False cognates

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clawgrip
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Re: False cognates

Post by clawgrip »

Of course, four characters = story. But that still seems anything but so-so: "I'm having a so-so day. One of my sons is a criminal and the other's dead."
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Re: False cognates

Post by Lao Kou »

clawgrip wrote:Of course, four characters = story. But that still seems anything but so-so: "I'm having a so-so day. One of my sons is a criminal and the other's dead."
I think I'd run with the "careless" interpretation first, as it's the painter's slipshod, lackadaisical manner which brings about the calamities. If something is so-so, it's because you're not assiduously giving it your all. Other synonyms given are: 草率, 敷衍 (both meaning "perfunctory", "just phoning it in"), 疏忽大意 (heedless, inattentive), and 不细心 (again, careless). From this perspective, I don't think so-soness is something that just happens to you, you create it. And let's remember the supposed Eastern trait of understatement. (One son cost me a fortune and the other's dead. How's my day? Well, I've been better. (Well, if only you'd drawn a proper horse!))
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Re: False cognates

Post by clawgrip »

Lao Kou wrote:...trait of understatement. (One son cost me a fortune and the other's dead. How's my day? Well, I've been better. (Well, if only you'd drawn a proper horse!))
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Re: False cognates

Post by Dormouse559 »

Lao Kou wrote:In the Song Dynasty, there was a painter who liked to paint anything he felt like painting. Most people could not understand his paintings.

One day, when he had just finished a painting of a tiger's head, his friend came to ask him for a painting of a horse. So, he painted a horse's body behind the tiger's head. His friend asked him if the painting was of a tiger or a horse. He answered, "马马虎虎 (mǎmǎhuhu) horse and tiger". His friend rejected his painting, so he put it up in his living room.

His eldest son asked him, "What's that in the painting?" He answered, "A tiger." However, when his younger son asked him he answered, "A horse."

That story reminds me of something else:

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The Little Prince

My drawing wasn't of a hat. It was of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant.

Then I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so the grown-ups could understand. They always need to have things explained to them.
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Re: False cognates

Post by CMunk »

:jpn: 中央本線 - Chūō-honsen 'Chūō Main Line' ~ :eng: The Tube 'London Underground'

It's far fetched, I know, but I have always thought they sounded similar. Maybe it is more of an "unfortunate coinsidence", if you think the Chūō Line is part of the Tokyo Subway system, and end up in Nagoya.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Znex »

:grc: σύν sýn {with, beside} (< ξύν ksýn) vs. :rus: с(о) s(o) {with (+INST)} (< Pr.Sl *sъ(n) sŭ(n))

Just been noticing the similarity in looking through Proto-Slavic. :rus: с(о) is a true cognate of :lat: cum from PIE *ḱóm {beside, with}, but :grc: σύν on the other hand seems to be derived at least in part from PIE *sem- {together, one}.
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Re: False cognates

Post by k1234567890y »

Uncertain about this, however, it seems that they ultimately came from different PIE roots:

Standard German Gold "gold" and Geld "money".
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 GrandPiano »

:chn: 金 jīn "gold; metal" - :eng: gold

(the initial j /t͡ɕ/ in jīn was originally g /k/)

I actually wondered before posting this if they might actually be cognates, since the Chinese languages do have some very old Indo-European loanwords via Tocharian. As far as I can tell, though, they aren't (and supposedly, the original meaning was actually copper).
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Re: False cognates

Post by Iyionaku »

:eng: mount and :haw: mauna

As in Mount Everest vs. Mauna Kea

and:

:deu: Feuer, :eng: fire vs. :fra: feu

Feuer and fire were derived from Proto-Germanic *fōr, ultimately from PIE *péh₂ur.
Feu, instead, comes from Latin focus (force), ultimately from PIE *bʰeh₂-
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

:jpn: 起こる okoru "to occur; to happen" - :eng: occur
:jpn: 知る shiru "to know" - :lat: scīre "to know"
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Re: False cognates

Post by All4Ɇn »

Iyionaku wrote:Feuer and fire were derived from Proto-Germanic *fōr, ultimately from PIE *péh₂ur.
Feu, instead, comes from Latin focus (force), ultimately from PIE *bʰeh₂-
Huh I always assumed these 2 came from the source. Weird
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Re: False cognates

Post by Iyionaku »

All4Ɇn wrote:
Iyionaku wrote:Feuer and fire were derived from Proto-Germanic *fōr, ultimately from PIE *péh₂ur.
Feu, instead, comes from Latin focus (force), ultimately from PIE *bʰeh₂-
Huh I always assumed these 2 came from the source. Weird
Yeah, me too. Especially as there is no cognate of "feu" in other romance languages, it looked like an obvious borrowing from the Franconian people.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Void »

:isr: סהר /sahar/ "moon, crescent" - :mon: сар /sar/ "moon"

Seems quite forced, but most Israelis would pronounce the former as /sa:r/, so I guess that's something.

Fun fact: סער /saˈʕar/ "he stormed," would be pronounced the same, but due to stress, it's /saˈar/. Funny how stress just changes everything.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Imralu »

Iyionaku wrote:Yeah, me too. Especially as there is no cognate of "feu" in other romance languages, it looked like an obvious borrowing from the Franconian people.
Huh?? Fuego, fogo, foc ... most Romance languages have a cognate.
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Re: False cognates

Post by WeepingElf »

Iyionaku wrote:Yeah, me too. Especially as there is no cognate of "feu" in other romance languages, it looked like an obvious borrowing from the Franconian people.
Actually, :fra: feu does have cognates in other Romance languages, such as :ita: fuoco and :esp: fuego. All from :lat: focus 'hearth'.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Zythros Jubi »

金 originally meant metal in general, and the word for gold was 銑 (cognate to Tibetan gser).
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Re: False cognates

Post by Imralu »

I just see squiggles so hardly surprising to learn that they're not cognates.
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Re: False cognates

Post by GrandPiano »

For Imralu (although I provided pinyin in my post):
Zythros Jubi wrote:jīn originally meant metal in general, and the word for gold was xiǎn (cognate to Tibetan gser).
According to Wiktionary, 金 (jīn) originally meant copper, then came to refer to metals in general, then came to mean gold.
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Re: False cognates

Post by Iyionaku »

:esp: :fra: Basque katar vs. :deu: Kater, both meaning tomcat

Actually, I'm wondering if katu (cat) is indeed a loanword from Castillian gato.
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Re: False cognates

Post by qwed117 »

Iyionaku wrote::esp: :fra: Basque katar vs. :deu: Kater, both meaning tomcat

Actually, I'm wondering if katu (cat) is indeed a loanword from Castillian gato.
It's definitely latinate.
(https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/cattus#Latin)
I also think that Kater is from Low German, which would make it cognate to katu
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