False friends
Same face, different meaning.
Most look-alikes are honest: the sisters share thousands of words that mean what they seem to. These are the exceptions — some from one Latin word whose meaning drifted, some pure coincidence. Each card says what the words really mean, how each language says the other one, and where the trap came from.
camera
means ‘room (camera da letto: bedroom)’
camera
means ‘device for taking photos’
To say it instead
- 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.
Classic
parenti
means ‘relatives’
parents
means ‘mother and father’
To say it instead
- relatives
- genitori
Latin PARENTĒS meant 'parents'; Italian parenti and Spanish parientes widened it to all kin. French parents covers both senses.
Classic
fattoria
means ‘farm’
factory
means ‘manufacturing plant’
To say it instead
- 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.
Classic
morbido
means ‘soft’
morbid
means ‘gruesome, preoccupied with death’
To say it instead
- soft
- morboso
Both from Latin MORBIDUS 'diseased'. Italian softened it through 'delicate, tender (like flesh)' to plain 'soft'; English kept the disease.
Advanced
estate
means ‘summer’
estate
means ‘property, land’
To say it instead
- summer
- tenuta / proprietà
Pure coincidence: Italian estate is Latin AESTĀTEM 'summer'; English estate is Old French estat, from STATUM 'condition'.
Advanced