A Dictionary of Bosnian

/ Croatian / Serbian
English False Cognates





Danko ipka





A Dictionary of Bosnian
/ Croatian / Serbian
English False Cognates





Danko ipka















2008
DUNWOODY
P R E S S
dp




A Dictionary of Bosnian / Croatian / Serbian
English False Cognates
Copyright 2008 by McNeil Technologies, Inc.
All rights reserved.


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ISBN: 978-1-931546-45-4
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Printed and bound in the United States of America




TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD ............................................................................................................. i
1. FALSE COGNATES, THEIR ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE ......................................... i
2. DICTIONARY USAGE NOTES ............................................................................. v
2.1 INTENTION ................................................................................................... v
2.2 MATERIALS AND SELECTION CRITERIA ....................................................... v
2.3 STRUCTURE .................................................................................................. v
2.4 ABBREVIATIONS USED ................................................................................. vi
DICTIONARY .......................................................................................................... 1


i

FOREWORD

1. FALSE COGNATES, THEIR ORIGIN AND STRUCTURE

The present section of the Foreword provides the information which may be of
assistance in identifying false cognates in real-life texts. Statistical data indicating
the areas where false cognates can be expected and possible relations in the pairs
of false cognates will be provided.

The concept of false cognates is far from being adequately addressed in linguistic
literature. This concept comprises the cases such as the English gift vs. the
German Gift 'poison', or the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS) palac thumb vs.
the Russian [pal'ec] 'finger', where words in two languages share form
while exibiting different meanings. Inasmuch as the problem of false cognates
arises primarily in translation, most designations of the concept refer to "false
translators friends" as in French faux amis du traducteur, German falsche Freunde
des bersetzers, Czech falen prtele pekladatele, Polish faszywi przyjaciele
tumacza, Russian (found also in shorter forms: faux
amis, falsche Freunde, ). The fact that such terms can generate
mistakes is underlined in many phrases including the German term irrenfhrende
Fremdwrter, lit. misleading foreign words, the Czech mezijazykov
falsiekvivalenty, lit. 'interlingual false equivalents', zrdn slovo, lit. deceptive
word, and the Polish zudny odpowiednik, lit. deceptive equivalent, odpowiednik
pozorny, lit. misleading equivalent'. All aforementioned terms approach the
concept from a psychological and applied linguistic perspective they encompass
all cross-linguistic pairs with a potential of generating false equivalence. A
different perspective is observable in the Polish term tautonim, the Czech
mezijazykov homonymie, lit. interlingual homonymy', and the BCS meujeziki
paronim, lit. interlingual paronym, meujeziki homonim, lit. interlingual
homonym. They refer to a contrastive linguistic category, regardless of their
translatory and/or psychological functioning.

It may be useful to distinguish two overlapping phenomena.

1. False cognates a relation between two words, each from its own language,
which can cause cross-linguistic false equivalence psycholinguistic and applied
linguistic category.

2. Cross-linguistic homonyms (identical form) and paronyms (similar form) a
relation between two words, each from its own language, with identical or
similar form and different meanings contrastive linguistic category.
ii

The database for this dictionary contains 929 pairs of false cognates with over one
half originating from the Latin language (50.70%), less than one quarter are
English borrowings in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS), i.e., 22.17%, while
borrowings from other languages comprise another 23.90% of the pairs (with
French borrowings being the most frequent, 14.64% of the total, then Greek
loanwords with 6.57%). Accidental similarity amounts to only 3.23% of these
pairs. These figures point to the fact that false cognates result from cross-cultural
contacts, with Latin playing a key role. There exists a certain cultural community
of European and European-based nations rooted in the Latin language. At a more
practical level, one should be particularly alert when encountering Latin and
English loanwords in BCS.

Excluding homonymy (i.e., accidental similarity of the forms) the following
configurations of the differences in a pair of false cognates are possible:

a. There exists a shared meaning, with BCS featuring an additional sense.
Thus in the pair cilindar : cylinder there is a shared meaning of a geometric
body and objects of such shape, while the BCS word cilindar has an additional
sense, the equivalent of the English top hat.

b. Conversely, English can feature an additional sense, e.g. in the pair
civilni : civil the shared meaning is 'non-military' while the English also
conveys 'civic', graanski in BCS, 'kind', utiv, and 'secular', laiki in BCS).

c. It is also possible that both languages develop additional meanings.
Thus in the pair kamera: camera there exists a shared meaning 'TV camera',
BCS has an additional sense, the equivalent of the English camcorder, while the
English can also mean a photographic camera, rendered as foto-aparat in BCS.

d. Finally, there are such situations when no shared meaning exists but the
languages develop idiosyncratically, e.g., the BCS autogen is an equivalent of
the English oxyacetylene, while the English autogenous equates to samonikli in
BCS.

The statistics pertaining to the configurations of the differences in the two most
common lenders (Latin and French) reveal the fact that the English features
additional senses far more frequently than BCS. This results from the English
culture being more firmly embedded in the aforementioned European cultural
community. The BCS speaking area was partially excluded from the European
cultural community, voluntarily (through linguistic nationalism) and
involuntarily (during the Ottoman Turkish conquests). In practical terms, one
should always check if the English meaning indeed exists in BCS. The statistics
for Latin and French loanwords present in the following manner

iii

Latin

Differences Number Percent
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in BCS 28 5.94%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in English 190 40.34%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in both languages 96 20.38%
Differences in both languages 157 33.33%
Total 471 100.00%

French

Differences Number Percent
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in BCS 13 9.56%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in English 43 31.62%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in both languages 26 19.12%
Differences in both languages 54 39.71%
Total 136 100.00%

It is worth mentioning that a similar configuration of differences occurs in
English loanwords in BCS, which further underscores the need to ascertain
which senses of the English word exist in BCS. The English loanwords feature
the following configuration of differences.

Differences Number Percent
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in BCS 24 11.65%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in English 132 64.08%
Shared meaning(s) and additional sense(s) in both languages 23 11.17%
Differences in both languages 27 13.11%
Total 206 100.00%

In most cases (over two-thirds) English loanwords in BCS are quite expected, i.e.,
the word is not borrowed in its entirety, which causes English to feature the
senses not attested in BCS in addition to the shared meaning. Thus, the BCS
word skver 'square' means 'city square', but not geometric figure. BCS brendi
'brandy' is only a liquor obtained by distilling wine (a cheaper substitute for
cognac) while English brandy refers to any liquor resulting from distilling any
kind of fruit, rakija in BCS. Desk in BCS refers to a section of a newspaper
editorial team (i.e., news desk), but not a piece of furniture (which is radni/pisai
sto(l)).

iv
The area which requires particular attention is the development of additional
meanings in English loanwords characterized by Filipovi as pseudoanglicisms
(Filpovi, Rudolf Teorija jezika u kontaktu, kolska knjiga, Zagreb, 1980).

The additional meaning in BCS can be explained by a separate functioning of a
borrowed word in BCS. In particular, high frequency words are likely to develop
additional senses. Thus in English one kidnaps a person and in BCS one can also
'kidnap' a vehicle or a craft (i.e., hijack in English). Similarly, the English
loanword spiker 'speaker' has developed an additional BCS sense, the equivalent
of announcer in English.

Even more interesting are such cases when there is no shared meaning between
the English word and its counterpart loanword in BCS. For example, the English
dancing is not a semantic equivalent of dansing in BCS, which means 'dance hall'.
Similarly, grejp is 'grapefruit', not grape. These two examples point to the fact
that the loanword shortens its form which accidentally corresponds with another
word in English. A different mechanism can be observed in the BCS word
dragstor '24-hour store' in English, and drugstore 'pharmacy' in English or BCS
fliper (i.e., pinball in English) and English flipper. In these cases the difference is
caused by semantic extension. Both drugstores and 24-hour stores are open late
and a pinball machine has flippers but in both cases there is a pre-existing word
for the source meaning (apoteka/ljekarna for drugstore and peraja for flipper),
hence only the target meaning in semantic extension remains in the system.

v
2. DICTIONARY USAGE NOTES

2.1 INTENTION

The present dictionary is intended for English learners and professionals working
with BCS. It is designed to be a quick reference and to alert the user to potential
pitfalls when learning, translating, interpreting, and analyzing BCS texts.

2.2 MATERIALS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The material for this dictionary has been selected from several different sources.
First, pairs of false cognates have been extracted from general bilingual
dictionaries, Benson's (Benson, Morton, with the collaboration of Biljana ljivi-
imi. SerboCroatian-English dictionary. Cambridge, UK - New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1990), Drvodeli's (Drvodeli, Milan. Englesko-
hrvatski ili srpski rjenik. 4
th
ed. Zagreb: kolska knjiga, 1973) and Filipovis
(Filipovi, Rudolf. Englesko-hrvatski rjenik. Zagreb: kolska knjiga, 1998).
Second, most pairs from Hlebec's false cognates dictionary intended for Serbian
users (Boris Hlebec Srpsko-engleski renik lanih parova, Trebnik, 1997) have been
incorporated into this dictionary. Finally, pairs have been collected from real-life
texts, in particular from translation practice.

All pairs that share the same form, are the same part of speech, and have at least
one different meaning have been selected.

2.3 STRUCTURE

Each dictionary entry contains a BCS word followed by its English false cognate.
The members of the pair are provided in small caps. Each member of the pair is
supplied with a part of speech and inflectional tag, followed by the description of
the meaning. The meanings shared by the members of the pair are labeled with
the letter A followed by the number of the meaning. The meanings which are
characteristic for only one member of the pair are marked with the letter B
followed by the number of the meaning. All meanings are defined in English --
the definitions are based on the American Heritage Dictionary (The American
Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition; Copyright 2006 by
Houghton Mifflin Company.), the Random House Unabridged Dictionary
(Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2006) and WordNet
(http://wordnet.princeton.edu). The definition of the meaning is followed by a
synonym (where appropriate) and bolded L2 equivalent (in all entries).
Territorially restricted labels are marked as follows #A American, #B British,
#C Croatian, #S Serbian. All other usage labels are marked with a hash (#) and
fully expanded (e.g., #colloquial). Multiple forms of BCS words are marked in
parentheses (e.g., pr(ij)enos 'transmission', coverage stands for prenos and prijenos.

vi
The following entry exemplifies the elements of the dictionary structure.



ADVOKAT | -a A=G masc | A1. one whose
profession is to give legal advice and
assistance to clients and represent them in
court or in other legal matters | advocate,
lawyer #A, attorney #A, solicitor #B,
barrister #B
ADVOCATE | n | A1. one whose profession is
to give legal advice and assistance to clients
and represent them in court or in other legal
matters | lawyer #A, attorney #A, solicitor #B,
barrister #B | advokat | B1. one that pleads
in another's behalf; an intercessor |
representative, solicitor #B | zastupnik | B2.
one that argues for a cause | champion |
pobornik




2.4 ABBREVIATIONS USED

#A American
#B British
#C Croatian
#S Serbian
+ev long soft BCS plural
+ov long hard BCS plural
A Accusative
aj adjective
av adverb
fem feminine
G Genitive
ip imperfective
masc masculine
n noun
neut neuter
p perfective
v verb

BCS word
English false
cognate
Equivalent
Synonym
Usage label
Shared
meaning
Different
meaning
Definition
Part of speech








Dictionary

Dictionary of BCS English False Cognates
1

A

ABORTIRATI | -am, -aju ip-p | A1.
induce termination of pregnancy
and expulsion of an embryo or fetus
that is incapable of survival | abort
ABORT | v | A1.induce termination of
pregnancy and expulsion of an
embryo or fetus that is incapable of
survival | abortirati, pobaciti | B1.
to give birth prematurely or before
term; miscarry | pobaciti | B2. to
cease growth before full
development or maturation, to
terminate an operation or
procedure, as with a project, missile,
airplane, or space vehicle, before
completion | pr(ij)evremeno
prekinuti

ABORTUS | -a masc | A1. induced
termination of pregnancy and
expulsion of an embryo or fetus
that is incapable of survival |
pobaaj | abortion
ABORTION | n | A1. induced
termination of pregnancy and
expulsion of an embryo or fetus
that is incapable of survival|
abortus | B1. the premature
expulsion of a nonviable fetus from
the uterus; a miscarriage | pobaaj
| B2. cessation of normal growth,
especially of an organ or other body
part, prior to full development or
maturation. | pr(ij)evremeni
prekid | B3. something malformed
or incompletely developed; a
monstrosity | kreatura

ADAPTIRATI | -am, -aju ip-p | B1. to
make over in structure or style |
remodel
ADAPT | v | B1. to make suitable to
or fit for a specific use or situation |
prilagoditi

ADEKVATAN | -tna, -tno | A1.
meeting the requirements,
especially of a task | adequate
ADEQUATE | aj | A1. meeting the
requirements, especially of a task |
adekvatan | B1. meeting the
requirements of quality or quantity
| zadovoljavajui | B2. of a person
meeting the requirements |
dorastao | B3. about average;
acceptable | prihvatljiv

ADMINISTRACIJA | -e fem | A1. the
act or process of administering, an
administering body |
administration | B1. a place in
which clerical activities are
conducted | offices | B2.
professional or clerical workers in
an office | office staff | B3. service
performed by clerical workers |
clerical service | B4. work
involving the handling of reports,
letters, and forms | paperwork
ADMINISTRATION | aj | A1. the act or
process of administering, an
administering body |
administracija | B1. the group of
people who manage or direct an
institution | uprava | B2. the act of
administering medication |
izdavanje l(ij)ekova

ADMINISTRATIVAN | -vna, -vno | A1.
act, measure, official, apparatus
related to administering |
administrative | B1. of or relating
to clerks or office workers or their
Dictionary of BCS English False Cognates
2
work | clerical | B2. of or relating
to office work | office | B3. of or
relating to office documents |
paperwork
ADMINISTRATIVE | aj | A1. act,
measure, official, apparatus related
to administering | administrativan

ADMINISTRIRATI | -am, -aju ip-p | A1.
to direct the affairs or interests of,
as an administrator | upravljati |
manage
ADMINISTER | v | A1. to direct the
affairs or interests of, as an
administrator | manage |
administrirati | B1. give or apply
medications | izdavati,
prim(ij)enjivati | B2. to manage or
conduct affairs; to give ritually |
izvravati

ADVOKAT | -a A=G masc | A1. one
whose profession is to give legal
advice and assistance to clients and
represent them in court or in other
legal matters | advocate, lawyer #A,
attorney #A, solicitor #B, barrister
#B
ADVOCATE | n | A1. one whose
profession is to give legal advice and
assistance to clients and represent
them in court or in other legal
matters | lawyer #A, attorney #A,
solicitor #B, barrister #B | advokat |
B1. one that pleads on another's
behalf; an intercessor |
representative, solicitor #B |
zastupnik | B2. one that argues for
a cause | champion | pobornik

AEROBIK | -a masc | A1. a program of
physical fitness that involves
aerobic exercise | aerobics
AEROBIC(S) | n | A1. a program of
physical fitness that involves
aerobic exercise | aerobik | B1. a
female engaging in a program of
physical fitness that involves
aerobic exercise | aerobiarka

AERODROM | -a masc | B1. a tract of
leveled land where aircraft can take
off and land, usually equipped with
hard-surfaced landing strips, a
control tower, hangars, aircraft
maintenance and refueling facilities,
and accommodations for passengers
and cargo | zrana luka #C |
airport | B2. the area of fields and
runways where aircraft can take off
and land | airfield
AERODROME | n | A1. an airfield
equipped with control tower and
hangers as well as accommodations
for passengers and cargo | airport,
airfield | aerodrom, zrana luka
#C

AFEKT | -kta masc | B1. a feeling or
emotion as distinguished from
cognition | affect | B2. strong
feeling having active consequences |
affect
AFFECTION | n | B1. a tender feeling
toward another; fondness |
zaljubljenost | B2. feeling or
emotion | os(j)eanje, os(j)eaj |
B3. a disposition to feel, do, or say;
a propensity | sklonost | B4.
prejudice; partiality | predrasuda

AFEKTIRATI | -am, -aju ip-p | A1. to
put on a false show of, especially in
speech | affect
AFFECT | v | A1. to put on a false
show of, especially in speech |
afektirati | B1. act physically on;
have an effect upon | zahvatiti |
B2. to have an influence on or effect
a change in | uticati na, utjecati na
Dictionary of BCS English False Cognates
3
#C | B3. to put on a false show of;
simulate | izigravati, glumiti

AFERA | -e fem | AB1. a publicized
incident, usually corporate, that
brings about disgrace or offends the
moral sensibilities of society |
scandal, illegal affair, immoral
affair
AFFAIR | n | A1. a matter causing
public scandal and controversy |
afera | B1. a romantic and sexual
relationship, sometimes one of brief
duration, between two people who
are not married to each other |
ljubavna veza | B2. something
done or to be done; business |
posao, stvar | B3. transactions and
other matters of professional or
public business | poslovi | B4. an
occurrence, event, or matter |
sluaj

AGENDA | -e fem | B1. a notebook for
recording appointments and things
to be done | rokovnik | planner
AGENDA | n | B1. a list or program of
things to be done or considered |
dnevni red

AGENT | -a A=G masc | A1. field
officer of a federal agency or bureau,
especially one performing
intelligence work | agent
AGENT | n | A1. field officer of a
federal agency or bureau, especially
one performing intelligence work |
agent | B1. a representative who
acts on behalf of other persons or
organizations | zastupnik | B2. an
active and efficient cause; capable of
producing a certain effect; a
substance that exerts some force or
effect; the semantic role of the
animate entity that instigates or
causes the happening denoted by
the verb in the clause | agens

AGILAN | -lna, -lno | B1. marked by
energetic activity | active
AGILE | aj | B1. characterized by
quickness, lightness, and ease of
movement; nimble | okretan | B2.
mentally quick or alert | iv

AGITACIJA | -e fem | A1. the stirring
up of public interest in a matter of
controversy, such as a political or
social issue | agitation
AGITATION | n | A1. the stirring up
of public interest in a matter of
controversy, such as a political or
social issue | agitacija | B1. the act
of agitating something causing it to
move around (usually vigorously) |
pobuenje, pobuenost | B2. a
mental state of extreme emotional
disturbance, the feeling of being
agitated; not calm | uznemirenost
| B3. a state of agitation or
turbulent change or development |
nemir

AGITIRATI | -am, -aju ip-p | A1. to
arouse interest in (a cause, for
example) by use of the written or
spoken word | debate | agitate
AGITATE | v | A1. to arouse interest
in (a cause, for example) by use of
the written or spoken word |
agitirati | B1. to cause to move
with violence or sudden force |
pobuivati | B2. to upset; disturb |
uznemiravati

AGITOVATI | -am, -aju ip-p | A1. to
arouse interest in (a cause, for
example) by use of the written or
spoken word | debate | agitate
Dictionary of BCS English False Cognates
4
AGITATE | v | A1. to arouse interest
in (a cause, for example) by use of
the written or spoken word |
agitovati | B1. to cause to move
with violence or sudden force |
pobuivati | B2. to upset; disturb |
uznemiravati

AGONIJA | -e fem | A1. the suffering
of intense physical or mental pain;
the struggle that precedes death |
agony
AGONY | n | A1. the suffering of
intense physical or mental pain; the
struggle that precedes death |
agonija | B1. a sudden or intense
emotion | afekt | B2. a violent,
intense struggle | komeanje

AGRARNI | -a, -o | A1. relating to or
concerning the land and its
ownership, cultivation, and tenure
| agrarian
AGRARIAN | n | A1. relating to or
concerning the land and its
ownership, cultivation, and tenure
| agrarni | B1. relating to or
concerning agricultural owners and
workers | zemljoradniki

AGREGAT | -a masc | B1. machine
that converts mechanical energy
from a combustion engine into
electrical energy | generator unit
AGGREGATE | n | B1. a total
considered with reference to its
constituent parts; a gross amount |
total | suma | B2. the mineral
materials, such as sand or stone,
used in making concrete | materijal

AUTANT | -a A=G masc | A1. a staff
officer who helps a commanding
officer with administrative affairs |
adjutant, aide-de-camp
ADJUTANT | n | A1. a staff officer
who helps a commanding officer
with administrative affairs | aide-de-
camp | autant | B1. an assistant |
pomonik

AKADEMAC | -mca A=G masc | B1. a
student at a military school who is
training to be an officer | kadet |
cadet | B2. one who is enrolled or
attends classes at a college or
university | akademiar |
university student | A1. a member
of an institution of higher learning,
one who has an academic viewpoint
or a scholarly background |
academic
ACADEMIC | aj | A1. a member of an
institution of higher learning, one
who has an academic viewpoint or a
scholarly background | professor |
akademac

AKADEMIJA | -e fem | B1. supreme
scholarly society of a country or
ethnic group | academy | B2. a
school for special instruction |
academy | B3. a vocational
secondary or post-secondary school
| college | B4. a formal act or set of
acts performed as prescribed by
ritual or custom | observance,
commemoration, ceremony
ACADEMIA | n | B1. the academic
community; academe | academe |
akademsko okruenje

AKADEMIK | -a A=G masc | B1.
member of an art, literary, or
scientific academy or society |
academician
ACADEMIC | n | B1. member of an
institution of higher learning, one
who has an academic viewpoint or a