False Friends
Because Esperanto vocabulary is largely international, it shares many cognates with English. However, because they were often taken from languages other than English, these do not always have their English meanings. Some of the mismatches are:
- domaĝi (to spare), vs. difekti (to damage)
- embaraso (jam, obstruction), vs. hontigi (to embarrass)
- aktuala (current, up-to-date), vs. efektiva (actual), vs. efika (effective)
- eventuala (contingent), vs. rezulta (eventual)
- akurata (punctual, on-time), vs. preciza (accurate)
- kontroli (to check, keep track of), vs. regi (to control)
- konvena (suitable), vs. oportuna (convenient)
- rento (dividend income), vs. lupago (rent)
- paragrafo (section), vs. alineo (paragraph)
Read more about this topic: Esperanto Vocabulary
Famous quotes containing the words false and/or friends:
“The books one reads in childhood, and perhaps most of all the bad and good bad books, create in one’s mind a sort of false map of the world, a series of fabulous countries into which one can retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life, and which in some cases can survive a visit to the real countries which they are supposed to represent.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“... a business career for a woman and her need for a woman’s life as wife and mother, are not enemies at all, unless we make them so, but may be the closest and most co-operative friends and supporter of each other.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)