False Friends between English and Spanish
Building a bridge between two languages is a very demanding undertaking, and ‘false friends’ make it harder still. False friends are more commonly known as ‘false cognates’, or words that are similar or identical in both languages but which convey a different meaning. They give us a false sense of security before leading us astray. Because of their seeming familiarity the rascals are notoriously difficult to spot.
Our English-Spanish False Friends Dictionary deals with the pitfalls that exist between English and Spanish. English is a hybrid language, with a Germanic base and a large Latin superstructure; indeed, about half of its vocabulary is of Latin origin. So when Spanish speakers encounter an English word with a Latin root, we tend to think that it means the same as it does in Spanish. Sometimes it does, but we need to remain watchful because a false cognate is never far away, waiting to trip us up.
English-Spanish false friends
One of our favourite false cognates listed in the dictionary is plague, not to be confused with Spanish plaga (‘pest’). In fact, the Spanish for plague is ‘peste’, thus forming a symmetrical quartet of false friends.
Although false cognates mean different things in the two languages – if they didn’t they wouldn’t be false friends – it is rare that they mean exactly the opposite. One example where they do is inhabited (‘habitado’ in Spanish), whilst Spanish ‘inhabitado’ means uninhabited.
Some false cognates ought to come with a warning; not only can they lead you astray, they can be simply embarrassing: for example ‘estar constipado’ in Spanish means to have a cold; to say you’re constipated you say ‘estreñido’. A learner of Spanish may find it an odd subject for the dinner table. Another classic source of misunderstanding is ‘embarazada’ meaning pregnant, not embarrassed. Embarrassed in Spanish is ‘molesto’ or ‘incómodo’.
Choosing which false friends to include
When my colleague Francisco Hidalgo and I began compiling a Spanish-English dictionary of false cognates, we established two selection criteria: the first, that the English word should resemble a Spanish word, the second that it should have a different meaning from the similar Spanish word, thus creating the potential for confusion. We then decided that in order for a false friend to make an appearance in our dictionary, it would also have to meet a third criterion: having a common etymology with its Spanish pair. However, we soon realized that this gave rise to two additional problems: firstly, not all words have clear etymologies; and secondly, some false friends can give rise to confusion even without sharing an etymology. So, we eventually abandoned the idea of using etymology as a criterion and returned to our original two criteria.
Of course, it is still true that in most cases a common etymology still exists – usually a Latin one when looking at English – which can be either direct (contingent) or indirect via a Romance language, mostly French (culture) and less often Spanish (desperado) or Italian (influenza).
Then there are those other oddities: the English guerrilla is ‘guerrillero’ in Spanish; ‘guerrilla’ (literally small war) in Spanish is a guerrilla war or insurgency, itself derived from ‘guerra’ (war). But guerra has a Germanic root, not a Latin one. So we have a Germanic language borrowing a word of Germanic origin from a Romance language.
A project that originally began as a short glossary has started taking on a life of its own. We had originally planned to distribute it amongst interpreter colleagues, but as the list of words grew we decided to share it with a wider audience. The list is growing ever longer, thanks in part to user contributions, and by placing the dictionary online for free we can now share the material, collaborate with others, and really put this resource to use the way we always wanted to. Sharing the dictionary is key to its success.
False Friends is not an English dictionary or a dictionary for correct Spanish usage; our ambitions are more modest and limited: to draw attention to potential confusion, or at least to encourage healthy suspicion and reflection to avoid assuming that two similar words in different languages mean the same thing. Some words may prove to be false friends, while some may be reassuringly loyal.
The English-Spanish False Friends Dictionary was compiled and designed by Francisco Hidalgo and Lourdes de Rioja.