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this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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Today I Learned (TIL)
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Common but old origin tends to make words diverge over time. Compare for example:
All those eight are true cognates, they're all from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. But if you look only at the modern stuff, those four look nothing like each other - and yet their [near-]ancestors (the other four) resemble each other a bit better, Latin and Proto-Celtic for example used almost the same word.
They also get even more similar if you know a few common sound changes, like:
In the meantime, false cognates - like the ones mentioned by the OP - are often similar now, but once you dig into their past they look less and less like each other, the opposite of the above.
They also often rely on affixes that we know to be unrelated. For example, let's dig a bit into the first pair, desert/deshret:
Suddenly our comparison isn't even between ⟨desert⟩ and ⟨deshret⟩, but rather between /seɾo:/ and /ˈtʼaʃɾa/. They... don't look similar at all.
* see here for the word in hieroglyphs.
Other bits of info:
Very cool, thank you for the detailed breakdown that was helpful!
I think it went over my head after the third paragraph but I'm deeply fascinated and impressed. I'll act like I understood everything to look smart though. Thank you 💕
Sorry! I have a tendency to shift to technical vocab midtext, so it's likely my fault.
I'll use the comment to clarify some terms:
If anything else is unclear feel free to ask away!
Danke 💕 I was half asleep reading it as well, that might not have helped.
I'm not really gifted, language wise, but I'm pretty interested. I love watching this one YouTuber of which which I forgot (Brit which seems to live in Germany, explaining things like the great vowel shift (aha, remembered! https://youtu.be/fmL6FClRC_s) and I'm fascinated by the similarities of old English and modern German. But I won't ever be able to keep things like those "For example /t͡ʃ/ is as in ⟨chill⟩, /θ/ is as in ⟨think⟩, /kʷ/ is as in ⟨queen⟩ but Latin handles it as a single unit, etc." in memory.
I understand it as I'm reading, but it'll be gone tomorrow. Washed away by some algorithm in trying to get working.
But thank you so much, it was a pleasure reading 💖