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  • sker-'', meaning "to cut". They may also occur across languages, e.g. ''night'' and 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 ''nascor'' "to be born".''Cassell's Latin Dictionary Literally it means "related by blood, having a common ancestor, or related by an analogous nature, character, or function". {Link without Title} 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.


CHARACTERISTICS OF COGNATE WORDS


Cognates need not have the same meaning: ''dish'' ( English ) and ''Tisch'' ("table", German ), or ''starve'' ( English ) and ''sterben'' ("die", German ), or ''head'' ( English ) and ''chef'' ("chief, head", French ), serve as examples as to how cognate terms may Diverge In Meaning as languages develop separately, eventually becoming False Friends .

  • g'ou''-, ''cow'' having developed through the Germanic Language Family while ''beef'' has arrived in English from the Italo-Romance family descent. (ModE ''cow'' < ME ''cou'' < OE ''cū'' < PIE ''---g'ou'' > Latin ''bos'' > Latin ''bovis'' (genitive) > OFr ''boef'' > ME ''beef'')


Cognates may thus also arise through borrowings into languages. So the resemblance between English ''to pay'' and French ''payer'' originates through English borrowing ''to pay'' from Norman which, like French, had derived its word from Gallo-Romance.


COGNATES ACROSS LANGUAGES

  • nokt-'', "night."


  • hstēr-'', "star".

    • The Hebrew ''shalom'' and the Arabic ''salaam'' ("peace") are also cognates, derived from a common Semitic root, having the Triliteral ''slm''.



COGNATES WITHIN THE SAME LANGUAGE

  • wer-'', "to perceive, watch out for") are cognate as are ''shirt'' and ''skirt'' (Old Norse (which was mutually intelligible with 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 .


  • melg-'', "to milk"). On the other hand, French ''lait'' and Spanish ''leche'' (both meaning "milk") are less obviously cognates of Greek ''galaktos'' (genitive form of ''gala'', milk) (<''---g(a)lag-'', ''galakt-''), as is the English word ''lactic''.



FALSE COGNATES

See Also: False cognate


  • 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 determine whether two people are genetically related. 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 ''a'var'' are not, and neither are English ''dog'' and 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 Hartenburg And Denavit to describe a 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



SEE ALSO