In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the sound and the meaning of a word, cognates may not be obvious, and it often takes rigorous study of historical sources and the application of the comparative method to establish whether lexemes are cognate. It can also happen that words that appear similar, or identical, in different languages, are ''not'' cognate. Cognates are distinguished from loanwords, where a word has been borrowed from another language. Name The English term ''cognate'' derives from Latin , meaning "blood relative". Examples For an example, cognates with the English word ''night'' can be found in most major Indo-European languages, including German , Swedish , Ukrainian , Russian , Lithuanian , Welsh , Polish , Greek , Sanskrit , Albanian , Latin (gen. sg ...

Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century, as a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become an increasingly rigorous scientific field of study. It is most directly tied to historical linguistics, philology, and semiotics, and additionally draws upon comparative semantics, morphology, pragmatics, and phonetics in order to construct a comprehensive and chronological catalogue of all meanings that a word (and its related parts) has carried throughout its history. The origin of any particular word is also known as its ''etymology''. For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts, particularly texts about the language itself, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form, or when and how they entered the language. Etymologists also apply the methods of comparative li ...

Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in Indian subcontinent after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Old Indo-Aryan language varieties. The most archaic of these is the Vedic Sanskrit found ...

A loanword is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term that is well established in the linguistic field despite its acknowledged descriptive flaws: nothing is taken away from the donor language and there is no expectation of returning anything (i.e., the loanword). Loanwords may be contrasted with calques, in which a word is borrowed into the recipient language by being directly translated from the donor language rather than being adopted in (an approximation of) its original form. They must also be distinguished from cognates, which are words in two or more related languages that are similar because they share an etymological origin in the ancestral language, rather than because one borrowed the word from the other. Examples and related terms A loanword is distinguished from a calque (or loan translation), which is ...

Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales Wales ( ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Located on the island of Great Britain, it is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic Sea to th ... * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian geological periods Other uses * Welsh (surname), including a list of people with the name * Welsh pig, a breed of domestic pig See also * * * Welch (other) * Welsch, a surname {{Disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a ''lingua franca'' for all other metropolitan populations in Ethiopia. The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions. In 2020 in Ethiopia, it had over 33.7 million mother-tongue speakers of which 31 million are ethnically Amhara, and more than 25.1 million second language speakers in 2019, making the total number of speakers over 58.8 million. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia. Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script. The segmental writing ...

Assyrian or Assyriac may refer to: * Assyrian people, an indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire ** Post-imperial Assyria * Assyrian language (other) * Assyrian Church (other) * SS ''Assyrian'', several cargo ships * ''The Assyrian'' (novel), a novel by Nicholas Guild * The Assyrian (horse), winner of the 1883 Melbourne Cup See also * Assyria (other) * Syriac (other) * Assyrian homeland, a geographic and cultural region in Northern Mesopotamia traditionally inhabited by Assyrian people * Syriac language, a dialect of Middle Aramaic that is the minority language of Syrian Christians * Upper Mesopotamia * Church of the East (other) {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

Arabic is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic, which is derived from Classical Arabic. This distinction is primarily made by Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as ( "the eloquent Arabic") or simply ' (). Arabic is the third–most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and the liturgical language of Islam. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab ...

Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portuguese man o' war, a dangerous marine animal ** Portuguese people, an ethnic group See also * * '' Sonnets from the Portuguese'' * " A Portuguesa", the national anthem of Portugal * Lusofonia * Lusitania * Portugues (other) {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

French or français may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, individuals identified with France ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), a British rock band * "French" (episode), a live-action episode of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' * ''Française'' (film), a 2008 film * French Stewart (born 1964), American actor Other uses * French (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * French (tunic), a type of military jacket or tunic * French's, an American brand of mustard condiment * French (catheter scale), a unit of measurement * French Defence, a chess opening * French kiss, a type of kiss See also * Slang for fellatio * France (other) * Franch, a surname * French Revolution (other) * French River (other), several rivers and other places * Frenching (other) * Justice Fren ...

Italian(s) may refer to: Related to the people of Italy * Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom * Italian language, a Romance language ** Regional Italian, regional variants of the Italian language ** Italian grammar, rules describing the properties of the Italian language * Culture of Italy, cultural features of Italy * Italian cuisine, traditional foods Other uses * Italian dressing, a vinaigrette-type salad dressing or marination * Italian or Italian-A, alternative names for the Ping-Pong virus, an extinct computer virus * John Warwick Smith (1749–1831), British landscape painter and illustrator nicknamed "Italian" Smith * Maine Italian sandwich See also * * * Italia (other) * The Italian (other) * Italian people (other) * ''Italien'' (magazine), a pro-Fascist magazine in Germany between 1927 and 1944 {{Disambiguation, culture ...