Cognate 6328 223254969 2008-07-03T07:38:44Z 87.19.226.84 {{Wiktionarypar|cognate}} '''Cognates''' in [[linguistics]] are words that have a common origin. They may occur within a language, such as ''shirt'' and ''skirt'' as two English words descended from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] word ''*sker-'', meaning "to cut". They may also occur across languages, e.g. ''night'' and [[German language|German]] ''Nacht'' as descendants of Proto-Indo-European ''*nokt-'', "night". The word ''cognate'' derives from Latin ''cognatus'', from ''co'' (''with'') +''gnatus'', ''natus'', past participle of ''nasci'' "to be born".<ref>''Cassell's Latin Dictionary</ref> Literally it means "related by blood, having a common ancestor, or related by an analogous nature, character, or function".<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/cognate] Dictionary definition of '''cognate''' on Answers.com. [[The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition]] Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.</ref> The term ''cognate'' is not normally used with [[loanwords]]. For example, linguists would not say that the English word ''[[sushi]]'' is cognate to the [[Japanese language|Japanese]] word ''sushi'', because the word was borrowed from Japanese into English. ==Characteristics of cognate words== Cognates need not have the same meaning: ''dish'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''Tisch'' ("table", [[German language|German]]), or ''starve'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''sterben'' ("die", [[German language|German]]), or ''head'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''chef'' ("chief, head", [[French language|French]]), serve as examples as to how cognate terms may [[semantic drift|diverge in meaning]] as languages develop separately, eventually becoming [[false friends]]. In addition to having separate meanings, cognates through processes of linguistic change may no longer resemble each other phonetically: ''cow'' and ''beef'' both derive from the same Indo-European root ''*g''{{PIE|ʷ}}''ou''-, ''cow'' having developed through the [[Germanic family|Germanic language family]] while ''beef'' has arrived in English from the Italo-Romance family descent. (ModE ''cow'' < ME ''cou'' < OE ''cū'' < PIE ''*g''{{PIE|ʷ}}''ou'' > Latin ''bov-'' (stem; dictionary form is ''bos'') > OFr ''boef'' > ME ''beef'') ==Cognates across languages== Examples of cognates in [[Indo-European languages]] are the words ''night'' ([[English language|English]]), ''nuit'' ([[French language|French]]), ''Nacht'' ([[German language|German]]), ''nacht'' ([[Dutch Language|Dutch]]), ''nicht'' ([[Scots language|Scots]]), ''natt'' ([[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]]), ''nat'' ([[Danish language|Danish]]), ''noc'' ([[Czech language|Czech]], [[Polish language|Polish]]), ночь, ''noch'' ([[Russian language|Russian]]), ''нощ'', ''nosht'' ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]), ''ніч'', ''nich'' ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), ''ноч'', ''noch''/''noč'' ([[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]) ''noć'' ([[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]]), νύξ, ''nyx'' ([[Greek language|Greek]]), ''nox'' ([[Latin]]), ''nakt-'' ([[Sanskrit]]), ''natë'' ([[Albanian language|Albanian]]), ''noche'' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]]), ''nos'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]), ''noite'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Galician language|Galician]]), ''notte'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]), ''nit'' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]), ''noapte'' ([[Romanian language|Romanian]]), ''nótt'' ([[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]), and ''naktis'' ([[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]), all meaning "night" and derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ([[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]]) ''*nokt-'', "night." Another Indo-European example is ''star'' ([[English language|English]]), ''str-'' ([[Sanskrit]]), ''astre'' or ''étoile'' ([[French language|French]]), ''αστήρ (astēr)'' ([[Greek language|Greek]]), ''stella'' (Latin, [[Italian language|Italian]]), ''stea'' ([[Romanian language|Romanian]] and [[Venetian language|Venetian]]), ''stairno'' ([[Gothic language|Gothic]]), ''astl'' ([[Armenian language|Armenian]]), ''Stern'' (German), ''ster'' (Dutch and [[Afrikaans]]), ''starn'' (Scots), ''stjerne'' ([[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and Danish), ''stjarna'' ([[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]), ''stjärna'' ([[Swedish language|Swedish]]), ''setare'' ([[Persian language|Persian]]), ''seren'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]), ''steren'' ([[Cornish language|Cornish]]), ''estel'' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]), ''estrella'' (Spanish), ''estrela'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Galician language|Galician]]) and ''estêre'' ([[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]), from the PIE ''*stēr-'', "star". The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''shalom'', the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] ''salaam'' and the [[Amharic language|Amharic]] ''selam'' ("peace") are also cognates, derived from a common [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] root, having the [[triliteral]] ''slm''. Cognates may often be less easily recognised than the above examples and authorities sometimes differ in their interpretations of the evidence. The English word ''milk'' is clearly a cognate of German ''Milch'' and of [[Russian language|Russian]] ''moloko'' (<PIE ''*melg-'', "to milk"). On the other hand, French ''lait'' and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''leche'' (both meaning "milk") are less obviously cognates of [[Greek language|Greek]] ''galaktos'' (genitive form of ''gala'', milk) (<''*g(a)lag-'', ''galakt-''), as is the English word ''lactic''. ==Cognates within the same language== Cognates can exist within the same language. For example, English ''ward'' and ''guard'' (<PIE ''*wer-'', "to perceive, watch out for") are cognate as are ''shirt'' and ''skirt'' (<PIE ''*sker-'', "to cut"). In some cases, such as "shirt" and "skirt", one of the cognate pairs has an ultimate source in another language related to English, while the other one is native, as happened with many loanwords from [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] (which was mutually intelligible with [[Old English language|Old English]]) borrowed when the [[Viking]]s conquered part of England. Sometimes, both cognates come from other languages, often the same one but at different times. For example, the word ''chief'' comes from the Middle French ''chef'', and its modern pronunciation preserves the Middle French consonant sound. The word ''chef'' was borrowed from the same source centuries later, by which time the consonant had changed to a "sh"-sound in French. Such words are said to be [[etymological twins]]. ==False cognates== {{main|False cognate}} [[False cognate]]s are words that are commonly thought to be related (have a common origin) whereas linguistic examination reveals they are unrelated. Thus, for example, on the basis of superficial similarities one might suppose that the Latin verb ''habere'' and German ''haben'', both meaning 'to have', are cognates. However, an understanding of the way words in the two languages evolve from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) roots shows that they cannot be cognate (see for example [[Grimm's law]]). German ''haben'' (like English ''have'') in fact comes from PIE ''*kap'', 'to grasp', and its real cognate in Latin is ''capere'', 'to seize, grasp, capture'. Latin ''habere'', on the other hand, is from PIE ''*ghabh'', 'to give, to receive', and hence cognate with English ''give'' and German ''geben''. The similarity of words between languages is ''not'' enough to demonstrate that the words are related to each other, in much the same way that facial resemblance does not imply a close genetic relationship between people. Over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, words may change their sound completely. Thus, for example, English ''five'' and [[Sanskrit]] ''pança'' are cognates, while English ''over'' and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] ''a'var'' are not, and neither are English ''dog'' and [[Mbabaram language|Mbabaram]] ''dog''. Contrast this with [[false friend]]s, which frequently ''are'' cognate. ==Parliamentary term== In a parliamentary sense, a cognate debate means that two or more bills can be debated together, if the House does not object to the matter. Bills are only debated cognately if they are closely related. ==Mechanical systems== In Mechanical Systems, the term "cognate" has been used by [[Robot control|Hartenburg and Denavit]] to describe a [[Cognate linkages|linkage]], of different geometry, which generates the same coupler curve. ==Molecular Biology term== In molecular biology a [[ligand]] may have a cognate receptor. This is a receptor that specifically binds to that ligand. ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[Cognate object]] *[[Historical-comparative linguistics]] *[[Paronym]] *[[False friend]] *[[Reflex (linguistics)]] (ref.: ''[[Talk:Reflex#Reflex in linguistics?]]'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Reflex&oldid=162510279]) [[Category:Historical linguistics]] [[af:Kognaat]] [[bg:Когнат]] [[de:Wortgleichung]] [[es:Cognado]] [[fr:Mots apparentés]] [[gl:Cognado]] [[ko:동계어]] [[id:Kata kerabat]] [[it:Parole singeniche]] [[nl:Cognaat (taalkunde)]] [[ja:同根語]] [[no:Kognat (lingvistikk)]] [[nn:Kognat i lingvistikken]] [[pt:Cognato]] [[sco:Cognate]] [[fi:Sukulaissana]] [[sv:Kognat (lingvistik)]]