwin coc'h 'vin de merde'

Again, a teaching situation where I was teaching Welsh to Bretons in an Irish pub in Paris ...

 

[clamor]

French: gadoue (mud)
Western Armenian: gadu (cat)

French: tire ! (shoot!)
WA: tir! (put!)

English: miss
WA: mis (meat)

 

[Welsh_Sion]

With acknowledgements to @clamor:

Western Armenian: tir! (put!)
Welsh: tir /ti:r/ (land)

Western Armenian: mis (meat)
Welsh: mis /mi:s/ (month)

Western Armenian: gadu (cat)
Welsh: gadw /'gadu/ (a form of 'keep', verb.)

 

[clamor]

There are also:
French: allure (speed)
Western Armenian: alür (flour)

French: lev-er (raise, lift)
Western Armenian: lëv-al (wash)

 

[Welsh_Sion]

And by extension ...

English: allure (n.)/(vb.) (Fr. attrait/séduire)

[...]

English: lever (n.)/(vb.) (Fr. levier/extraire)

 

[clamor]

And by extension ...

English: allure (n.)/(vb.) (Fr. attrait/séduire)

[...]

English: lever (n.)/(vb.) (Fr. levier/extraire)

Yes but I tried to keep the grammatical class

 

[Welsh_Sion]

For the English: Did I not keep the part of speech - noun and verb?

Some of my Welsh examples, I admit do not ... - but 'month'/'meat' are both nouns.

 

[clamor]

For allure yes
For ''lever'' it was about the ''lev'' radical but doesn't matter
Your examples are interesting

 

[Welsh_Sion]

'Lev'

And don't forget the money they use in Bulgaria or Leon Trotsky's real first name then!

 

[clamor]

This one two:
French: tourte (pie, pronounced tught)
WA: tught (paper)

And of course:
French: coq (rooster)
English: cock (rooster and...something else)
WA: kok (lap)

 

[AndrasBP]

'Lev'

And don't forget the money they use in Bulgaria or Leon Trotsky's real first name then!

"Lev" means "lion" in Russian. It's also the original form of Leo Tolstoy's first name.

 

[marco_2]

They sound similar, but not the same.
The Polish word is 'kurwa', which would be 'cwrfa' if written in Welsh.

But he meant kurde, which is a euphenism for *kurwa*, a taboo word.

 

[AndrasBP]

But he meant kurde, which is a euphenism for *kurwa*, a taboo word.

Ah, I see. And what does 'kurde' mean originally?

 

[marco_2]

Ah, I see. And what does 'kurde' mean originally?

It means nothing - the Poles use it, along with kurna, kurczę or kurdelebele to avoid an abovementioned taboo word.

 

[Red Arrow]

Belgian and Netherlandic Dutch have a few false friends as well:

lopen - walking in the Netherlands, running in Flanders
schoon - clean in the Netherlands, beautiful in Flanders
poepen - to poop in the Netherlands (onomatopoeia), to fuck in Flanders (from French poupée, originally "playing with dolls")