Faux Genders

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Revision as of 17:20, 13 January 2008 by Hannahbw (talk | contribs) (The Chart)
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Spanish and French, both being Romance languages, have a gender attribute to their nouns. Also, being related, many words have the same origin. These are called cognates. In French, cognates that don't have the same meaning as their source are called faux amis. Having studied French before Spanish, and not ever having been good at remembering what gender a given noun was in French, I found it convenient to rely on Spanish when I needed a noun's gender, since remembering a noun's gender in Spanish is as simple as learning only a few rules and a handful of exceptions. However, it turns out that not all French-Spanish cognates have the same gender, though probably well over 90% do.

Here's a small compilation of exceptions that Jonathan North Washington, Hannah Beth Washington, George Martin Fell Brown, and Michael-Forest Meservy have been able to collect.

The Chart

Faux Genders
English Latin French Spanish Portuguese Italian Romansh Jèrriais Cotentinais Romanian Occitan Catalan Sardinian Galician
First declension
edge, border ora, orae (1f) la bordure la orla a orla l'orlo (masc) bordură (fem) oru
Second declension
nose nasus, nasi (2m) le nez la nariz o nariz il naso il nas l'nez nasu
journey, voyage viaticus, viatici (2m) le voyage el viaje a viagem il viaggio el viatge a viaxe
glass vitrum, vitri (2n) le verre el vidrio o vidro il vetro il vaider l'vèrre bidru
la vitre l'vitre vetru
Third declension
flower flos, floris (3m) la fleur la flor a flor il fiore la flur la flieur la flleur floare (fem) flore
înflorire (fem) fiore
colour color, coloris (3m) la couleur el color a cor il colore la colur la couleu la couoleu culoare (fem) el color colore
colorit (neut)
pain dolor, doloris (3m) la douleur el dolor a dor il dolore durere (fem) dolore
bridge pons, pontis (3m) le pont el puente a ponte il ponte la punt punte (fem) el pǫnt ponte
ponton; pod (neut.) ponti
inch pollex, pollicis (3m) le pouce la pulgada a polegada il pollice il polesch poddighe (mannu)
blood sanguis, sanguinis (3m) le sang la sangre o sangue il sangue il sang l'sang sînge ("masc") sang (fem) sanguni
sang (masc) sangu
salt sal, salis (3m) le sel la sal o sal il sale il sal sare (fem) sale
labor, task, ploughing labor, laboris (3m) le labeur la labor o lavouro il lavoro
le labour
end finis, finis (3m, i-stem) la fin el fin o fim la fine la fin fine
il fine finis
tree arbor, arboris (3f) l'arbre (masc) el árbol a árvore l'albero (masc) l'arbre (masc); l'bouais l'âbre (masc) arvere
a(l/r)bure
art ars, artis (3f) l'art (masc) el arte a arte l'arte (fem) l'art (masc) l'art (masc) arte
las artes
custom consuetudo, consuetudinis (3f) la coutume la costumbre o costume il costume costumene
origin origo, originis (3f) l'origine (fem) el origen a origem l'origine (fem) origine (fem) origine a orixe
hail grando, grandinis (3f) la grêle el granizo o granizo la grandine la granella
milk lac, lactis (3n) le lait la leche o leite il latte il latg l'lait lapte (neut) lach llet latte
sea mar, maris (3n) la mer el mar o mar il mare la mar la mé la mé mare (fem) mare
honey mel, mellis (3n) le miel la miel o mel il miele miere (fem) miele
Fourth declension
Fifth declension
ice glacies, glaciei (5f) la glace el hielo o gelo il ghiaccio il glatsch ghiacciu
landscape le paysage el paisaje a paisagem il paesaggio paesaggiu
cloud nubes, nubis (?f) le nuage la nube a nuvem la nuvola il nivel l'nouage la nuaée nue
valley valles, vallis (?f) la vallée el valle o vale la valle la val la vallée la vall badde o val
valli
conquest la conquète la conquista a conquista la conquista la contchête le conqùet
flag le drapeau la bandera a bandeira la bandiera la couleu la couoleu
spider l'araignée (fem) la araña a aranha il ragno l'pêtre
Neologisms
make-up le maquillage el maquillaje a maquiagem
garage le garage el garaje a garagem la garascha garaj (neut) el garatge
car l'auto (fem) el auto o auto l'auto (fem) l'auto (masc) la vaituthe; moto (?) la qùérette; la maringote; l'éto (?) automobil (neut) l'auto (masc)
tomato la tomate el tomate o tomate la tomata la tanmate tomată el tomàquet
Created from adjectival forms
minute la minute el minuto o minuto il minuto la minuta la minnute la minute minut
Derived from verbs
conquest la conquète la conquista a conquista la conquista la contchête le conqùet
shelf l'étagère (fem) el estante a estante

Footnotes

  1. This is the first test footnote 1
  2. This is the second

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