Re: Pseudo-cognates?

izzy wrote:
Snis Pilbor wrote:
Is there a special word for the event when two languages share a word,
but only by sheer coincidence, NOT ... because of common heritage?

In American English, the term "villa" brings to mind a luxurious
single family home in the suburbs or country. In Israeli Hebrew,
it is simply a small detached dwelling that may be quite the opposite
of luxurious.

Collins English Dictionary (1979 edition) gives as its third meaning of 'villa' as "a detached or semi-detached suburban house". (I suspect this meaning began as estate agents' puff). Could this be the origin of the Hebrew word?

Colin
.

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