#45065
10/19/2001 5:56 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Somebody used the word "cognates" recently to mean members of a family of words (such as expect, expectant, expectation). I always understood cognates as being descendants in different languages from a common etymon, such as English mother and Latin mater.
So, is there a technical term to cover the members of a group of related words such as relative, relation, relationship, relate, etc?
Bingley
Bingley
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#45066
10/19/2001 8:04 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
Your usage is the same as mine. I can't think of a simple technical term for closely related words within the one language. (Doesn't mean there isn't one, just means I'm getting old and drink too much.) Of course they are trivially cognate, but I wouldn't use the word 'cognate' that way.
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#45067
10/19/2001 10:41 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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But doesn't descent from a common root also cover the idea of a family of words like this?
cog·nate (kŏg'nât')
adj.
Related by blood; having a common ancestor.
Related in origin, as certain words in genetically related languages descended from the same ancestral root; for example, English name and Latin nômen from Indo-European *no-men-.
Related or analogous in nature, character, or function.
n.
One related by blood or origin with another, especially a person sharing an ancestor with another.
A word related to one in another language.
[Latin cognâtus : co-, co- + gnâtus, born, past participle of nâscî, to be born.]
cog·na'tion n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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#45068
10/19/2001 12:25 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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and i would expect cognates to be just as the person who was speaking to you did.. a family of words descend, descendant, descendancy, and so on. I am sure i would understand the word being used as you define it.. but that wouldn't be my first thought, or even my second.
the only other way i would think of cognates, would be a verb, especially an irregular verb.. i am, you are, he is, i was, they were...
(I went scurrying to the dictionary as i read your post.. and thought--Have i misunderstood this word for years? and while M-W 10th supports my usage, your meaning is listed as 3 a, and mine as 3 b and 3 c....)
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#45069
10/19/2001 3:46 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
the only other way i would think of cognates, would be a verb, especially an irregular verb.. i am, you are, he is, i was, they were...
Isn't that conjugates? As in verb conjugation or conjugal visit?
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#45070
10/19/2001 4:05 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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fwiw, OED2:
1. Descended from a common ancestor; of the same stock or family.
1827 G. Higgins Celtic Druids 78 Some of their cognate tribes. 1864 Kirk Chas. Bold II. iv. ii. 251 The barriers between cognate states. 1880 Muirhead tr. Instit. Gaius i. §156 Agnates are+persons who are of kin through males,—cognate, as it were, through the father.
2. Of languages: Descended from the same original language; of the same linguistic family. Of words: Coming naturally from the same root, or representing the same original word, with differences due to subsequent separate phonetic development; thus, Eng. five, L. quinque, Gr. pŚmse, are cognate words, representing a primitive *pénke.
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#45071
10/19/2001 4:07 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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The parts of "to be" are not all cognates, even in the looser sense. "am", "are", "is" come from one root, es-, and the past tense w- words from another, and "be" is a third distinct root.
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