Definition:
A word that is related in origin to another word, such as English brother and German Bruder. False cognates are two words in different languages that appear to be cognates but actually are not (for example, the English advertisement and the French avertissement--"warning" or "caution"). Adverb: cognately. See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "born with"Examples and Observations:
- "When languages have been shown to have a common ancestor, they are said to be cognate.
"The clearest cases are those where the parent language is known to exist. For example, on the basis of the various words for father in the Romance languages, such as père and padre, it is possible to work out how they all derived from the Latin word pater. If Latin no longer existed, it would be possible to reconstruct a great deal of its form, by comparing large numbers of words in this way."
(David Crystal, How Language Works, Overlook Press, 2005) - "The verb to quote meant originally (before 1387) 'to mark (a book) with the numbers of chapters or other marginal references,' borrowed from Medieval Latin quotare 'to mark the numbers of, distinguish by numbers,' from Latin quotus 'which number,' from quot 'how many,' the source of English quota."
(Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings, Random House, 2008)
Pronunciation: KOG-nate
