Re: Pseudo-cognates?

Harlan Messinger wrote:
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?

Informally, they are called "sound-alikes". Sometimes they are called
"false friends".

False friends aren't sheer coincidence--they're words that *are* related but that cause confusion because their meanings are different. Examples are English "eventual" and French "eventuel" (= "possible"), English "actual" and French "actuel" (= "current", "at the moment"), English "smoking" and French "smoking" (= "smoking jacket").

What the OP is asking about is words that *appear* to be false friends but that aren't.

Not a word, but a phrase: when "The Empire Strikes Back" I recall some Swedish friends telling me that they found the title of the Danish version very funny.

In Swedish it was IIRC 'Impäriet slår tilbaka'.

In Danish it was 'Imperiet slår igen', but according to my friends, in Swedish this would mean 'The Empire shuts down'.

Colin
.

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