Falsos amics
La mateixa cara, un altre significat.
La majoria de paraules semblants són honestes: les germanes comparteixen milers de paraules que volen dir el que semblen. Aquestes són les excepcions: unes venen d’una mateixa paraula llatina el significat de la qual va derivar, d’altres són pura coincidència. Cada fitxa diu què volen dir realment les paraules, com es diu l’una en l’altra llengua i d’on ve el parany.
camera
vol dir ‘room (camera da letto: bedroom)’
camera
vol dir ‘device for taking photos’
Per dir-ho, en canvi
- room
- macchina fotografica
Latin CAMERA 'vaulted room' (from Greek). English camera is short for camera obscura 'dark chamber', the room-sized ancestor of the device; Italian kept the room.
Clàssic
parenti
vol dir ‘relatives’
parents
vol dir ‘mother and father’
Per dir-ho, en canvi
- relatives
- genitori
Latin PARENTĒS meant 'parents'; Italian parenti and Spanish parientes widened it to all kin. French parents covers both senses.
Clàssic
fattoria
vol dir ‘farm’
factory
vol dir ‘manufacturing plant’
Per dir-ho, en canvi
- farm
- fabbrica
Both from Latin FACTOR 'maker, doer'. An Italian fattore was a farm steward, so his fattoria the farm; an English factor was a trading agent, and his factory first a trading post.
Clàssic
morbido
vol dir ‘soft’
morbid
vol dir ‘gruesome, preoccupied with death’
Per dir-ho, en canvi
- soft
- morboso
Both from Latin MORBIDUS 'diseased'. Italian softened it through 'delicate, tender (like flesh)' to plain 'soft'; English kept the disease.
Avançat
estate
vol dir ‘summer’
estate
vol dir ‘property, land’
Per dir-ho, en canvi
- summer
- tenuta / proprietà
Pure coincidence: Italian estate is Latin AESTĀTEM 'summer'; English estate is Old French estat, from STATUM 'condition'.
Avançat