Faux Genders

Faux Genders is a perhaps misleading term referring to cognates in the Romance languages which are not consistent in grammatical gender (noun class) from one language to the next.

Following is a collection of some examples of these.

History

This project was originally started as a random exercise, with the following explanation:

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.

This data is now being collected for Hannah's B.A. thesis.

The Chart

Faux Genders

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

Footnotes

1. This is one of several irregular plural formations in Italian. More common irregular formations in Italian appear with a masculine singular noun ending in -o, which changes to a feminine noun in the plural with its ending in -a. Examples of these "plurali irregolari" are: il braccio-le braccia, il ciglio-le ciglia, il labro-le labra, l'uovo (m)-le uova, il dito-le dita, il riso-le risa, l'osso (m)-le ossa, il ginocchio-le ginocchia, etc.
2. Second test footnote²

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