English and French have over half of their vocabulary in common. Hundreds of words looking alike and sharing the same root have nevertheless completely different meanings. For example:
- The word 'location' also exists in French but means 'rental', not 'location'. Both come from the Latin locationem, a derivative from locus meaning place. English has therefore preserved the original meaning, while French attributed it a brand new one.
- In French sentence only means 'passing judgement', which is the original sense of the Latin sententia. English gave it the new meaning of 'grammatically complete statement', which has now become its first and most common usage.
- The French achever doesn't mean 'to achieve' but 'to complete'. In this case it derives from the Vulgar Latin accapare, which means neither, but is closer to the French meaning.
- Actuel in French only means 'present'. It lacks the English sense of 'true' (as in 'actually'). The root is the Latin actualis meaning "pertaining to an action".
- Affaire means 'business' or 'things' to do in French as in other Romance languages. English took it only in the narrow sense of 'love affair'.
In this thread I would like to make an extensive list of all these false friends in English and French, and specify each time which language "corrupted" the original meaning. I will update the thread whenever I think of other examples.
Feel free to contribute.
- The word 'location' also exists in French but means 'rental', not 'location'. Both come from the Latin locationem, a derivative from locus meaning place. English has therefore preserved the original meaning, while French attributed it a brand new one.
- In French sentence only means 'passing judgement', which is the original sense of the Latin sententia. English gave it the new meaning of 'grammatically complete statement', which has now become its first and most common usage.
- The French achever doesn't mean 'to achieve' but 'to complete'. In this case it derives from the Vulgar Latin accapare, which means neither, but is closer to the French meaning.
- Actuel in French only means 'present'. It lacks the English sense of 'true' (as in 'actually'). The root is the Latin actualis meaning "pertaining to an action".
- Affaire means 'business' or 'things' to do in French as in other Romance languages. English took it only in the narrow sense of 'love affair'.
In this thread I would like to make an extensive list of all these false friends in English and French, and specify each time which language "corrupted" the original meaning. I will update the thread whenever I think of other examples.
Feel free to contribute.