What is a cognate?

A cognate is a word that comes from the same origin as a word from a different language. Below, three of our favourites.

MIRAGE

Both French and English use the word ‘mirage’ to describe the bending of light which produces an optical illusion, but do you know where the word originally comes from? It’s most likely via the Latin word ‘mirare’ (to admire/gaze) which is where we get the word ‘mirror’. In French we have the reflexive verb ‘se mirer’ which means ‘to gaze at oneself/to be reflected’, hence mirage. There is, though, a chance it comes from the Latin word ‘mirus’ (wonderful) which is where we get the word miracle. Cool, non*?

HORS D’ŒUVRE

Un œuvre in French is ‘a work’, so to say 'a work of art' we say un œuvre d’art. Even in English we can use the word ‘œuvre’ to describe the body of work of an artist. As we know, the French take la cuisine* very, very seriously and if you’ve ever had a sublime French meal you’d probably be happy to consider the chef un or une artiste*. So, since hors means ‘outside of’, it makes sense that both languages call a small savoury dish, typically served as an appetizer, un hors d’œuvre, since it arrives at your table outside the main œuvre d’art which is of course le plat principal*.

POT POURRI

If you’re a person of un certain âge* you’ll remember the pot pourri craze that swept the nation in the eighties. No domestic surface was safe from the little terracotta pots of dried petals we used to add a touch of country style to our homes.

I wonder if we would have been quite so keen had we known the verb pourrir at the time which means ‘to rot’. Yes, that’s right, pot pourri translates to rotten pot which somewhat takes away the appeal, non*?

*Cool, isn’t it? | *cooking | *an artist | *the main course | *a certain age | *doesn’t it?