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Same words in different languages | ||
Tags: False friends | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5350 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 1 of 21 20 March 2011 at 2:04pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been wondering which word is the record holder for meaning something different in many languages.
For example the word 'A' means the following in other languages - SPANISH = TO CZECH = AND HUNGARIAN = THE So that's 4 different languages with different meanings and so far is our record holder! Please beat it with another word or add other longer words with different meanings. It doesn't matter if the pronunciation of the word is different in each language. A longer example is 'MOST' CZECH = BRIDGE HUNGARIAN = NOW Edited by hribecek on 20 March 2011 at 8:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 2 of 21 20 March 2011 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Not sure why this word came to mind but..
Rad English - rad - meaning great or something like that. German - a wheel Slovene - used in one of the constructions for liking something. Russian - glad. It's probably a common root in most Slavic languages, not sure though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5592 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 3 of 21 20 March 2011 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
The English "rad" is a shortened form of the word "radical". I am not sure about the German but suspect it could be related to the Latin "radius", as in "a point on the circumference of a circle". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 4 of 21 21 March 2011 at 6:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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The word "list" (or pronunciations close to it) could fit the bill:
English: list Belorussian: ліст = "leaf", "letter" Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Ukrainian: лист = "leaf" etc. Czech, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian: list = "leaf" etc. Dutch: list = "plan" Estonian: list = "list" (rare) Faroese, Icelandic: list = "art" Hungarian: liszt = flour [pronounced "leest"] Polish: list = "letter" Swedish: list = "cunning" 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 5 of 21 21 March 2011 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, I am aware of that - but as a word in itself, "rad" still carries that meaning in English - even if the longer form "radical" can have slightly different connotations. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5350 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 6 of 21 21 March 2011 at 3:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
So 'list' is our new record holder with 7 different meanings or 6 depending on if we count 'liszt' as it's a different spelling. Can anyone beat 6? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5809 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 7 of 21 21 March 2011 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Facinating case of false friends:
In linguistics, mama and papa refers to the sequences of sounds /ma/, /mama/ and similar ones known to correspond to the word for "mother" and "father" in many languages of the world. The basic kinship terms mama and papa are said to comprise a special case of false cognates. The cross-linguistic similarities between these terms are thought to result from the nature of language acquisition.[1] These words are the first word-like sounds made by babbling babies, and parents tend to associate the first sound babies make with themselves. Thus, there is no need to ascribe the similarities to common ancestry of !Kung ba, Aramaic abba, Mandarin Chinese bàba, Persian baba, and French papa (all "father") ; or Navajo amá, Mandarin Chinese māma, Swahili mama, Quechua mama, and English "mama" (all "mother"). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mama_and_p apa 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 8 of 21 21 March 2011 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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'ma' could beat it now that I think about it.
BCMS/Serbo-Croatian: ma = "well" [interjection] Breton: ma = "that" [conjunction]; "good!" [interjection] Dutch: ma = mother Dorze: ma = "bee" Estonian, Livonian: ma = "I" French: ma = "my" (feminine) Hungarian: ma = "today" Italian: ma = "but" Japanese: ma = "demon, evil spirit" etc. Mandarin: 媽 (ma1) = "mother"; 麻 (ma2) = "hemp"; 馬 (ma3) = "horse"; 罵 (ma4) = scold Pitjantjatjara: ma = "away" Polish: ma = "my" (rare or literary) Scottish: ma = "if" Tz'utujil: ma = "not" Vietnamese: ma = "ghost" 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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