6

Many French and English words are related, though often not synonyms or "faux amis".

Are there some good lists of such cognates or some database/tool/website that makes it easy to track them down, preferably with some etymological context?

(Especially those that are not "faux amis" or "vrais amis").

Examples:

  • (f) Bonjour, jour, journal - (e) journey, journal.

  • (f) Cheval - (e) Cavalry

|improve this question
  • You will have to work on etymologies. etymonline.com will give you the etymology of English words and whether they come from French. Wiktionary isn't too bad either. – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Feb 17 '14 at 17:09
2

This PDF is quite nice : http://blogimages.bloggen.be/ivemontpellier3/attach/166241.pdf

The first 2 columns are the English word and its actual translation in French, while the 2 last columns are the "immediate translation" a French would do and the actual meaning in English.

For instance, to arrive means to reach a destination, while a French would think it means arriver (i.e. to happen).

|improve this answer
  • 1
    Be careful, French verb arriver has many different meaning (to happen, to succeed, to come, ...) – Fractaliste Feb 17 '14 at 15:57
  • 1
    @Fractaliste and arriver means "to arrive" as well. Actually it's the most common meaning of arriver! – Laure SO - Écoute-nous Feb 17 '14 at 17:07
  • It is a nice list, but it seems to only cover quite similar words, not related words spelled quite differently. – Olav Feb 17 '14 at 21:50
2

To resolve disambiguation I personally use linguee.com/.fr website.

It's not a translation website nether a dictionary, it's a translation memory based on other website translations. So there is no etymological or other grammatical information, but its aim is to provide a dozen of relatively reliable example to allow you to understand in which context your sentence can be used.

|improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.