cognáty

Cognáty refers to words in different languages that share a common origin and often have similar meanings and spellings. These similarities arise from their shared ancestry, usually stemming from a common proto-language. For example, the English word "father," the German word "Vater," and the Latin word "pater" are cognates, all deriving from the Proto-Indo-European word *ph₂tḗr.

Identifying cognates is a key tool in historical linguistics and comparative philology. By comparing cognates across related languages, linguists can reconstruct ancestral languages, trace language families, and understand the historical relationships between different tongues. The degree of similarity can vary greatly, depending on how long ago the languages diverged and the extent of sound changes and semantic shifts that have occurred over time.

It is important to distinguish true cognates from false cognates, also known as false friends. False cognates are words in different languages that look or sound similar but have different etymological origins and meanings. For instance, the English word "gift" and the German word "Gift" (which means poison) are false cognates. While they appear similar, their meanings are entirely unrelated, and they do not share a common ancestor. The study of cognates helps to illuminate the deep historical connections between human languages.