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In [[linguistics]], '''cognates''' are words that have a common [[etymology|etymological]] origin. 

An example of cognates within the same language would be English ''shirt'' and ''skirt'', the former from [[Old English]] ''sċyrte'', the latter [[List of English words of Old Norse origin|loaned from Old Norse]] ''skyrta'', both from the same [[Common Germanic]] ''*skurtjōn-''. Words with this type of relationship within a single language are called [[Doublet (linguistics)|doublets]]. Further cognates of the same word in other [[Germanic languages]] would include German ''Schürze'' and Dutch ''schort'' "apron".

The word ''cognate'' derives from Latin ''[[:wikt:cognatus|cognatus]]'' "[[blood relative]]".<sup>[]</sup>

==Characteristics of cognate words==
Cognates need not have the same meaning: ''[[wikt:dish#English|dish]]'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''[[wikt:Tisch#German|Tisch]]'' ("table", [[German language|German]]) and ''desco'' ("table", medieval [[Italian language|Italian]]), or ''[[wikt:starve#English|starve]]'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''[[wikt:sterven#Dutch|sterven]]'' ("die", [[Dutch language|Dutch]]), or ''[[wikt:head#English|head]]'' ([[English language|English]]) and ''[[wikt:chef#French|chef]]'' ("chief, head", [[French language|French]]), serve as examples of how cognate terms may [[semantic drift|diverge in meaning]] as languages develop separately, eventually becoming [[false friends]].

==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]]), ''nátt'' ([[Faroese language|Faroese]]), ''nótt'' ([[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]), ''noc'' ([[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Polish language|Polish]]), ночь, ''noch'' ([[Russian language|Russian]]), ноќ, ''noć'' ([[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]), нощ, ''nosht'' ([[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]), ''ніч'', ''nich'' ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]), ''ноч'', ''noch''/''noč'' ([[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]), ''noč'' ([[Slovene language|Slovene]]), ''noć'' ([[Croatian language|Croatian]]), ''ноћ/noć'' ([[Serbian language|Serbian]]), νύξ, ''nyx'' ([[Ancient Greek]], ''νύχτα''/''nyhta'' in [[Modern Greek]]), ''nox'' ([[Latin]]), ''nakt-'' ([[Sanskrit]]), ''natë'' ([[Albanian language|Albanian]]), ''noche'' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]]), ''nos'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]), ''nueche'' ([[Asturian language|Asturian]]), ''noite'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Galician language|Galician]]), ''notte'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]), ''nit'' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]), ''noapte'' ([[Romanian language|Romanian]]), ''nakts'' ([[Latvian Language|Latvian]]) and  ''naktis'' ([[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]]), all meaning "night" and derived from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ([[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]]) {{PIE|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts|*nókʷts]]}}, "night".   

Another Indo-European example is ''star'' ([[English language|English]]), ''str-'' ([[Sanskrit]]), ''tara'' ([[Urdu language|Urdu]])/([[Hindi]]), ''étoile'' ([[French language|French]]), ''αστήρ (astēr)'' ([[Greek language|Greek]] or ''αστέρι''/''άστρο'' in [[Modern 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]]), ''stjørna'' ([[Faroese language|Faroese]]), ''setāre'' ([[Persian language|Persian]]), ''stoorei'' ([[Pashto language|Pashto]]), ''seren'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]), ''steren'' ([[Cornish language|Cornish]]), ''estel'' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]), ''estrella'' [[Spanish language|Spanish]], ''estrella'' [[Asturian language|Asturian]] and [[Leonese language|Leonese]], ''estrela'' ([[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Galician language|Galician]]) and ''estêre'' or ''stêrk'' ([[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]), from the PIE {{PIE|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr|*h₂stḗr]]}}, "star". 

The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] |שלום ''shalom'', the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] |ar|سلام ''salām'', the [[Maltese language|Maltese]] ''sliem'' and the [[Amharic language|Amharic]] ''selam'' ("peace") are also cognates, derived from [[Proto-Semitic]] [[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Semitic *šalām-|*šalām-]].

Cognates may often be less easily recognised than the above examples and authorities sometimes differ in their interpretations of the evidence. The English word ''[[wikt:milk#English|milk]]'' is clearly a cognate of German ''[[wikt:Milch#German|Milch]]'', Russian ''[[wikt:Молоко#Russian|молоко (moloko)]]'' and Croatian ''[[wikt:Mlijeko#Croatian|mlijeko]]''. On the other hand, French ''[[wikt:lait#French|lait]]'' and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''[[wikt:leche#Spanish|leche]]'' (both meaning "milk") are less obviously cognates of [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] ''{{polytonic|[[wikt:γάλακτος#Ancient_Greek|γάλακτος]]}}'' ''gálaktos'' (genitive singular of {{polytonic|[[wikt:γάλα#Ancient_Greek|γάλα]]}} ''gála'', "milk")'' , a relationship more evidently seen through the intermediate Latin ''[[wikt:lac#Latin|lac]]'' "milk", as well as the English word ''[[wikt:lactic#English|lactic]]'' and other terms borrowed from Latin. At times, cognates may even be opposites. For instance, while the Hebrew word |חוצפה ''[[chutzpah]]'' means "impudence," its Arabic cognate |حصافة ''ḥaṣāfah'' means "sound judgment;"<ref>{{cite book|last=Wehr|first=Hans|authorlink=Hans Wehr |editor= J. Milton Cowan| title=[[Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic]] |origyear=1979 |year=1994 |publisher=Spoken Language Services, Inc. |location=[[Urbana, Illinois|Urbana]], [[Illinois]] |isbn=0879500034}}
</ref> even more contradictorily, the English word ''[[wikt:black|black]]'' and Polish ''[[wikt:biały|biały]]'', meaning [[white]], both derive from the PIE {{PIE|[[:wikt:Appendix:Proto-Indo-European *bhleg-|*bhleg-]]}}, meaning, "to burn or shine."

==Cognates within the same language==
Cognate [[Doublet (linguistics)|doublets]] can exist within the same language.  For example, English ''ward'' and ''guard'' (<PIE ''*wer-'', "to perceive, watch out for") are cognates, 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]] 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 word sets can also be called [[etymological twins]], and of course they may come in groups of higher numbers, as with, for example, the words ''wain'' (native) ''wagon'' (Dutch) and ''vehicle'' (Latin) in English.

==False cognates==
[[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', were 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''. English ''much'' and Spanish ''mucho'' also look similar and even have a similar meaning yet are not cognates, with ''much'' < Proto-Germanic ''*mikilaz'' < PIE ''*meg-'', while ''mucho'' < Latin ''multum'' < PIE ''*mel-''.<ref>[www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/ling001/3-22.pdf Ringe, Don. ''A quick introduction to language change'', 22 March 2010]</ref>

The mere 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]] ''′avar'' are not, and neither are English ''dog'' and [[Mbabaram language|Mbabaram]] ''dog''.

Contrast this with [[false friend]]s, which frequently ''are'' cognate.

==References==

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|cognate}}
*[[Cognate object]]
*[[Figura etymologica]]
*[[Historical-comparative linguistics]]
*[[Paronym]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cognate (Etymology)}}
[[Category:Historical linguistics]]