MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

Department of English Language and Literature

False Friends Between Czech and English

Diploma Thesis

Brno 2022

Supervisor: Author:

Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph. D. Bc. Vojtěch Pavliska

Abstract

The thesis deals with the topic of false friends, that is, words in two or more languages

that are graphically and/or phonetically similar but differ in meaning. The aim of the thesis is

to raise awareness of false friends between the Czech and English language and to explain

differences in the origin and meaning of the presented examples. The thesis consists of two

parts. The theoretical part discusses the history and evolution of both languages as well as the

theory of false friends. The practical part introduces fifty false friends between Czech and

English, describes their etymology and analyses the difference in their meaning.

Anotace

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá zrádnými slovy, tedy slovy ve dvou nebo více jazycích,

která jsou si graficky a/nebo foneticky podobná, ale významově se liší. Cílem této práce je

zvýšit povědomí o zrádných slovech mezi českým a anglickým jazykem a vysvětlit rozdíly ve

významu a původu u vybraných příkladů těchto slov. Práce je rozdělena na dvě části. Teoretická

část se mimo teorie zrádných slov věnuje i historii a vývoji obou zmiňovaných jazyků.

Praktická část představuje padesát zrádných slov mezi češtinou a angličtinou, popisuje jejich

etymologii a analyzuje významové rozdíly daných výrazů.

Key words

False friends, etymology, lexicology, analysis, meaning, Czech, English

Klíčová slova

Zrádná slova, etymologie, lexikologie, analýza, význam, čeština, angličtina

Declaration

I hereby declare that I worked on my thesis independently and that all sources mentioned

and used are listed in the list of references.

Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze

citovaných literárních pramenů a zdrojů uvedených v seznamu literatury v souladu s

Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem

č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně

některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů.

Brno, duben 2022

………………………

Bc. Vojtěch Pavliska

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mgr. Radek Vogel, Ph.D. for his

kind approach, useful advice and patience during the process of writing.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................9

2 False friends ................................................................................................................................... 10

2.1 Classification ........................................................................................................................... 10

2.1.1 Chance false friends.......................................................................................................... 10

2.1.2 Semantic false friends ....................................................................................................... 11

2.2 Change of meaning ................................................................................................................. 11

2.3 Infamous global mistakes ........................................................................................................ 12

2.3.1 Examples .......................................................................................................................... 13

3 History of the English language ...................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Old English (450-1170) ............................................................................................................ 15

3.1.1 Lexicology of Old English................................................................................................... 16

3.1.2 Foreign lexical influence on Old English ............................................................................ 17

3.2 Middle English (1150-1500) ..................................................................................................... 17

3.2.1 Lexicology of Middle English ............................................................................................. 18

3.2.2 Foreign lexical influence on Middle English ....................................................................... 19

3.3 Early Modern English (1470-1750) ........................................................................................... 20

3.3.1 Lexicology of Early Modern English ................................................................................... 21

3.3.2 Foreign lexical influence on Early Modern English ............................................................. 22

3.4 Modern English (1750-present) ............................................................................................... 23

4 History of the Czech language ........................................................................................................ 25

4.1 Proto-Slavic language (1500 BC – AD 1000) ............................................................................. 26

4.2 Old Slavonic and Early Old Czech language (863-1300) ............................................................ 26

4.2.1 Lexicology of Early Old Czech ............................................................................................ 27

4.3 Old Czech language (1300-1500) ............................................................................................. 28

4.3.1 Lexicology of Old Czech .................................................................................................... 29

4.4 Middle Czech (1500-1780) ....................................................................................................... 29

4.4.1 Lexicology of Middle Czech ............................................................................................... 30

4.5 Czech of the National Revival (1780-1848)............................................................................... 31

4.5.1 Lexicology of the National Revival ..................................................................................... 32

4.6 Modern Czech (1848-present) ................................................................................................. 32

4.6.1 Lexicology of Modern Czech ............................................................................................. 33

5 Practical part .................................................................................................................................. 35

5.1 Full semantic false friends ....................................................................................................... 35

5.2 Partial semantic false friends ................................................................................................... 59

5.3 Chance false friends ................................................................................................................ 68

6 Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 74

7 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................... 78

List of references .............................................................................................................................. 79

Appendices ....................................................................................................................................... 82

List of abbreviations

adj. = adjective

adv. = adverb

Be = Belarussian

c. = circa

CAD = Cambridge dictionary

Cz = Czech

Da = Danish

Du = Dutch

En = English

F = French

FF = false friend

G = German

Gre = Greek

I = Italian

Ice = Icelandic

L = Latin

M = Macedonian

N = Norwegian

n. = noun

OED = Online etymology dictionary

OF = Old French

OLD = Oxford learner’s dictionary

P = Polish

PS = Proto-Slavic

R = Russian

S = Swedish

Sk = Slovak

Slv = Slovenian

U = Ukrainian

v. = verb

> = from

9

1 Introduction

The thesis deals with a topic of false friends, that is, words in two or more languages

that are graphically and/or phonetically similar but differ in meaning. It focuses on false friends

between the Czech language and the English language and analyses their etymology and

meaning.

I have always been fascinated by languages as there are numerous ways to approach

them, analyse them and be creative with them in any way that comes to mind. Homonyms is

one of the categories that I have wanted to explore. However, before choosing my topic for the

diploma thesis, I had grown interest in false friends and made the decision. I borrowed Hladký’s

book Zrádná slova v angličtině and found out that it is a list of words that can be looked at in

more detail. I decided to analyse some of the most common false friends and explore the way

of their creation.

The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part

introduces the topic of false friends and deals with their classification. The main source that is

used to discuss this issue is the work of Chamizo-Domínguez, whose detailed book was helpful

and easy to comprehend. The thesis also provides examples of translations involving false

friends that caused serious problems on an international scale. The practical part then analyses

fifty pairs of FFs between Czech and English. It is concerned with their etymology, change of

meaning, supported by a list of correct translations, which are demonstrated on full sentence

examples.

The main goal of the thesis is to raise awareness of FFs between the Czech and English

language, explain their creation thanks to etymology and provide a correct translation for each

possible meaning, which should be useful for Czech learners of the English language. The thesis

should also conclude which types of false friends are more frequent than others and summarize

the origins of the fifty selected pairs.

10

2 False friends

The topic of false friends has been studied since the 17th century. However, the term is

not as ancient as it was coined by Maxime Koessler and Jules Derocquigny in 1928. The French

authors introduced the name of the concept in their work Les faux amis, ou, Les trahisons du

vocabulaire anglaise: conseils aux traducteurs (False friends, or, The Treacheries of English

Vocabulary: Advice to Translators) (Chamizo-Domínguez, 2008). As Crystal states, the

concept of FFs may be described simply as “words that look the same in two languages often

do not mean the same thing” (1987, p. 347). In contrast, Chamizo-Domínguez provides a

slightly more complex definition: “The term now refers to the specific phenomenon of linguistic

interference consisting of two given words in two or more given natural languages that are

graphically and/or phonetically the same or very alike; yet, their meanings may be totally or

partially different” (2008, p. 1). Hladký (1996) adds that these words usually have their origin

in classical languages such as Greek and Latin.

2.1 Classification

FFs can be classified from various perspectives and many authors have defined diverse

arrangements. Chamizo-Domínguez (2008) argues that most of the categorizations that have

been carried out by several linguists may be condensed into two types.

2.1.1 Chance false friends

Chamizo-Domínguez explains that chance FFs are “those pairs of words which are

(graphically and/or phonetically) the same or similar in two or more given languages, but

without any semantic or etymological reason which may account for this sameness or

similarity” (2008, p. 4). This means that this group of FFs is rather accidental. Chance FFs are

more frequent than semantic FFs if the particular languages do not share their origin. If they

do, the opposite is true (Chamizo-Domínguez, 2008). An example of this category is the English

word plot “series of events that form a story” and the Czech expression plot “fence.”

11

2.1.2 Semantic false friends

Chamizo-Domínguez describes semantic FFs as “those pairs of words that are

(concerning spelling and/or phonetics) the same or similar in two or more given languages and

which are etymologically related” (2008, p. 6). The relation means that both words either

originate from the same source (Latin, Greek) or one of the languages borrowed a word from

another language and changed its meaning. This category of FFs can be compared to polysemy

within one language and can be further subdivided based on the similarity of the meaning as it

is illustrated in Chamizo-Domínguez (2008):

1. Full semantic FFs: those whose meanings in two or more given languages are

completely different, and thus, one should never be translated by the other in any

case.

2. Partial semantic FFs: those in which two or more given languages share some of

their meanings, whereas other meanings are not common. Consequently, context

will determine whether they could be translatably interchanged. (pp. 6-7)

An instance of a partial semantic FF is introduced by Ambrus and Bázlik, who compare the

expressions funkce and function. They can be “equivalents of each other in the meaning of

operation (provoz) of a technological installation, but the Czech word funkce referring to a

position (funkce ředitele) is translated as title or office (2009, p. 146).

2.2 Change of meaning

The focal characteristic of FFs is that they have a different meaning in the involved

languages. This creates the peril of a word being mistranslated. Chamizo-Domínguez (2008)

informs that false cognates, as they are also known, are mostly created by means of calques,

borrowings and inheritances. He warns that it is very unlikely that a word would be imported

with all its meanings and without adding new ones as “most of the words in any language are

polysemous ones and usually only one or a few meanings of the borrowed terms accompany

the signifier to the TL” (p. 89). The linguist identifies five ways, in which a semantic FF can

change its meaning:

1. Restriction of the various meanings that the borrowed word has in the SL to only

one or very few meanings in the TL.

12

2. Restriction of the meanings of the SL word and addition in the TL of new meanings

which are absent in such language.

3. Preservation of the meaning of the SL and addition of new meanings in the TL.

4. Emergence of, at least, one new meaning in the TL which did not exist in the SL and

sometimes including changes in grammatical categories.

5. Emergence of new and different meanings in two or more given languages from

some common signifier in a third language. (p. 75)

It is difficult to declare to what extent changes of meaning are intentional and when they occur.

This obviously varies from example to example and cannot be generalized, especially as there

are at least five routes that a word can follow. Němec (1968) argues that interpreting meanings

of newly loaned words without altering their form is an essential part of borrowing. He

continues that this is important in order to naturalize the vocabulary, so that the words are not

perceived as foreign. He mentions a sentence, “zkropila sem mé lože myrrú, aloe a skořicí” and

explains that none of the words should be considered foreign as all of them describe an item

that is commonly encountered in a Czech culture, although one of the items (skořicě) is of home

origin, another (myrra) is a loaned word that has different forms dependant on the grammatical

case and the last one (aloe) is a loaned term that does not change its shape.

2.3 Infamous global mistakes

It is certain that the phenomenon of FFs causes translators many issues. One of the

reasons is that words change meaning through time, which suggests that not all FFs have always

been FFs. This is supported by Gutknecht’s comment that “since language changes constantly,

the meaning of expressions can broaden as well as narrow down, and can denote something

‘better’ as well as something ‘worse.’ For this reason, words in two languages that were

originally true friends can develop into FFs (and vice versa)” (2001, p. 699).

Consequently, new instances of FFs are being discovered. Rambousek focuses on a pilot

corpus of translations of several Czech and Slovak university students. The compilation of the

translated texts helped him detect “new word pairs of a specific kind – those that appear in

translations rather than in the speech of a Czech learner of English” (2012, p. 49). Lingvistický

and efektivní are two of the words that belong to this supposed category. Rambousek (2012)

explains that these words are rather alarming for translators because they may always be

translated as linguistic and effective, however, there are instances when these English

13

expressions need to be translated by using different Czech words (jazykový, účinný). This

confirms that FFs can be deceptive in various ways and “some dependence on the context is

unavoidable in order to detect whether a given term did work or did not work as a FF in a given

time and under a given circumstance” (Chamizo-Domínguez, 2008, p. 133).

On the other hand, true friends between the Czech and English language exist as well,

and they should not be ignored. Newmark (1988) urges to utilize them as he comments that “we

must not be afraid of literal translation, or, in particular, of using TL word which looks the same

or nearly the same as the SL word. We must not hesitate to use them, since any other translation

is usually wrong” (1988, p. 72). However, translators need to be careful as they might make

crucial mistakes and create undesired outcomes, which is demonstrated in the following

subchapter.

2.3.1 Examples

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, an Italian astronomer, began mapping and naming parts

of Mars in 1877. On the planet, he observed channels and rationally named them canali.

However, the term was incorrectly translated as canals, which is described as “a long, thin

stretch of water that is artificially made either for boats to travel along or for taking water from

one area to another” (Cambridge Dictionary). Unlike channels, canals are made artificially,

which implied an existence of life on Mars. Moreover, the idea of building canals was relevant

at the time as the Suez Canal was finished in 1869. This mistranslation led Percival Lowel, an

American astronomer, to publish three books where he describes his ideas of Martians creating

canals (Canright, 2009). This example is even more ambiguous for a Czech person as kanál, in

addition to denoting a “waterway,” also means “drain”.

In 1980, fifty-two American embassy staff members were held hostage in Tehran, Iran.

Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary General of the United Nations at the time, visited the Asian

country in order to negotiate the release of the American hostages. In his speech, he declared

that he has come “as a mediator to work out a compromise.” However, this created a

misunderstanding as the Persian words for compromise and mediator have negative

connotations in the language. Consequently, the Iranians understood the statement as

compromising a woman’s morality, which infuriated them, and they started throwing stones at

Waldheim’s car (Tierney, 2012).

14

Finally, in 2012, the Belgian national football team awaited their match against

Scotland. If they had proceeded to win, they would have qualified for the World Cup. The

Belgian association invited delegates from other countries to accompany them for the “eventual

qualification of the Belgian national football team.” This clearly implies that the Belgians

indicated that they should confidently surpass the Scots. Naturally, the Scottish federation

characterized the Belgian association as arrogant. However, the problem arose because of the

Dutch word eventueel, which means “potentially”. Therefore, this occurrence of a FF explains

that the Belgians did not intend to degrade their opponent. In fact, they attempted to invite the

other delegates for their “possible qualification” (Umansky, 2015).

15

3 History of the English language

In the contemporary world, English is considered a lingua franca, i.e. a language that is

used worldwide, often utilized by speakers who do not share the same native language.

However, English has altered immensely since it first appeared in the fifth century AD. It has

been influenced by several languages (Greek, Latin, French) and various cultures. Accordingly,

the English language has undergone adjustments in syntax, spelling, vocabulary, phonology

and other linguistic disciplines.

Leith (1996) presents an example where he showcases the influence of distinct people

on a changing name of a city. The current city of York was originally named Caer Ebruac by

the Brittons. Then, the Romans renamed it to Eboracum, only until the arrival of Anglo-Saxons,

who referred to it as Eoforwic. Prior to obtaining its latest name, the Vikings came and identified

it as Jorvik. This suggests that the language has undergone various changes and gone through

many phases. In order to categorize and follow the transformation of the language, it is usually

divided into four main periods. Old English (450-1170), Middle English (1150-1500), Early

Modern English (1470-1750), Modern English (1750-present).

3.1 Old English (450-1170)

The first mentions of English appeared after the invasion of Britain by north-west

European Germanic tribes – the Saxons, Angles and Jutes. Thus, Old English is often referred

to as Anglo-Saxon English as well. Crystal Argues that the term Old English should be used “if

we want to stress the continuity, the points of similarity between the modern and older periods

of the language” and Anglo-Saxon English when “we want to stress the contrast between

Anglo-Saxon and present-day culture, and the linguistic differences” (Crystal, 1988, p. 165).

Even though Old English already appeared in the fifth century AD, Burnley (1992)

stresses that early speakers of the language were illiterate, only using symbols of the runic

alphabet. He continues that Latin literacy (Roman alphabet) was introduced along with

Christianity at the end of the sixth century, which explains the lack of written texts as most of

the preserved manuscripts are from the tenth and eleventh centuries.

The increased number of written texts in Old English is credited to King Alfred the

Great, who ascended to the throne of Wessex in 871. He proved to be an incredible military

16

strategist as well as a supporter of the vernacular language. The king desired to educate the

people of his kingdom by translating important Latin works into English (Irvine, 2006).

Irvine highlights one additional external event, the Benedictine Reform of the second

half of the tenth century. “The English monasteries underwent a sweeping overhaul. Along with

this monastic reform came a renewal of interest in the production of texts in the vernacular for

didactic purposes” (2006, p. 49). At the time, Old English had a range of dialects and there was

not a standard version of the language.

3.1.1 Lexicology of Old English

As Hladký and Chovanec (1999) state, English has radically changed since its

beginnings and is certainly dissimilar in comparison to its initial form. Crystal agrees and

comments that “the language looks alien because of its distinctive spelling, there is a great deal

of unfamiliar vocabulary, and there are many points of grammatical difference” (1988, p. 165).

Burnley also adds that “by comparison with Modern English, Old English was written

relatively phonetically. Consequently, when reading, each letter is individually sounded, even

double consonants” (1992, p. 2). The number of differences in comparison with the Modern

English is enormous and might indicate that the languages have nothing in common. However,

Crystal (1988) explains that for an English speaker it is not as challenging, with a small amount

of practice, to start to notice similarities between the two languages and eventually translate the

ancient version.

Regarding the vocabulary of the language, Hladký and Chovanec (1999) stress that it

was overwhelmingly Germanic. On the other hand, it was influenced by foreign languages as

well. Moreover, the language enabled derivations, compounding and adding prefixes in order

to alternate meanings of basic verbs (Kavka, 2007). In addition to these features of Old

English, Hladký and Chovanec (1999) comment that the language had a large number of

synonyms, which was credited to alliteration, a heavily utilized figure of speech. They support

this claim with a note that there are 36 different expressions for hero in Beowulf, as well as 30

poetic terms for sea and 27 for boat in Old English.

17

3.1.2 Foreign lexical influence on Old English

The raids of Vikings had a great influence on Old English. The language recorded an

increased amount of names of the Scandinavian origin as well as many general words entering

the vocabulary. Some of the most typical borrowings from Old Norse were words such as

again, anger, awkward, bag, band, birth, bull, cake, crawl, die, dirt, egg, flat, fog, freckle,

gap, gasp, get, guess, happy, husband, knife, leg, reindeer, root, seat, silver, sister, smile,

snub, sprint, steak, take, thrift, Thursday, tight, trust, want, weak, window.

Old English borrowed numerous words from Latin, most of them were related to

religion, plants, animals, food, drink and household items (Crystal 1995). However, the

English author speculates that “whether Latin words were already used by the Anglo-Saxon

tribes on the continent of Europe, or were introduced from within Britain, is not always clear”

(1995, p. 8). Latin borrowings included abbess, altar, anchor, angel, apostle, cancer, candle,

cat, cheese, cucumber, dish, elephant, lily, lobster, marshmallow, paper, place, plant, rose,

school, scorpion, verse, wine.

Even though the main influence of French on English came after the Norman Conquest

in 1066, some French loan words are also present in Old English. Crystal (1995) mentions that

there was a close contact between the two cultures for various political reasons and therefore,

there were a handful of French borrowings, e.g., bacon, capon, castle, chancellor, prison, serve,

weapon.

Finally, Crystal (1995) comments that it is surprising that the Old English borrowed

only a small number of Celtic words and even a lower number survived into Modern English.

Examples of such words are bin, crag, dun, Thames, Avon, Don, Exe, Usk, Wye, Dover, Eccles,

London, Kent.

3.2 Middle English (1150-1500)

The most significant event that preceded this period was the Norman Conquest.

However, the language did not immediately evolve into its new form after William the

Conqueror defeated the English king Harold in 1066. In fact, Old English continued to be used

for almost another century, including written texts (Crystal, 1988).

The turning point and visible changes in the language are connected to the devastation

of the monastery at Peterborough in 1116, which was destroyed by fire along with many

18

manuscripts that were kept inside since king Alfred’s reign. The monks instantly started to copy

the lost writings and continued recording the history until 1131 when they stopped because of

the civil war that occurred during the reign of king Stephen. They resumed their work after

Stephen’s death in 1154. Even though there were similarities to Old English, changes in

vocabulary, spelling and grammatical patterns were apparent (Crystal, 1995).

Despite the magnitude of the Norman Conquest, which led to the use of French among

the people with high status, the English language survived, albeit the influence of French was

inevitable. Svartvik and Leech (2006) ascribe the survival of English to peasants, who

continued to use it. Crystal agrees with these comments and adds that “the English language in

the eleventh century was too well established for it to be supplanted by another language”

(1988, p. 191).

It is agreed by Crystal (1988) and Corrie (2006) that another significant factor that

helped the expansion of English occurred in 1362, when court proceedings started to be

conducted in English instead of French. Additionally, they both mention that Henry V promoted

English and used it in his private correspondence, mainly because “French was a mark of the

people who were his military and political enemies” (Corrie, 2006, p. 114).

Finally, two vital figures who contributed to the evolution of the language towards the

end of the Middle English period were Geoffrey Chaucer and William Caxton. The former was

a prolific writer, whose best-known work is The Canterbury Tales. The latter introduced

printing press to England in 1476 and published almost eighty works, including The Canterbury

Tales, before his death in 1491. Svartvik and Leech define the language in Chaucer’s and

Caxton’s works as “much more modern and homogenous than earlier Middle English texts”

(2006, p. 45).

3.2.1 Lexicology of Middle English

As the previous subchapter mentions, vocabulary of Middle English was vastly

influenced by French. Svartvik and Leech (2006) comment that in spite of the enormous

influx of French vocabulary, many English words that had similar meaning continued to be

used. This led to a creation of doublets in Middle English, i.e., words that have comparable

meanings but are used with different stylistic effect. Furthermore, French was not the only

language that enriched the glossary. Latin expressions were borrowed frequently as well,

19

implying that it was possible to have three terms (Germanic, French, Latin) with the same

meaning, although utilized in different situations. In fact, this phenomenon is still present in

Modern English. Crystal (1988) provides several examples of such words:

Old English French Latin

kingly royal regal

ask question interrogate

fast firm secure

rise mount ascend

holy sacred consecrated

time age epoch. (p. 194)

Most of the expressions in the table have survived into Modern English and their usage is not

extraordinary. Crystal concludes that “English has thousands of words which are almost

synonymous, thanks to the co-existence of these parallel items, and it is because of this that

English is said to have a larger core vocabulary than that of other modern languages” (1988,

p. 195).

3.2.2 Foreign lexical influence on Middle English

The French language had the greatest impact on the vocabulary of Middle English.

According to Svartvik and Leech (2006), there were at least ten thousand French words,

covering numerous fields, e.g., law, administration, religion, military, fashion, food, arts,

education, and others, including everyday terms. Instances of some French borrowings are

anatomy, arms, army, baptism, battle, blanket, boots, button, cathedral, ceiling, cellar, chess,

collar, court, crown, dance, defend, diamond, dress, duke, emerald, empire, enemy, fruit,

geometry, grammar, jewel, lemon, literature, medicine, melody, noun, paint, parliament,

pearl, prayer, robe, salad, sergeant, sir, soldier, soup, square, tax, toast, towel.

Latin continued to influence English in the Middle period as well. Crystal (1988)

claims that several thousand Latin terms were adopted in the fourteenth and fifteenth century,

even though, in many cases, it is difficult to distinguish whether the word entered via Latin or

French. He credits John Wyclif as the main supplier of Latin terms through his 1384

translation of the Bible, which introduced over a thousand of new expressions. The newly

discovered words were mainly related to religion, medicine, law and literature. Some of the

loaned Latin words are adjacent, conspiracy, distract, genius, gesture, history, include,

20

incredible, index, infancy, infinite, intellect, interrupt, legal, lucrative, necessary,, picture,

polite, popular, private, quiet, reject, solar, spacious, substitute, temperate, testimony, ulcer.

Even though the Scandinavians invaded England during the Old English period, most

of the words were not used in manuscripts until the 13th century. Crystal (1995) states that

these include words such as skin, skirt, sky. The British linguist mentions other languages that

loaned a few words to Middle English, e.g., Dutch (skipper), Spanish (cork), Portuguese

(marmalade), Russian (sable), Irish (lough), Arabic (admiral, mattress, zenith). However, he

declares that many of them have not survived into Modern English. He continues that many

loaned terms did not come directly from the source language but travelled through other

cultures and English borrowed them later. For instance, he mentions that vocabulary related to

chess (rook, chess, mate) entered English through French, even though the expressions are of

Persian origin.

3.3 Early Modern English (1470-1750)

The period from the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century in England is referred

to as The Renaissance, although the term was coined only in the 19th century. In this era, the

focus was aimed at art, literature, classical languages, education, science, medicine and other

fields that were being rediscovered. Besides the domestic factors, the language was influenced

by its spread to newly discovered America (Crystal, 1988).

After the Middle English period, the language continued to develop in the following

centuries. According to Smith, this “period is above all the period when linguistic variation is

reflected in the written mode” (2006, p. 122). This can be mainly credited to William Caxton’s

introduction of printing press in England, which was a crucial event for the development of the

English language. Publishing books helped foster the language, normalize it and encourage

writers to produce more texts as they had a higher probability of surviving. As a result, around

twenty thousand books were printed in the following 150 years (Crystal, 1995).

Some of the published books which were strongly influential were translations of the

Bible. As many adaptations were issued in the sixteenth century, Crystal (1995) refers to it as

“The Age of Bibles.” One of the most significant works was carried out by William Tyndale,

who constructed a translation of the New Testament, which was printed in Cologne in 1525. It

was vital for the following adaptations by other authors, who managed to transcribe the whole

Bible.

21

Along with the adaptations of the Bible, Shakespeare’s work was at least equally

influential on the language. The Englishman managed to write a great number of poems and

plays, which demonstrate the development of Early Modern English. The main impact of his

work is evident on the lexical level. There are many expressions which the writer utilizes that

had not been acknowledged before. Even though it is probable that some of these terms had

been used in the oral form, Shakespeare’s use of the words increased the awareness of them,

and the popularity of their use (Crystal, 1995).

As the language was still far from standardized in the 16th century, linguists realized that

it was necessary to gather the words in use and fix their spelling, i.e., create a dictionary.

Johnson’s dictionary A Dictionary of the English Language is regarded to be the first complex

and comprehensible dictionary of English, published in 1755 (Svartvik and Leech, 2006). His

work contains circa forty thousand expressions and demonstrates their use on examples of other

authors. Even though the dictionary includes some incorrect definitions, it set a standard for

spelling and codified the language (Crystal, 1995).

3.3.1 Lexicology of Early Modern English

The language continued to develop, chiefly in the area of vocabulary. Baugh and Cable

describe the changes of this period as both radical and conservative, “radical in matters of

vocabulary, conservative in matters of grammar” (1951, p. 197). Crystal (1998) ascribes this

matter to lack of words for newly emerging concepts, techniques and inventions in Europe.

As mentioned in Chapter 3.3, William Shakespeare influenced the English language

chiefly on the lexical level. Crystal (1995) lists several expressions that were first recorded in

the poet’s work and:

a) have survived into Modern English:

accommodation, assassination, barefaced, countless, courtship, dislocate, dwindle, eventful,

fancy-free, lack-lustre, laughable, premeditated, submerged

b) have not survived into Modern English:

abruption, appertainments, cadent, exsufflicate, persistive, protractive, questrist, soilure,

tortive, ungenitured, unplausive, vastidity (p. 63).

Regarding the pronunciation of the language, the Great Vowel shift is the most

substantial phenomenon of the era. The process had already started in the late Middle English

22

period. McMahon puts stress on its importance and declares that “virtually all words in present-

day English which have a long vowel, and which existed in the language in late Middle English,

now have a different long vowel” (2006, p. 155).

3.3.2 Foreign lexical influence on Early Modern English

As the focus was on vocabulary during the Early Modern English period, there was a

great number of new expressions being borrowed from several languages. Even though there

were purists who refused to loan words from abroad and fought for the purity of the language,

they were overwhelmed by other writers and users of the language who were willing to enrich

it with the help from overseas (Crystal, 1998).

Despite the fact that Latin influenced English from the very beginnings, Kavka

emphasizes that “two thirds of Latin expressions did not occur in the English texts before the

16th century and that many of them were of low frequency” (2007, p. 38). He then explains that

English writers usually applied one of two different strategies when they encountered a Latin

word that did not have an English equivalent. They either used a periphrasis, which often could

not convey the exact idea, or simply borrowed the term into English (2007).

English was not the only language that tended to loan words from others. Languages

kept borrowing expressions from each other, broadening their vocabulary. This means that

some words were borrowed directly, others travelled through several languages. Consequently,

it is often difficult to state which terms were adopted from which language (Kavka, 2007). This

is also accounting for Crystal’s division of loan words in Early Modern English, as he does not

distinguish between Latin and Greek expressions as well as between terms from Spanish and

Portuguese. He provides these examples:

From Latin and Greek: absurdity, agile, anonymous, appropriate, atmosphere, benefit,

catastrophe, chaos, disability, emphasis, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, epilepsy, exaggerate, exist,

expensive, halo, harass, larynx, lexicon, obstruction, pancreas, parasite, pathetic, relaxation,

relevant, scheme, skeleton, soda, species, system, temperature, tibia, utopian, vacuum, virus

From or via French: alloy, anatomy, battery, bayonet, bizarre, chocolate, colonel, comrade,

detail, duel, entrance, equip, explore, grotesque, invite, moustache, muscle, naturalize,

passport, pioneer, probability, progress, shock, surpass, ticket, tomato, vase, volunteer

From or via Italian: argosy, balcony, ballot, cameo, carnival, concert, cupola, design, fuse,

giraffe, lottery, macaroni, opera, piazza, portico, rocket, solo, sonata, sonnet, soprano, stanza,

stucco, trill, violin, volcano

23

From or via Spanish and Portuguese: alligator, anchovy, apricot, armada, banana,

barricade, bravado, cannibal, canoe, cockroach, cocoa, desperado, embargo, guitar,

hammock, hurricane, mosquito, mulatto, negro, potato, port, rusk, sombrero, tank, tobacco

From other languages: bamboo (Malay), caravan (Persian), coffee (Turkish), cruise (Dutch),

curry (Tamil), flannel (Welsh), guru (Hindi), harem (Arabic), ketchup (Malay), kiosk (Turkish),

raccoon (Algonquian), rouble (Russian), sheikh (Arabic), shekel (Hebrew), troll (Norwegian),

trousers (Irish Gaelic), turban (Persian), yacht (Dutch), yoghurt (Turkish). (1995, p. 60)

3.4 Modern English (1750-present)

The end of the 18th and the whole of the 19th century are known as years of

industrialization as well as urbanization in Britain. Cities such as Manchester and Leeds

multiplied in size as people migrated into the urban areas. These changes also affected the

lexical sphere as new words and idioms were being invented for objects and concepts that had

not existed, e.g., to let off steam, cab, velocipede, omnibus, bicycle (Mugglestone, 2006).

Besides the newly added neologisms, the invention of steam press was responsible for

the possibility of twelve thousand sheets of paper being printed in an hour, compared to 250

pages, which could be achieved by the hand-press. Furthermore, literacy increased with the help

of more accessible education. It was possible to attend private schools, public schools, night

classes or dame schools for beginners. In addition to that, The Elementary Education Act of

1870 was passed, increasing the literacy rate even more (Mugglestone, 2006).

Crystal (1995) warns that although the vocabulary of the 19th century and today might

seem familiar, it is important to realize that many words have changed their meaning throughout

the years, even though most of them only in a subtle way. He comments that it is more difficult

to recognize irony, formality, jocularity or archaism.

Equally to the previous periods of English, there are many dialects, accents and

variations of the language in the modern era. However, regarding the point which variation of

English is the correct one, Upton speculates that speaking in an accent is not recognized as

incorrect unlike differences in grammar, which, “have typically been received much less

tolerantly in all circles: some differences are understood to exist within the confines of standard

English, but anything which is felt to be outside the quite narrow limits of that variety is readily

judged ‘wrong’” (2006, p. 313).

24

Finally, to summarize the current state of English and justify why it is considered a

Germanic language, Svartvik and Leech (2006) explain that even though the bulk of the English

vocabulary is of Romance origin, these words are less frequent than those of Germanic origin.

Moreover, the structure and grammar of the language is Germanic as well, which contributes

to the fact that English is rather comparable to German and Danish than to Spanish or French.

25

4 History of the Czech language

The Czech language as well as the English language has been forming and changing its

form for centuries. It is a Slavic language, meaning that it is part of a different branch than

English, which is Germanic. However, Mátl notices that in spite of not being classified in the

same branch, Czech and English share syntax structures on a reasonable level compared to other

languages such as Hungarian or Chinese. This slight resemblance between the languages is

ascribed to the fact that they are both Indo-European languages, indicating that they have the

same origin (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Czech and the rest of Slavic languages share the same origin – Proto-Slavic. The

language that is closest to Czech is Slovak, they are both categorized as West Slavic languages.

They started to differentiate from the other Slavic languages towards the end of the Proto-Slavic

period. However, the changes were quite subtle, chiefly developing in phonetics, meaning that

the Proto-Slavic language was still reasonably unanimous at the end of the 9th century

(Lamprecht et al., 1977).

Čejka states that Czech as well as Slovak have preserved a certain form of about 98%

of the Proto-Slavic vocabulary compared to the South Slavic languages, which maintained circa

85%. He then provides examples of expressions that were loaned from Germano-Balto-Slavic

(tisíc, vládnouti), Slavo-Germanic (kotel, pánev, sklo, buk, velbloud, peníze), Slavo-Indo-

Iranian (sám, bůh, bohatý) and some unknown Proto-Indo-European languages (železo, olovo,

kapr, kůň, beran, smrk, jedle, olše) (1992, pp. 36-37).

Consequently, Slavic languages share words that are understandable to the speakers of

their surrounding countries until this day. It is true that some of these terms may be FFs,

however, many of them are not. Mátl (Cuřín et al., 1964) presents a list of examples that

supports his statement that there are circa two thousand basic words that are part of most of the

Slavic languages:

1) Cz – kráva, Sk – krava, P – krowa, R and U – корова, Be – карова, Slv – krava

2) Cz and Sk – brod, P – bród, R, U and Be – брод, Slv – ford, M – форд

3) Cz – levý, Sk – ľavý, P – lewy, R – левый, U – лівий, Be – левый

4) Cz – deset, Sk – desať, P – dziesięć, R – десять, Slv – desat, M – десет

5) Cz – paměť, Sk – pamäť, P – pamięć, U – память. (p. 23)

A similar pattern can be observed when comparing Germanic languages, even if the same words

are analysed:

26

1) En – cow, G – Kuh, S and Da – ko, Du – koe, Ice - kú

2) En – ford, G – Furt, Da and N - ford

3) En – left, G – link, Du – linker x Da and N – venstre, S – vänster, Ice – vinstri

4) En – ten, G– Zehn, Du – tien, Ice – tíu, S – tio, N and Da – ti.

4.1 Proto-Slavic language (1500 BC – AD 1000)

Slavic languages are known to be very similar, some more than others. They have

comparable grammatical structures, core vocabulary and phonemes. This likeness is evident

and can be explained as all of the Slavic languages originate from the same source – the Proto-

Slavic language. However, Mátl speculates that Proto-Slavic language itself cannot be regarded

as one standardized language. It rather represents the period from the disintegration of Indo-

European languages to the creation of new Slavic ones. This era began in the second millennium

BC and lasted for over two thousand years. However, it is difficult to identify the exact form of

the language as there is no written evidence of it (Cuřín et al., 1964).

4.2 Old Slavonic and Early Old Czech language (863-1300)

Both languages were co-existing, however, there is no written evidence of the Early Old

Czech. Old Slavonic language substituted Latin and was the first Slavic literary language. The

territory of today’s Czech and Slovak land did not form a mutual political unit until the creation

of Great Moravia in the first half of the 9th century. This establishment was important for the

evolution of Slavic languages as the Saint Cyril and Methodius arrived at the newly formed

empire shortly after, in 863. They constructed the Glagolitic script, assigned a constant shape

of the language and provided numerous translations of religious texts as their mission was to

preach Christianity. However, Great Moravia already fell at the very beginning of the 10th

century as it was overrun by the Hungarians. Unlike Czechs, who managed to conquer Moravia

back, the Slovaks lost their land as it was controlled by the Hungarians, which allowed for the

formation of two separate nations and languages – Czech and Slovak (Komárek, 2012).

Saint Cyril and Methodius were aware of the language as it was used in the area of

Thessaloniki, where the Macedonian-Bulgarian dialect was prevalent. This dialect was not

dissimilar from the other Slavic dialects, meaning that it was understandable for the people of

Great Moravia. In fact, Old Slavonic was closer to Early Old Czech than any contemporary

Slavic language is. It was considered vernacular and was convenient for sharing culture unlike

27

Latin, which was utilized by a limited amount of the society. However, Latin replaced Old

Slavonic in its function of the written language again at the end of the 11th century, though it

was still remembered by the people. (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Komárek (2012) concludes that the evolution of the Czech language towards the end of

the 13th century is tied to the political situation. This includes the development of feudalism,

town growth and the power of Czech rulers. Even though the Czech lands were influenced by

their German neighbours, the Czech language kept developing and was utilized in an increasing

amount of fields. Therefore, the language could have evolved into a literary one in the upcoming

years.

4.2.1 Lexicology of Early Old Czech

The oldest written sentence in Czech language that has been preserved can be found in

Zakládací listina kapituly litoměřické. Porák (1979) provides the original text and its

transcription, which uses modern orthography, making the content more comprehensible:

Pauel dal geʃt ploʃcoucih zemu Wlah dal geʃt dolaʃ zemu bogu I ʃuiatemu ʃcepanu ʃe

duema duʃnicoma bogucea a ʃedlatu

Pavel dal jest Ploskovicích zemu Vlach dal jest Dolás zemu bogu I svatému Ščepánu

se dvěma dušníkoma, Bogučeja a Sedlatu. (p. 31)

Although Latin was used for writing, Czech words could be occasionally spotted within texts

during the 11th century. These were often proper nouns or words that the author could not or

intentionally did not translate. As a result, some old law terms have been preserved, e.g.,

otchodné – “moving fee”, gostinné – “transaction fee”, glava – “murder fee”, nárok – “action”,

výboj – “burglary”. Czech translations of Latin expressions and sentences were even more

frequent from the beginning of the 12th century, keeping the language alive (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Even though Latin replaced Old Slavonic at the end of the 11th century, the latter

maintained to be a noticeable source of religious vocabulary, e.g., div, duch, Hospodin, hřiech,

modliti sě, modlitva, mučen, spásti, svatý, smilovati sě, viera, zpověď, etc. On the other hand,

Early Old Czech also borrowed such vocabulary from other languages, e.g., Greek (pop,

sobota), German (břitov, vánoce, póst), Latin (apoštol, kostel), Latin through German

(almužna, biřmovati, farář, kelich, klášter, žalm) (Cuřín et al., 1964).

28

Komárek (2012) extends the list of German loans, e.g., hrabie, markrabie, rytieř, léno,

lán, konšel, komorník and adds other ways that introduced new vocabulary. Some words were

translated from Latin, e.g., svědomie from conscientia and prvorozenec from primogenitus. As

for expressions that were needed for newly emerged concepts, neologism was common, e.g.,

dušník, zeměnín, panošě, berně.

The Czech linguist also highlights the importance of glosses, which preserved many

Czech words of the time and confirmed the effort to promote the language. The glosses that he

considers well-known are those related to the Latin dictionary called Mater verborum. There

are circa 340 Czech terms from fields such as biology (hlemýžď, vápanný kámen, žlútek),

medicine (baňky púščědlné, žlázy, kýlavec), agriculture (črtadlo “plough”, cěv “coil”, klubko)

and paganism (vlchvec “fortune teller”, poludnicě) (Komárek, 2012).

4.3 Old Czech language (1300-1500)

At the turn of the 13th and 14th century, Czech started to be preferred to Latin in some

situations. However, the written form still needed adjustments as the language had been used

mostly orally. These changes were necessary in the morphological as well as lexical field. Then,

finally, the Czech cultural dialect began to be considered a literate language and continued to

evolve (Komárek, 2012).

Mátl comments that literate Czech started to affect other areas rather than only religion.

It spread among townspeople and those who attended Charles University, though Latin was the

primary language there. Administrative and legal spheres were overwhelmed with Czech as

well. Another important event that helped expand the language was a translation of the Bible,

which was fully completed for the first time at the end of the 14th century (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Another important event of the Czech history that influenced the development of the

language was the Hussite movement. It supported the Czech culture and fought against

germanization. The main character was Jan Hus and his successors, who spoke to townspeople.

Consequently, Czech literature was spread among the people of all classes and the literate

language began to adopt features of the colloquial one (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Komárek (2012) concludes that Czech gained significance in the 15th century as it was

an official language of Silesia and a language of diplomacy and culture in Poland and Hungary.

29

Furthermore, it expanded within the lands of Slovakia, which was mainly ascribed to graduates

of Charles University and the Hussite wars.

4.3.1 Lexicology of Old Czech

Naturally, the vocabulary of the language kept evolving. Mátl provides examples of

words that were translated from Latin, which was still a common strategy of enriching the

Czech language, e.g., obráncě, podstata, spósob, případné and zvláščí (attributes). Moreover,

loaning words from German remained to be frequent as well, e.g., léno, říše, šlechta, brně, rek,

oř, rychtář, rada, purkmistr, plac, rynk, barvieř, hamr, halda, diek, škoda, musiti. However,

Jan Hus, as discussed above, was an influential figure. He himself avoided German terms and

tended to modernize and create new Czech expressions, e.g., Pán – “Hospodin”, opustiti, až,

nepřietel, věci, kletba, chopiti se koho, bděnie, ukázka, hlavizna – “kapitola”, samohlas (Cuřín

et al., 1964).

Evidently, Hus was not the only person that produced neologisms. Tomáš Štítný ze

Štítného presented expressions such as držimý, probyšúcný, duchovenstvie, šlechetnost, etc.

Klaret, Czech lexicographer, tried to purify the language by introducing new terminology, e.g.,

větrožil, rájikras (birds), rakopún (fish), tichovietr, slunovietr (winds), drakorza (plant),

Hladolet, Kralemoc (planets), tělorytna, piesnotvora, duchoprodník, měrozemna, hladplesk,

děloha (Komárek, 2012). Čejka (1992) extends Klaret’s list of expressions with letora,

záhněda, svatokupectví and nemocnice.

4.4 Middle Czech (1500-1780)

The 16th century was a period of humanism. According to Komárek (2012), humanists

were trying to improve the status of the Czech language, so that it would be on the same level

as Latin and Greek as the former was considered the “embodiment of stylistic perfection” (p.

30). Some important pieces of linguistic literature were written during the era, e.g., grammar

works of Jan Blahoslav and Vavřinec Benedikt z Nudožer and two dictionaries by Daniel Adam

z Veleslavína. Furthermore, an essential piece of literature for the language was Bible kralická.

Cuřín (1964) and Komárek (2012) agree that royal towns quarreled with nobles for the

whole of the 16th until the beginning of the 17th century. However, the latter then adds that it

was simultaneously a period of economic growth, which helped with the development of Czech.

30

On the other hand, germanization kept strengthening as German people continued to come to

both Bohemia and Moravia. This resulted in a ruling that newcomers were obliged to acquire

the Czech language.

Battle of White Mountain (1620) and its consequences substantially slowed the progress

of Czech. The event mainly affected people of rural areas and insignificant townspeople, i.e.,

inhabitants who had already struggled. Consequently, many fled the country, which led to even

more German people immigrating. The German language started to be utilized more and the

number of authors writing in Czech plummeted. Therefore, the influx of Latin and German was

even stronger than before (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Following the emigration of the majority of Czech writers, the evolution of the language

was stagnating. However, this situation motivated some purists, who attempted to purify it. One

of these enthusiasts was V.J. Rosa, who introduced poetic terms such as zpěvořádek,

dvojdlužka, dlouhokratka, krátkodlužka, dlouhokratidvojka, usmívka, etc. Some of his

inventions survived into the modern language, e.g., pád, příslovce, spojka (Komárek, 2012).

4.4.1 Lexicology of Middle Czech

New words of Middle Czech were either loaned from other languages or invented by

Czech writers. Latin words were often borrowed to enrich expert fields such as school (regula,

forma, preceptor), medicine (puls, pilule), law (process, relací) (Cuřín et al., 1964). Komárek

(2012) adds that Czech adopted the prefix arci- (arcibiskup, arcipirát) and prolongs the list

with exemplum, exponovati, apelovati, kalendář, audiencí.

Čejka (1992) mentions that newly loaned German words were mainly concerning

workmanship (hoblík, verpánek, plavajs). Komárek (2012) agrees and makes further comment

that German expressions were also spread within the spoken language (handlovati, gruntovní,

retuňk, kelner, koštovati).

Romance languages were a source of vocabulary related to agriculture and politics.

Despite the fact that there were many Italian inhabitants in the Czech lands, not a great amount

of words entered the language (bandita, bambitka, marymář). Towards the end of the 16th

century, Czech borrowed French and Spanish terms of military (armáda, jenerál, kapitán,

kvartýr, soldát, oficír) (Cuřín et al., 1964).

31

Finally, Čejka (1992) comments on the creativity and diversity of J. A. Komenský, who

utilized various strategies in order to supplement the Czech lexicon. Instances of his borrowings

are azoth, fixací, stemperovati, applying derivation introduced the word pozorlivost and as a

result of Komenský’s compounding, expressions školozorec and každodenníček were invented.

4.5 Czech of the National Revival (1780-1848)

After a period when the Czech language was not evolving and was rather overlooked,

the National Revival changed the situation. This era began at the end of the 18th century and

lasted until the middle of the 19th. As the number of manufacturers kept increasing, more

workers were needed. People started abandoning the rural areas and moving into the urban ones.

Consequently, the Czech nation commenced to grow stronger and fight against germanization

(Komárek, 2012).

The main protagonists of the National Revival that are connected to the evolution of

Czech are Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann. The former was aware of the problems of the

language, its inconsistencies and therefore aimed to codify the literate language. The linguist

described the state of Czech in his work Zevrubná mluvnice jazyka českého. Though Dobrovský

was careful with adding new vocabulary in the beginning, he, unlike some purists, was aware

that neologism was not the only viable strategy to expand the Czech lexicon. He highlighted

other approaches such as translation of foreign words, adoption of terms from other Slavic

languages, Czech dialects and even restoration of forgotten expressions (Cuřín et al., 1964).

Josef Jungmann, who was part of the new generation, continued Dobrovský’s work and

focused on the expansion of Czech. The main goal of Jungmann and his generation was to

enrich the vocabulary and distinguish various styles of the language as there was little difference

between them. The Czech linguist attempted to differentiate the artistic style of writing by

utilizing poeticisms, words that were not common in the colloquial language (červec, mrav,

vrchoviště, celovati), loaned words from Russian (blahý, bol, dolina, jeseň), Polish (odvídati,

výspa, půvab), Slovak (zástava) and neologisms (rudokřídlý, hromorudý, věkozvučný, vínorodý,

černokrevnost) (Komárek, 2012).

32

4.5.1 Lexicology of the National Revival

The vocabulary of Czech underwent crucial enrichment during this era. Čejka (1992)

enlists Russian loans, e.g., záliv, vesmír, unylý, věkověčný, sloh, nápěv, odstín, vkus and Polish

ones, e.g., blizna, lodyha, prvosenka, pyl, hlušec, mlž, želva. Cuřín (1964) adds German loans,

e.g., konk, hausmistr, rynk, pucovat.

Komárek (2012) concludes with neologisms that were mainly popular in expert fields,

e.g., jednotlivý, náměstka, nerost, obdoba, rozmar, zápor. However, borrowing expert terms

was frequent as well, e.g., vzuch, slovesnost, udeření, dějství from Russian and rozprava, výraz,

výrok, úvaha from Polish. The Czech linguist also provides some calques from the western

languages, e.g., časopis, chvalořeč, názor, pojem, vlastnoruční.

4.6 Modern Czech (1848-present)

The era of the National Revival ended in 1848, which was the year of revolutions in

Europe. Then, following the fall of Bach absolutism, the Czech literate language spread in

grammar schools and high schools. Finally, the Czech university was pronounced independent

in 1882. This, along with the foundation of the first Czech permanent theatre and the initial

spread of the language in bureaucracy, established the increasing importance of the Czech

literate language (Komárek, 2012).

Cuřín (1964) stresses the significance of Jan Gebauer, who helped codify the language

in the second part of the 19th century and fought against the group of people that was strongly

rejecting the evolution of the language, only recognizing its form of the past. Moreover,

Gebauer is the author of Historická mluvnice česká, which provides essential information about

the development of Czech.

The formation of Czechoslovakia ensured that the main languages that were used by the

people of the country were Czech and Slovak, although the German language did not

immediately vanish. However, understanding German was not a necessity anymore. The Czech

literate language kept spreading among everyone as the number of published books, magazines

and articles in Czech and Slovak increased (Komárek, 2012).

The modern theory of the Czech literate language was set by the linguists of the Prague

school in the thirties. The language was very similar to what it is today. The WWII did not have

a huge impact on it as the war only slowed down the process of its evolution. However, Russian

33

influenced the language in the following years of the communist regime, primarily in the lexical

field. In addition, Slovak affected Czech as well, which was a natural consequence of two

nationalities living within the same borders (Komárek, 2012).

Finally, after the end of the communist regime and the separation from Slovakia, the

Czech language started to be more involved with other foreign languages, mainly English. An

important factor is that the people of today are not afraid of borrowing words. Such expressions

are not only necessary, but also seen as a prestigious part of one’s vocabulary. The future of the

language is suggested to be safe as at present, it is a well-established European language

(Komárek, 2012).

4.6.1 Lexicology of Modern Czech

Vocabulary of Czech kept evolving after the fruitful period of the National Revival.

Miroslav Tyrš, founder of Sokol, provided the language with new words that followed a

recurring pattern, e.g., ležmo, klečmo, upažiti, roztažiti. Adjectives tended to possess suffixes

-cí (vodicí lišta) and -telný (nenahraditelný, čitelný). Another important figure, Jaroslav

Vrchlický, used many foreign words in his writings, e.g., nymfa, dryáda, kentaur, splín,

nonšalantní followed by Otokar Březina’s cyklón, vegetace, meditace, senzitivní (Cuřín et al.,

1964).

Following the formation of Czechoslovakia, the language loaned and translated Russian

words related to military, e.g., praporčík, náčelník štábu, kulometčík, sumka and, naturally,

adopted Slovak terms such as železničář, výdobytek, zaostávati (Čejka, 1992).

As a result of the communist regime after the WWII, the Czech language was affected

by Russian vocabulary, e.g., pětiletka, úderník, mičurinec, staršina, generálporučík, prověrka.

However, the language also started to borrow expressions from English such as hardware,

software, radar, televize, smog, popkorn, autokempink, diskžokej, video and other languages,

e.g., plazma, cuketa, triathlon, ekologie (Komárek, 2012).

In recent years, Czech language tends to mainly borrow English terms when it needs to

enrich its lexicon. Some examples are internet, e-mail, homepage, grant, inovace, pilotní,

alokovat, resetovat. In the modern days, English is so widespread that it can be often seen

blended in the speech of a Czech person. There are some expressions in particular that are quite

frequent, e.g., jsem ready, deadline dali na 14. října, být in. On the other hand, Czech is

34

occasionally updated with a new word of its own, e.g., bezdomovec, nezaměstnanost,

podnikatel. Also, some terms that were not used during the communist regime have returned,

e.g., hejtman, obecní úřad, starosta (Komárek, 2012).

35

5 Practical part

This part of the thesis analyses fifty FFs between the Czech and English language. The

presented examples were chosen based on their frequency and relevance, so that the analysis is

helpful for Czech learners of English. Josef Hladký’s book Zrádná slova v angličtině served as

a great help with the selection. The list is arranged in alphabetical order of the English

expressions.

This section is divided into three groups based on Chamizo-Domínguez’s (2008)

classification (see Chapter 2.1). These categories of FFs, i.e., graphically and/or phonetically

same or similar words in two or more languages, are: 5.1 Full semantic FFs – etymologically

related words whose meanings in two or more given languages are completely different, and

thus, one should never be translated by the other in any case. 5.2 Partial semantic FFs –

etymologically related words whose meanings are partly shared by two or more given

languages, whereas other meanings are not common. Consequently, context will determine

whether they could be translatably interchanged. 5.3 Chance FFs – without any semantic or

etymological reason which may account for their sameness or similarity.

Each pair of FFs is examined individually. First, etymology of both expressions is

analysed. English ones follow Online etymology dictionary (OED) and Czech ones mainly

utilize Rejzek’s Český etymologický slovník (2015). Other dictionaries that help define various

meanings are Cambridge dictionary (CAD) and Oxford learner’s dictionaries (OLD).

Information from these dictionaries is added along with the author’s commentary after the

etymological analysis. Following these notes are listed meanings of each word, ordered

according to their frequency of use, provided with sufficient equivalents in the other language.

Furthermore, these meanings are demonstrated on examples in full sentences.

5.1 Full semantic false friends

accord (n., v.) x akord (n.)

En (v.) – early 12c., “come into agreement,” also “agree, be in harmony,” from Old

French acorder “agree, be in harmony” (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *accordare “make agree,”

literally “be of one heart, bring heart to heart,” from Latin ad “to” + cor (genitive cordis) “heart”

(used figuratively for “soul, mind”), from Proto-Indo-European root *kerd- “heart” (OED).

36

En (n.) – late 13c., “agreement, harmony of opinions,” accourd, acord, from Old French

acorde, acort “agreement, alliance,” a back-formation from acorder “reconcile, agree, be in

harmony.” Meaning “will, voluntary impulse or act” (as in of one’s own accord) is from mid-

15c. (OED).

Cz – 19c., “souzvuk,” in 18c. also “dohoda, úmluva,” from French accord “souhlas,

dohoda,” change of meaning probably influenced by French corde “struna,” from Latin chorda,

from Greek khordé, from Medieval Latin accordare, from ad + a derivative of cor, cordis

“srdce” (Rejzek, 2015).

Even though the meaning of these expressions is remote, they are semantic FFs. As

Rejzek comments, the Czech word was probably influenced by the French expression corde,

relating it to music, though it used to carry a similar meaning to the English term in the 18c.

(1) En accord = Cz dohoda/smlouva

(2) Cz akord = En chord

(1) En: Their ruler refused to sign a peace accord. – Cz: Jejich vůdce odmítl podepsat

mírovou smlouvu.

(2) Cz: Kolik akordů dokážeš zahrát? – En: How many chords can you play?

actual (adj.) x aktuální (adj.)

En – early 14c., “pertaining to acts or an action;” late 14c. in the broader sense of “real,

existing” (as opposed to potential, ideal, etc.); from Old French actuel “now existing, up to

date” (13c.), from Late Latin actualis “active, pertaining to action,” adjectival form of Latin

actus “a doing” (from Proto-Indo-European root *ag- “to drive, draw out or forth, move”)

(OED).

Cz – 19c. from Late Latin actualis “činný, účinný, skutečný,” from actus “čin,” from

agere “činit, jednat” (Rejzek, 2015).

In this case, it is English that changed the meaning of the loaned expression. According

to OED, Old French actuel carried the meaning that is now close to that of Czech aktuální.

However, English adopted a different understanding.

37

(1) En actual = Cz skutečný/opravdový

(2) Cz aktuální = En topical/up to date

(1) En: The actual cost was higher than we had anticipated. – Cz: Skutečná cena byla vyšší

než jsme očekávali.

(2) Cz: Bavili se o teorii, která už dávno není aktuální. – En: They were discussing a theory

that is no longer topical.

apartment (n.) x apartmá (n.)

En – 1640s, “private rooms for the use of one person or family within a house,” from

French appartement (16c.), from Italian appartimento, literally “a separated place,” from

appartere “to separate,” from a “to” + parte “side, place,” from Latin partem “a part, piece, a

division” (from Proto-Indo-European root *pere- “to grant, allot”) (OED).

Sense of “set of private rooms rented for independent living in a building entirely of

these” (the U.S. equivalent of British flat) is recorded by 1863, with reference to Paris.

Apartment house is attested from 1870 (OED).

Cz – 19c., “vícepokojový byt v hotelu.” Nowadays also apartmán, with a modified

meaning “ubytovací zařízení s více místnostmi a kuchyňským koutem, ale většinou bez

obvyklých hotelových služeb.” From French appartement, from Italian appartamento, literally

“oddělení,” to Italian apparture “oddělit,” from a parte “stranou, zvlášť,” from Latin ad- +

partem “strana, část” (Rejzek, 2015).

Both expressions refer to a set of rooms. However, the English one is an equivalent of

Czech byt, meaning a place to stay in for a longer period of time, compared to the Czech

apartmá, which is often rented for a shorter term.

(1) Cz apartmá = En suite

(2) En apartment = Cz byt

(1) Cz: Příští týden strávíme v hotelovém apartmá v Barceloně. – En: We will spend the

next week in a hotel suite in Barcelona.

38

(2) En: Would you rather live in a house or an apartment? – Cz: Žil bys raději v domě nebo

v bytě?

approbation (n.) x aprobace (n.)

En – early 15c., “approval, endorsement,” from Old French aprobacion “approval”

(Modern French approbation) and directly from Latin approbationem (nominative approbatio)

“an approval,” noun of action from past-participle stem of approbare “to assent to” as good,

from ad “to” + probare “to try, test something (to find if it is good),” from probus “honest,

genuine.” Also in Middle English in a now-obsolete sense of “proven effectiveness, excellence”

(late 14c.) (OED).

Cz – 19c., “způsobilost k vyučování,” from Latin approbatio “schválení, souhlas,” from

aprobare “schvalovat,” from ad- and probare “zkoušet uznávat” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) En approbation = Cz schválení/souhlas

(2) Cz aprobace = En teaching qualification/specialization

(1) En: He was given an official approbation. – Cz: Dostal oficiální souhlas.

(2) Cz: Zeptal se učitele, jakou má aprobaci. – En: He asked the teacher about his

qualification.

billion (n.) x bilión (n.)

En – 1680s, from French billion (originally byllion in Chuquet's unpublished “Le

Triparty en la Science des Nombres,” 1484); bi- “two” + million. “A million million” in Britain

and Germany (numeration by groups of sixes), which was the original sense; subsequently

altered in French to “a thousand million” (numeration by groups of threes) and picked up in

that form in U.S. France reverted to the original meaning in 1948 (OED).

Cz – 19c., from French billion, created from bi- and million (Rejzek, 2015).

As can be seen from the etymology, the meaning of the word originally meant “a million

million”. However, English language adopted the changed meaning of “a thousand million.”

Both CAD and OLD state that old-fashioned British English used to assign billion its original

39

meaning. However, this has not transferred into English of today. In order to avoid ambiguity,

British English introduced gillion to express “a thousand million” in 1961, but the term has not

survived (OED).

(1) En billion = Cz miliarda

(2) Cz bilión = En trillion

(1) En: There are nearly eight billion people in the world. – Cz: Na světě žije téměř osm

milliard lidí.

(2) Cz: V roce 2020 vědci tvrdili, že existují alespoň dva bilióny galaxií. – En: In 2020,

scientists declared that there are at least two trillion galaxies.

caution (n., v.) x kauce (n.)

En (n.) – c. 1300, caucioun, “bail, guarantee, pledge,” from Old French caution

“security, surety” (13c.), from Latin cautionem (nominative cautio) “caution, care, foresight,

precaution,” noun of action from past participle stem of cavere “to be on one’s guard” (from

Proto-Indo-European root *keu- “to see, observe, perceive”) (OED).

The Latin sense re-emerged in English as “prudence in regard to danger” (1650s).

Meaning “word of warning, monitory advice” is from c. 1600. Meaning “anything which

excites alarm or astonishment” is U.S. slang, 1835.

Cz – 19c., “záruka,” from Latin cautio “opatrnost, záruka,” from cavere “mít se na

pozoru” (Rejzek, 2015).

The meaning of the Czech word is rather curious as its shift from Latin cautio is

noticeable, however, the English term used to carry the meaning “bail” in 14c. as well,

justifying the usage of the Czech one. Later, English switched its focus on the meaning of being

safes.

(1) Cz kauce = En bail

(2) En caution = Cz opatrnost/pozor

(3) En caution = Cz varování

40

(1) Cz: Kauce byla stanovena na deset tisíc liber. – En: Bail was set on ten thousand

pounds.

(2) En: Peter needs to progress with caution. – Cz: Peter musí postupovat s opatrností.

(3) En: He only received a caution. – Cz: Dostal pouze varování.

cellar (n.) x cela (n.)

En – early 13c., “store room,” from Anglo-French celer, Old French celier “cellar,

underground passage” (12c., Modern French cellier), from Latin cellarium “pantry, storeroom,”

literally “group of cells;” which is either directly from cella “small room, store-room” (from

Proto-Indo-European root *kel- “to cover, conceal, save”), or from noun use of neuter of

adjective cellarius “pertaining to a storeroom,” from cella. The sense “room under a house or

other building, mostly underground and used for storage” gradually emerged in late Middle and

early Modern English (OED).

Cz – 15c., “kobka,” from Latin cella “komora, kobka,” related to German Halle and

English hall (Rejzek, 2015).

The English word cell, which is the equivalent of Czech cela, originated from Latin

cella as well (OED). However, Czech acquired its counterpart of cell from Proto-Slavic

sъklepъ, creating a common confusion as the Slavic language utilizes different terms compared

to those in English.

(1) En cellar = Cz sklep

(2) Cz cela = En cell

(1) En: Do you keep your potatoes in the cellar? – Cz: Uchováváte brambory ve sklepě?

(2) Cz: Zločinec utekl ze své cely. – En: A criminal has escaped from his cell.

chef (n.) x šéf (n.)

En – “head cook,” 1842, from French chef, short for chef de cuisine, literally “head of

the kitchen,” from Old French chief “leader, ruler, head” (OED).

41

Cz – 19c. via German Chef, from French chef, from Old French chief, from Latin caput

“hlava” (Rejzek, 2015).

En chief – c. 1300, “head, leader, captain; the principal or most important part of

anything;” from Old French chief “leader, ruler, head” of something, “capital city” (10c.,

Modern French chef), from Vulgar Latin capum, from Latin caput “head,” also “leader, chief

person; summit; capital city”

Curiously, both chef and šéf were introduced into their languages in the 19th century

through the same origin, though with a different meaning. The reason being that English

vocabulary had already contained chief and the addition of chef only specified a chief in the

kitchen.

(1) En chef = Cz šéfkuchař

(2) Cz šéf = En chief/boss

(1) En: A new chef is needed in their restaurant. – Cz: Jejich restaurace potřebuje nového

šéfkuchaře.

(2) Cz: Včera jsem se pohádal se svým šéfem. – En: I had an argument with my boss

yesterday.

concurrence (n.) x konkurence (n.)

En – early 15c., “a combination for some purpose, cooperation” (a sense now archaic

or obsolete), from Old French concurrence (14c.) or directly from Medieval Latin concurrentia

“a running together,” from concurrens, present participle of concurrere “to run together,

assemble hurriedly; clash, fight,” in transferred use, “to happen at the same time,” from

assimilated form of com “together” + currere “to run” (from Proto-Indo-European root *kers-

“to run”) (OED).

Sense of “occurrence together in time, coincidence” is from c. 1600. Meaning

“accordance in opinion” is from 1660s (OED).

Cz – 19c., “soutěžení, soupeřící firma apod.,” from Medieval Latin concurrentia

“setkání, souběh,” from Latin concurrere “sbíhat se, utkat se,” from con- + currere “běžet”

(Rejzek, 2015).

42

Interesting development of meanings as the English expression rather suggests

togetherness in comparison to the Czech one, which focuses on rivalry.

(1) Cz konkurence = En competition/rival

(2) En concurrence = Cz souhlas

(3) En concurrence = Cz souběh

(1) Cz: Aby jsi byl nejlepší, nesmíš se bát konkurence. – En: You must not be afraid of

the competition to be the best.

(2) En: The doctor needed my mother’s concurrence. – Cz: Doktor potřeboval souhlas

mojí matky.

(3) En: There was a concurrence of two matches. – Cz: Dva zápasy probíhaly souběžně.

cursive (adj.) x kurzíva (n.)

En – 1784, in reference to writing in which the letters are joined and formed rapidly

without lifting the pen or pencil, from French cursif (18c.), from Medieval Latin cursivus

“running,” from Latin cursus “a running,” from past participle of currere “to run” (from Proto-

Indo-European root *kers- “to run”) (OED).

Greek cursive writing is attested from 160 BC. An older name for it was joining-hand

(1580s) because the successive letters of each word are joined. As a noun, “cursive letters or

writing,” by 1850 (OED).

Cz – 19c., “tiskové ležaté písmo,” from Medieval Latin cursiva “běžné písmo,” from

cursivus “běžný,” from Latin currere “běžet” (Rejzek, 2015).

Czech also uses the term italika, which is a true friend to English italics, however, the

FF kurzíva is utilized more frequently.

(1) En cursive = Cz psací písmo

(2) Cz kurzíva = En italics

(1) En: His cursive handwriting is unreadable. – Cz: Jeho psací písmo je nečitelné.

(2) Cz: Příklady mají být označeny kurzívou. – En: Examples should be in italics.

43

desk (n.) x deska (n.)

En – mid-14c., “table especially adapted for convenience in reading or writing,” from

Medieval Latin desca “table to write on” (mid-13c.), ultimately from Latin discus “quoit,

platter, dish,” from Greek diskos (OED).

The Medieval Latin word is perhaps via Italian desco. Used figuratively of office or

clerical work since 1797. Meaning “a department responsible for a particular subject or

operation at a large organization” is by 1918, probably earlier, though it is not always possible

to tell whether a literal desk is meant or not. Sense of “reception desk at a hotel, etc.” is by

1963. “Desk job,” one that is done at a desk as opposed to at a work-bench or in the field, is

attested by 1900; desk-work “work done at a desk” is by 1826 (OED).

Cz – 14c. Slavic word (Polish - deska, Russian – доска, Serbian and Croatian - daska,

Proto-Slavic – dъska). Most likely from Latin discus “plochá mísa,” from Greek dískos “disk,

kotouč” maybe via Germanic languages (German Tisch “stůl,” and English dish “mísa, jídlo”).

Unexpected use of ъ instead of ь (Rejzek, 2015).

Although Rejzek does not confirm that the Czech term is definitely from Latin discus,

it is considered quite likely. However, the English language preserved the meaning of Medieval

Latin desca, whereas Czech rather focused on the part of the meaning of being flat. Therefore,

the Czech word stands for a thin, often wooden piece of material, but also a record “LP, vinyl,”

which can be related to the Greek dískos. It is important to comment that other Slavic languages

have additional meanings for this word as well, e.g., Russian доска also means “blackboard.”

(1) En desk = Cz stůl

(2) Cz deska = En plank

(3) Cz deska = En record

(4) En information desk = Cz informace

(1) En: I saw him leaving his desk. – Cz: Viděl jsem, jak odchází od stolu.

(2) Cz: Koupil třicet dřevěných desek. – En: He bought thirty wooden planks.

(3) Cz: Dříve jsme si doma pouštěli desky. – En: We used to play records at home.

(4) En: If you have a question, ask at the information desk. – Cz: Pokud máte otázku, tak

se ptejte na informacích.

44

dose (n., v.) x dóza (n.)

En – early 15c., “the giving of medicine (in a specified amount or at a stated time),”

from Old French dose (15c.) or directly from Medieval Latin dosis, from Greek dosis “a portion

prescribed,” literally “a giving,” used by Galen and other Greek physicians to mean an amount

of medicine, from stem of didonai “to give” (from Proto-Indo-European root *do- “to give”)

(OED).

Meaning “quantity of medicine given or prescribed” is from c. 1600. Extended sense,

in reference to anything given to be “swallowed,” literal or figurative, is from c. 1600. Slang

meaning “a case of venereal disease” is by 1914 (OED).

Cz – 20c., “ozdobná schránka s víčkem,” from German Dose, from Dutch doos

“krabička.” Further origin is not certain, probably a metonymic shift “dávka léku” -> “schránka

na lék,“ from Medieval Latin dosis, from Greek dósis “dávka, dar,” from dídomi “dávám

(Rejzek, 2015).

Even though Rejzek is not certain about the etymology of dóza, his explanation of a

metonymic shift is reasonable. Nevertheless, the Czech and English expressions are not

interchangeable despite their probable common origin.

(1) Cz dóza = En box/canister

(2) En dose = Cz dávka

(3) En dose = Cz dávka/porce

(1) Cz: Podáš mi dózu s čajem, prosím? – En: Could you hand me the canister with tea,

please?

(2) En: He took his daily dose of penicillin. – Cz: Dal si svou denní dávku penicilinu.

(3) En: There is a big dose of profanity in his jokes. Cz: Jeho vtipy obsahují velkou porci

vulgarismů.

dress (n., v.) x dres (n.)

En (v.) – c. 1300, “make straight; direct, guide, control; prepare for cooking,” from Old

French dresser, drecier “raise (oneself); address, prepare; lift, raise, hoist; set up, arrange, set

(a table), serve (food); straighten, put right, direct,” from Vulgar Lat in *directiare “make

45

straight,” from Latin directus “direct, straight,” past participle of dirigere “set straight,” from

dis- “apart” + regere “to direct, to guide, keep straight” (from Proto-Indo-European root *reg-

“move in a straight line”) (OED).

En (n.) – c. 1600, “a garment or assemblage of garments,” originally any clothing,

especially that appropriate to rank or to some ceremony; the specific sense of “woman's garment

consisting of a skirt and waist” is recorded by 1630s, with overtones of “made not merely to

clothe but to adorn” (OED).

Cz – 20c., “sportovní úbor,” from English dress “oblečení, šaty,” to dress “obléci,

upravit,” from French dresser “upravit, připravit, napřímit,” from Vulgar Latin directiare, from

Latin directus (Rejzek, 2015).

The verb form of the word was broad in its beginnings. On the other hand, the noun

form has always referred to clothes, though it has altered and does not correspond with the

Czech expression.

(1) Cz dres = En shirt/jersey

(2) En dress = Cz šaty

(3) En dress = Cz oděv/uniforma

(1) Cz: Líbí se mi jejich dres pro novou sezonu. – En: I like their shirt for the new season.

(2) En: She bought a magnificent red dress. – Cz: Koupila si nádherné červené šaty.

(3) En: They danced in a traditional dress. – Cz: Tančili v tradičním oděvu.

eventual (adj.) x eventuální (adj.)

En – 1610s, “pertaining to events,” from French éventuel, from Latin event-, stem of

evenire “to come out, happen, result.” Meaning “ultimately resulting” is by 1823 (OED).

Cz – 19c., from French éventuel “možný,” from Latin eventus “možný, případ, událost,”

from evenire “nastávat, vycházet,” from ex- and venire “přicházet” (Rejzek, 2015).

The Czech word has preserved the meaning of French éventuel, whereas English altered

it at the beginning of the 19c., creating a FF.

46

(1) En eventual = Cz konečný/výsledný

(2) Cz eventuální = En potential

(1) En: The eventual plan was to leave. – Cz: Konečným plánem bylo odejít.

(2) Cz: Eventuální řešení je koupit nové auto. – En: A potential solution is to buy a new

car.

evidence (n.) x evidence (n.)

En – c. 1300, “appearance from which inferences may be drawn,” from Old French

evidence, from Late Latin evidentia “proof,” in classical Latin “distinction, vivid presentation,

clearness” in rhetoric, from stem of Latin evidens “obvious, apparent” (OED).

Meaning “ground for belief” is from late 14c.; that of “obviousness” is from 1660s and

tacks closely to the sense of evident. Legal senses are from c. 1500, when it began to oust

witness. Also “one who furnishes testimony, witness” (1590s) (OED).

Cz – 19c., “vedení záznamů, přehled,” from Latin evidentia, from evidens “zřejmý,

očividný,” from evidere, from ex- + videre “vidět” (Rejzek, 2015).

Though this pair is considered a FF, different words that were derived from the same

Latin origin evident and evidentní are true friends, i.e., they are translated by each other.

(1) En evidence = Cz důkaz

(2) Cz evidence = En records

(3) Cz evidence = En register

(1) En: There was not enough evidence to arrest the gardener. – Cz: Nebylo dostatek

důkazů k zatčení zahradníka.

(2) Cz: Doufám, že si vedete evidenci. – En: I hope that you are keeping records.

(3) Cz: Máte mé jméno v evidenci? – En: Do you have my name in the register?

47

fame (n.) x fáma (n.)

En – early 13c., “character attributed to someone;” late 13c., “celebrity, renown,” from

Old French fame “fame, reputation, renown, rumor” (12c.), from Latin fama “talk, rumor,

report; reputation, public opinion; renown, good reputation,” but also “ill-fame, scandal,

reproach,” from Proto-Indo-European root *bha- “to speak, tell, say” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “pochybná, ústně šířená zpráva,” from Latin fama “pověst, povídání, sláva,”

from fari “mluvit” (Rejzek, 2015).

English has only preserved the meaning of “renown” as it adopted the word rumour

from Old French in the 13c. (OED), whereas the Czech word sláva already existed in the 14c.

(Rejzek, 2015) and the language consequently only needed a new expression for “rumour.”

(1) Cz fáma = En rumour

(2) En fame = Cz sláva

(1) Cz: Tomu nevěř, je to jen fáma. – En: Do not believe it, it is just a rumour.

(2) En: You lose privacy with fame. – Cz: Se slávou ztrácíš soukromí.

gymnasium (n.) x gymnázium (n.)

En – 1590s, “place of exercise,” from Latin gymnasium “school for gymnastics,” from

Greek gymnasion “public place where athletic exercises are practiced; gymnastics school,” in

plural, “bodily exercises,” from gymnazein “to exercise or train,” literally or figuratively,

literally “to train naked,” from gymnos “naked” (OED).

Cz – 18c. “výběrová střední škola,” via Medieval Latin gymnasium from Greek

gymnásion “cvičiště, škola,” initially an open space where young Greek men exercised, from

gymnázo “cvičím (nahý)” (Rejzek, 2015).

A feature of all ancient Greek communities, at first it was merely an open space, later

with extensive facilities and including training for the mind as well as the body. Hence its use

in German from 15c. as a name for “high school” (more or less paralleling a sense also in Latin);

in English it has remained purely athletic. For the “continental high school sense,” English in

48

19c. sometimes used gymnastical as an adjective, gymnasiast for a student (OED). It seems that

Czech followed the same shift of meaning as German.

Interestingly, Cambridge dictionary is aware of the meaning “school” which is present

in other languages and provides a definition “a school in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands

and some other countries that prepares children for university” and an example, suggesting the

word can be utilized carrying this meaning even in English. “She spent a year at a gymnasium

in Heidelburg, Germany (CAD).

(1) Cz gymnázium = En grammar school

(2) En gymnasium = Cz tělocvična

(3) En gymnasium = Cz posilovna

(1) Cz: Moje dcera chodí na gymnázium. – En: My daughter attends a grammar school.

(2) En: All students will gather by the gymnasium. – Cz: Všichni studenti se shromáždí u

tělocvičny.

(3) En: How often do you go to the gym? – Cz: Jak často chodíš do posilovny?

host (n., v.) x host (n.)

En (n.) – late 13c., “person who receives guests,” especially for pay, from Old French

oste, hoste “guest, host, hostess, landlord” (12c., Modern French hôte), from Latin hospitem

(nominative hospes) “guest, stranger, sojourner, visitor (hence also 'foreigner'),” also “host; one

bound by ties of hospitality” (OED).

This appears to be from Proto-Indo-European *ghos-pot-, a compound meaning “guest-

master” (compare Old Church Slavonic gospodi “lord, master,” literally “lord of strangers”),

from the roots *ghos-ti- “stranger, guest, host” and *poti- “powerful; lord.”

Cz – 14c., Slavic word (Polish – gość, Russian – гость, Serbian and Croatian – gost)

Proto-Slavic gostь corresponds to Germanic gastiz (German Gast, English guest) and Latin

hostis “cizinec, nepřítel” from Indo-European ghosti-. The different meaning can be explained

by halving the original “cizinec, příchozí” to “vítaný příchozí - host” and “nevítaný příchozí -

nepřítel” (Rejzek, 2015).

49

This FF is precarious as it concerns a relationship between two people while each

language utilizes the same expression host. However, they refer to the other person in the

relationship. The English expression even carries other meanings that can be confusing for a

Czech speaker. These are “a person who introduces guests and performers, especially on

television or radio,” “a place or organization that provides the space and other necessary things

for a special event” and “a plant or animal that another plant or animal lives on as a parasite”

(CAD).

(1) Cz host = En guest

(2) En host = Cz hostitel (a,b,c)

(3) En host = Cz moderátor

(1) Cz: Když jsme přišli, někteří hosté už byli uvnitř. – En: When we arrived, some guests

were already inside.

(2a) En: A good host will not let you starve. – Cz: Dobrý hostitel vás nenechá hladovět.

(2b) En: The parasite has found a new host. – Cz: Parazit našel nového hostitele.

(2c) En: Qatar will be the host of the next World Cup. – Cz: Katar bude hostitelem příštího

mistrovství světa.

(3) En: Ricky Gervais is her favourite host. – Cz: Ricky Gervais je jejím oblíbeným

moderátorem.

hymn (n.) x hymna (n.)

En – “religious song,” c. 1000, from Old French ymne and Old English ymen, both from

Late Latin hymnus “song of praise,” from Greek hymnos “festive song or ode in praise of gods

or heroes” (also sometimes of mournful songs), used in Septuagint to translate several Hebrew

words meaning “song praising God.” Possibly a variant of hymenaios “wedding song,” from

Hymen, Greek god of marriage or from a Proto-Indo-European root *sam- “to sing” (source

also of Hittite išhamai “he sings,” Sanskrit saman- “hymn, song”). Evidence for the silent -n

dates from at least 1530 (OED).

50

Cz – 14c., Old Czech hymna, jimna, ymna “hymnus, slavnostní liturgický zpěv.” Via

Latin hymnus, from Greek hýmnos “zpěv, píseň, chvalozpěv.” Perhaps related to hymen, which

would indicate original meaning “píseň, jež spojuje” (Rejzek, 2015).

The Czech term hymnus has the same etymology as hymna, the latter being used more

frequently, creating recurrent misunderstandings when encountering the English hymn.

(1) Cz hymna = En anthem

(2) En hymn = Cz chvalozpěv/ hymnus

(3) En hymn = Cz chvála

(1) Cz: Která země má nejlepší hymnu? – En: Which country has the best anthem?

(2) En: The ceremony started with a hymn. – Cz: Obřad začal chvalozpěvem.

(3) En: Her new book is a hymn to the humankind. – Cz: Její nová kniha je chválou na

lidstvo.

ordination (n.) x ordinace (n.)

En – c. 1400, ordinacioun, “divine decree;” early 15c., “arrangement, putting in order,”

also “the act of admitting to holy orders or the Christian ministry” (the main surviving sense),

from Old French ordinacion (12c.) or directly from Latin ordinationem (nominative ordinatio)

“a setting in order, ordinance,” noun of action from past participle stem of ordinare “to put in

order, arrange, dispose, appoint,” from ordo “row, rank, series, arrangement” (OED).

Cz – 20c., “místnost k lékařskému vyšetření,” metonymy for “vyšetření nemocného,

určení léčby.” Older recorded meanings “svěcení kněží, nařízení” (16c.). From Latin

ordination, originally “uspořádní, pořadí, řada,” from ordinare “pořádat, určovat,” from ordo

“řád, řada” (Rejzek, 2015).

As can be analysed from the etymology, the Czech word used to carry the meaning of

today’s English ordination in 16c. However, Czech acquired another term for the ceremony

from svatý (13c.).

(1) Cz ordinace = En consulting room

(2) En ordination = Cz vysvěcení

51

(1) Cz: Její doktor čekal v ordinaci. – En: Her doctor was waiting in the consulting room.

(2) En: Ordination is typical of catholic church. – Cz: Vysvěcení je typické pro katolickou

církev.

pasta (n.) x pasta (n.)

En – 1874, “a generic name for Italian dough-based foods such as spaghetti, macaroni,

etc.,” but not common in English until after World War II, from Italian pasta, from Late Latin

pasta “dough, pastry cake, paste,” from Greek pasta “barley porridge,” probably originally “a

salted mess of food,” from neuter plural of pastos (adj.) “sprinkled, salted,” from passein “to

sprinkle,” from Proto-Indo-European root *kwet- “to shake” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “polotuhá těstovitá hmota,” via German Paste, from Italian pasta “těsto,

kaše,” from Greek páste, pastá “ječná kaše,” from pásso “sypu,” it probably reflects the

preparation of porridge (Rejzek, 2015).

Quite unexpectedly, these terms share the same origin. The English language adopted

the term pasta for an Italian meal as well as paste for a thick substance unlike Czech, which

only accepted the latter.

(1) En pasta – Cz těstoviny

(2) Cz pasta – En toothpaste

(3) Cz pasta – En paste

(1) En: I would like to eat some pasta today. – Cz: Dnes bych si dal nějaké těstoviny.

(2) Cz: Zubař mu doporučil jinou pastu. – En: His dentist recommended a different

toothpaste.

pension (n., v.) x penzion (n.)

En – late 14c., pensioun, “payment for services,” especially “a regular reward or annual

payment out of a will or benefice” (early 14c., in Anglo-Latin), from Old French pension

“payment, rent” (13c.) and directly from Latin pensionem (nominative pensio) “a payment,

52

installment, rent,” from past-participle stem of pendere “to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay,”

from Proto-Indo-European root *(s)pen- “to draw, stretch, spin” (OED).

Meaning “regular payment to a person in consideration of past service” is from 1520s,

hence “periodic payment made to a person retired from service on account of age or disability”

Meaning “boarding house, boarding school” is attested from 1640s, from a sense in French

based on the meaning “money paid for board,” and in English it is usually in reference to places

in France or elsewhere on the continent (OED).

Cz – 20c., “druh pohostinského zařízení,” penzionát “výchovný ústav poskytující

zaopatření” (19c.). From French pension “penzion, denní poplatek za ubytování a stravu,” from

Middle Czech penze “důchod, denní poplatek za stravu v hotelu,” from Latin pensia “splátka,

plat,” from pendere, from pensus “vážit, platit” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) En pension = Cz důchod/penze

(2) Cz penzion = En guest house

(1) En: Should people receive equal pension when they retire? – Cz: Měli by lidé dostávat

stejný důchod po tom, co přestanou pracovat?

(2) Cz: Budeme ubytovaní v penzionu. – En: We are going to be accommodated at a

guesthouse.

pneumatic (adj.) x pneumatika (n.)

En – 1650s, “moved or played by means of air; of or pertaining to air or gases,” from

Latin pneumaticus “of the wind, belonging to the air” from Greek pneumatikos “of wind or air”

(which is attested mainly as “of spirit, spiritual”), from pneuma (genitive pneumatos) “the

wind,” also “breath.” Earlier was pneumatical (c. 1600) (OED).

Cz – 19c., pneumatický “vzduchový,” through modern European languages from Latin

pneumaticus, from Greek pneumatikós, from pneuma “vání, vítr, dech,” from pnéo “dýchám,

vanu” (Rejzek, 2015).

Czech pneumatika was created from Czech pneumatický, which originates from Greek

similarly to the English expression. However, the English lexicon has contained the word tyre

since 15c. (OED), so there was no need to invent a new term.

53

(1) Cz pneumatika = En tyre

(2) En pneumatic = Cz pneumatický/vzduchový

(1) Cz: Před zimou budu potřebovat výměnu pneumatik. – En: I will need to get my tyres

changed before the winter.

(2) En: Have you heard of pneumatic brakes? – Cz: Slyšel si o pneumatických brzdách?

preservative (n., adj.) x prezervativ (n.)

En – late 14c., preservatif, “tending to keep safe, sound, or free from harm,” from Old

French preservatif and directly from Medieval Latin praeservativus, from stem of Late Latin

praeservare “guard beforehand” (OED).

The noun is from early 15c., “a preservative medication; substance that preserves

corpses,” also generally “anything that preserves or maintains.” The sense of “chemical added

to foods to keep them from rotting” is from 1875 (OED).

Cz – 19c., “mužský antikoncepční prostředek,” from French préservatif “ochranný,”

from preserver “chránit,” from Late Latin praeservare, from prae- + servare “hlídat, pozorovat,

chránit” (Rejzek, 2015).

The Czech word konzervant was introduced in 19c. as well. It originates from Latin

conservare (Rejzek, 2015). Therefore, the difference is that both languages utilized the Latin

expression for a different meaning, opting for dissimilar Latin prefixes.

(1) En preservative = Cz konzervant

(2) Cz prezervativ = En kondom

(1) En: Producers often add artificial preservatives into their products. – Cz: Výrobci do

svých produktů často přidávají umělé konzervanty.

(2) Cz: Prezervativ nezaručuje absolutní ochranu. – En: Condoms do not guarantee

absolute protection.

54

promotion (n.) x promoce (n.)

En – c. 1400, promocioun, “advancement in rank, honour, or position,” from Old French

promocion “election, promotion” (14c., Modern French promotion) and directly from Latin

promotionem (nominative promotio) “advancement, a moving forward,” noun of action from

past-participle stem of promovere “move forward, advance” (OED).

From early 15c. as “advancement of a cause; assistance, help, support, encouragement.”

The meaning “advertising, publicity” first recorded 1925.

Cz – 19c., “slavnostní udílení akademické nebo vědecké hodnosti,” from Late Latin

promotio “povýšení,” from Latin promovere, from promotus “povyšovat, pohybovat kupředu,”

from pro- + movere “hýbat, pohybovat” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) Cz promoce = En graduation ceremony

(2) En promotion = Cz povýšení

(3) En promotion = Cz propagace

(4) En promotion = Cz podpora/povzbuzení

(1) Cz: V červenci nás čekají promoce. – En: Graduation ceremony awaits us in July.

(2) En: If you work hard, you will get a promotion. – Cz: Pokud budeš tvrdě pracovat,

budeš povýšen.

(3) En: Their product needs promotion. – Cz: Jejich produkt potřebuje propagaci.

(4) En: Promotion of violence is unacceptable. – Cz: Podpora násilí není přijatelná.

public (n., adj.) x publikum (n.)

En (n.) – 1610s “the general body of people constituting a nation, state, or community;

the nation or state,” from public (adj.); the meaning “people in general” is from 1660s. In public

“in open view, publicly, before the people at large” is attested from c. 1500 (OED).

En (adj.) – late 14c., publike, “open to general observation,” from Old French public

(c. 1300) and directly from Latin publicus “of the people; of the state; done for the state,” also

“common, general, of or belonging to the people at large; ordinary, vulgar,” and as a noun, “a

commonwealth; public property.” This Latin word was altered (probably by influence of Latin

55

pubes “adult population, adult”), from Old Latin poplicus “pertaining to the people,” from

populus “people” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “obecenstvo, veřejnost,” via German Publikum from Latin publicum “obec,

veřejnost, obecní jmění,” from publicus “obecní, veřejný,” which relates to populus “lid,

lidstvo” (Rejzek, 2015).

Though the Czech expression also carried the meaning “veřejnost,” it is no longer in

use. The Slavic language has contained the word veřejný since the 16c. (Rejzek, 2015), which

is probably the reason for publikum only being resorted to mean “audience.”

(1) Cz publikum = En audience/spectators

(2) En public = Cz veřejnost

(1) Cz: Jeho show měla skvělé publikum. – En: His show had a great audience.

(2) En: Some people do not like being in public. Cz: Někteří lidé neradi chodí na veřejnost.

receipt (n.) x recept (n.)

En – late 14c., receit, “act of receiving;” also “statement of ingredients in and formula

for making a potion or medicine”; from Anglo-French or Old North French receite “receipt,

recipe, prescription” (c. 1300), altered (by influence of receit “he receives,” from Vulgar Latin

*recipit) from Old French recete. This is from Medieval Latin recepta “thing or money

received,” in classical Latin “received,” from recipere “to hold, contain” (OED).

Cz – 15c., “předpis,” from Medieval Latin receptum, from recipere “přijmout.” This

word was used by the pharmacist to confirm that they prepared the medicine according to a

prescription. Meaning “kuchyňký předpis” arose later (Rejzek, 2015).

Though English adopted the word with two meanings, the one that is common in Czech

has ceased to exist in the Germanic language and shifted to recipe, which was introduced in

1580 from Latin recipe “take!” (this or that ingredient), second person imperative singular of

recipere (OED).

(1) Cz recept = En recipe

(2) Cz lékařský recept = En prescription

56

(3) En receipt = Cz stvrzenka

(4) En receipt = Cz příjem/tržba

(1) Cz: Dala by si mi recept na čokoládový dort? – En: Could you give me a recipe for

chocolate cake?

(2) Cz: Doktor mi předepsal recept na léky. – En: My doctor gave me a prescription for

drugs.

(3) En: Can I get a receipt? – Cz: Mohu dostat stvrzenku?

(4) En: Our economy suffers from low export receipts. Cz: Naše ekonomie trpí nízkými

tržbami z vývozu.

(to) supply (n., v.) x suplovat (v.)

En (v.) – late 14c., “to help, support, maintain,” also “fill up, make up for,” from Old

French soupplier “fill up, make full” (Modern French suppléer) and directly from Latin

supplere “fill up, make full, complete,” from assimilated form of sub “up from below” + plere

“to fill” (from Proto-Indo-European root *pele- “to fill”). The meaning “furnish, provide” first

recorded 1520s (OED).

Cz – 18c., “náhradně vyučovat za jiného učitele, nahrazovat,” from German supplieren,

from Latin supplere “doplnit, znovu naplnit,” from sub- + plere “plnit” (Rejzek, 2015).

While the English expression has a broader meaning, the Czech one is mainly connected

to a substitution of a teacher.

(1) Cz suplovat = En (to) substitute/(to) stand in for

(2) En (to) supply = Cz zásobovat/dodávat

(3) En (to) supply = Cz doplnit

(1) Cz: Budete dnes suplovat místo paní Nové. – En: You will stand in for Mrs Nová today.

(2) En: They supply us with food. – Cz: Dodávají nám jídlo.

(3) En: Supply the missing word. – Cz: Doplňte chybějící slovo.

57

tour (n., v.) x túra (n.)

En (n.) – c. 1300, “a turn, a shift on duty,” from Old French tor, tourn, tourn “a turn,

trick, round, circuit, circumference,” from torner, tourner “to turn.” Sense of “a continued

ramble or excursion” is from 1640s (OED).

Cz – 19c., via German Tour, from French tour “okružní cesta, procházka,” originally

“obrat otočení,” from Latin tornus “soustruh, dláto,” from Greek tórnos “kružidlo, řezbářský

nůž” (Rejzek, 2015).

Cz turné – 19c., “organizovaná cesta s veřejným vystoupením na různých místech,”

from French tournée “okružní cesta,” from tourner “obracet se, otáčet se” (Rejzek, 2015).

Although both terms (tour, túra) originate from French tour, they carry different

meanings and can never be used as a translation of each other.

(1) Cz túra = En hike/trek

(2) En tour = Cz dovolená/výlet

(3) En tour = Cz prohlídka

(4) En tour = Cz turné

(1) Cz: O víkendu půjdeme na túru do hor. – En: We will go on a mountain hike at the

weekend.

(2) En: My friends and I will go on a tour of Europe. – Cz: Půjdeme s kamarády na

dovolenou po Evropě.

(3) En: I do not like sightseeing tours. – Cz: Nemám rád prohlídky památek.

(4) En: The Beatles have never been on a tour in the Czech Republic. – Cz: Beatles nikdy

nebyli na turné v České republice.

table (n., v.) x tabule (n.)

En (n.) – late 12c., “board, slab, plate,” from Old French table “board, square panel,

plank; writing table; picture; food, fare” (11c.), and late Old English tabele “writing tablet,

gaming table,” from Germanic *tabal (source also of Dutch tafel, Danish tavle, Old High

German zabel “board, plank,” German Tafel). Both the French and Germanic words are from

Latin tabula “a board, plank; writing table; list, schedule; picture, painted panel,” originally

58

“small flat slab or piece” usually for inscriptions or for games (source also of Spanish tabla,

Italian tavola), of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle “on the board” (OED).

En (n.) – the sense of “piece of furniture with the flat top and legs” first recorded c.

1300 (the usual Latin word for this was mensa; Old English writers used bord. Especially the

table at which people eat, hence “food placed upon a table” (c. 1400 in English). The meaning

“arrangement of numbers or other figures on a tabular surface for convenience” is recorded

from late 14c. (as in table of contents, mid-15c.) (OED).

Cz (n.) – 15c., tabulka, tabulový, tabulator. From Latin tabula “prkno, deska,” of

uncertain origin (Rejzek, 2015).

The expressions originate from the Latin word tabula, which carried many meanings as

can be seen above. This particular example is even more intriguing as one of the meanings of

tabula was “board,” which is a term that is an English equivalent of the Czech tabule. However,

this English word is polysemous and the Latin one rather signified “a thin, flat piece of cut

wood or other hard material, often used for a particular purpose” (CAD), which corresponds

with the Czech deska, prkno. Sense of a “table upon which public notices are written” is from

mid-14c (OED).

(1) En table = Cz stůl

(2) Cz tabule = En board

(3) En table = Cz tabulka

(1) En: There was a lot of food on the table. – Cz: Na stole byla spousta jídla.

(2) Cz: Nechtěla jít k tabuli. – En: She did not want to come to the board.

(3) En: Please, have a look at the table. – Cz: Prosím, podívejte se na tuto tabulku.

transparent (adj.) x transparent (n.)

En – early 15c., from Medieval Latin transparentem (nominative transparens), present

participle of transparere “show light through,” from Latin trans “across, beyond; through” +

parere “come in sight, appear; submit, obey.” Figurative sense of “easily seen through” is first

attested 1590s. The attempt to back-form a verb transpare (c. 1600) was not successful (OED).

59

Cz – 19c., “plocha látky či papíru s heslem,” transparentní “průhledný, čitelný,” from

German Transparent from French transparent “průsvitný,“ from Medieval Latin transparens

“prosvítající,” from transparere “prosvítat,” from Latin trans + parere “objevovat se, ukazovat

se” (Rejzek, 2015).

Though Czech uses the adjective transparentní in the same way as English transparent,

it also created a noun, unlike the Germanic language.

(1) Cz transparent = En banner

(2) En transparent = Cz průhledný/transparentní

(3) En transparent = Cz jasný

(1) Cz: Fanoušci si na zápas přinesli transparenty. – En: Fans brought banners to the

match.

(2) En: Peter wore a transparent T-shirt. – Cz: Peter na sobě měl průhledné triko.

(3) En: His instructions were transparent. – Cz: Jeho instrukce byly jasné.

5.2 Partial semantic false friends

acute (adj.) x akutní (adj.)

En – late 14c., originally of fevers and diseases, “coming quickly to a crisis” (opposed

to chronic), from Latin acutus “sharp, pointed,” figuratively “shrill, penetrating; intelligent,

cunning,” past participle of acuere “to sharpen” (literal and figurative), from Proto-Indo-

European root *ak- “be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce.” Also used of humors (early 15c.).

Meaning “ending in a sharp point” is from 1560s; sense of “sharp or penetrating in intellect” is

from 1580s. Of feelings, pains, etc., “intense,” 1727. As a noun, early 15c. of fevers; c. 1600 as

“acute accent” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “naléhavý, prudký,” from Latin acutus “ostrý, špičatý,” from acuere “ostřit.”

In Latin of diseases, e.g., morbus acutus compared to morbus chronicus (Rejzek, 2015).

The English term carries several meanings. The one that is similar to Czech akutní is

related to medicine, said of diseases and patients. The other meanings are expressed with

different words in Czech.

60

(1) Cz akutní = En urgent/pressing

(2) Cz akutní = En acute

(3) En acute = Cz kritický

(4) En acute = Cz ostrý

(5) En acute = Cz bystrý

(6) En acute = Cz citlivý

(1) Cz: Mohu si půjčit váš mobil? Je to akutní. – En: Can I borrow your phone? It is urgent.

(2) Cz: V čekárně jsou dva akutní pacienti. – En: There are two acute patients in the

waiting room.

(3) En: The situation on the job market is acute. – Cz: Situace na pracovním trhu je

kritická.

(4) En: We learned about acute angles today. – Cz: Dnes jsme se učili o ostrých úhlech.

(5) En: John will help you, he is quite acute. – Cz: John ti pomůže, je docela bystrý.

(6) En: I do not have a very acute sense of smell. – Cz. Nemám moc citlivý čich.

argument (n.) x argument (n.)

En – early 14c., “statements and reasoning in support of a proposition or causing belief

in a doubtful matter,” from Old French arguement “reasoning, opinion; accusation, charge”

(13c.), from Latin argumentum “a logical argument; evidence, ground, support, proof,” from

arguere “make clear, make known, prove.” Sense passed through “subject of contention”

(1590s) to “a quarrel” (by 1911), a sense formerly attached to argumentation (OED).

Cz – 16c., “důvod, důkaz,” from Latin argumentum, literally “co slouží k objasnění,

dokázání,” from arguere “objasňovat, dokazovat,” which is connected to Latin argentum

“stříbro” (Rejzek, 2015).

The meaning of the English term expanded at the beginning of the 20th century, adding

a sense of “a quarrel,” which is prevalent in the contemporary language. However, the older

meaning “reasoning,” which is similar to the Czech one, has been preserved.

(1) En argument = Cz hádka

(2) Cz argument = En argument

61

(1) En: They had an argument yesterday. – Cz: Včera měli hádku.

(2) Cz: S tvými argumenty nikdy nevyhraješ. – En: You will never prevail with your

arguments.

brigade (n.) x brigáda (n.)

En – subdivision of an army, 1630s, from French brigade “body of soldiers” (14c.),

from Italian brigata “troop, crowd, gang,” from brigare “to brawl, fight,” from briga “strife,

quarrel,” perhaps of Celtic, from Proto-Indo-European root gwere “heavy.” Or perhaps from

Germanic (OED).

Cz – 19c., “vojenský či pracovní útvar, dobrovolná krátkodobá práce” via German

Brigade, from French brigade, Italian brigata “tlupa, bojová skupina,” briga “boj, potyčka.”

Meaning “pracovní skupina; dobrovolná veřejně prospěšná činnost” from Russian бригада

(Rejzek, 2015).

Both terms share the Italian origin, though the word might have deeper roots as

suggested by OED. English and Czech share the meaning of “a subdivision of an army”, though

the Slavic language added the meaning of a “voluntary short-term job,” which is a frequent use

of the expression in the language.

(1) Cz brigáda = En part-time job

(2) En brigade = Cz brigáda

(3) En fire brigade = Cz hasiči

(1) Cz: Petr hledá brigádu. – En: Petr is looking for a part-time job.

(2) En: He joined the 4th brigade. – Cz: Vstoupil do 4. Brigády.

(3) En: They called the fire brigade to deal with the flames. – Cz: Zavolali hasiče, aby

uhasili ten požár.

canister (n.) x kanystr (n.)

En – late 15c., “basket,” from Latin canistrum “wicker basket” for bread, fruit, flowers,

etc., from Greek kanystron “basket made from reed,” from kanna “cane”. It came to mean

62

“small metal receptacle” (1711) through influence of unrelated can (n.). As short for canister

shot, it is attested from 1801, so called for its casing (OED).

Cz – 20c., “nádoba na benzin apod. s uzávěrem.” Meaning of today from English

canister, from Latin canistrum “košík,” from Greek kánastron (Rejzek, 2015).

Though Rejzek (2015) suggests that the meaning of Czech kanystr has been adopted

from English canister, it rarely refers to the same container in both languages. The probable

one being a plastic canister x plastový kanystr.

(1) Cz kanystr = En petrol can

(2) En canister = Cz dóza

(3) En canister = Cz nádoba/bomba

(4) En canister = Cz kanystr

(1) Cz: Dones mi kanystr s benzinem, prosím. – En: Bring me a petrol can, please.

(2) En: Do you keep your coffee in a canister? – Cz: Máte kávu v dóze?

(3) En: Policemen came in with a tear-gas canister. – Cz: Policisté přišli s bombou slzného

plynu.

(4) En: It is not a good idea to keep petrol in a plastic canister. – Cz: Uchovávat benzin v

plastovém kanystru není dobrý nápad.

control (n., v.) x kontrola (n.)

En (n.) – 1580s, “act of keeping under authority and regulation, fact of checking and

directing action,” from control (v.). Meaning “a check, restraint” is from 1590s. Meaning “a

standard of comparison in scientific experiments” is by 1857, probably from German

Controleversuche. Airport control tower is from 1920; control-room is from 1897. Control

freak “person who feels an obsessive need to have command of any situation” is by 1969

(OED).

En (v.) – early 15c., countrollen, “to check the accuracy of, verify; to regulate,” from

Anglo-French contreroller “exert authority,” from Medieval Latin contrarotulus “a counter,

register,” from Latin contra “against” + rotulus, diminutive of rota “wheel”. The word

apparently comes from a medieval method of checking accounts by a duplicate register.

63

Cz (n.) – 19c., kontrola, via German Kontrolle, from French contróle, from Middle

French contrerôle “protiseznam” from Latin contra “kontra” and role “svitek, seznam”

(Rejzek, 2015).

Although English borrowed the term from French and Czech from German, the origin

of the word is the same, Latin contra + rota/role. It might be considered a surprise that the

Czech expression only entered the lexicon in the 19th century, whereas the English noun

appeared in the 16th. From the perspective of FFs, the main problem arises when the Czech term

carries the meaning “check”, which is often incorrectly translated, even though OED states that

control carried this meaning when it was first introduced into English.

(1) Cz kontrola = En check

(2) En control = Cz ovladač

(3) En control = Cz ovládání/kontrola

(4) En control = Cz kontrolka/signál. dioda

(1) Cz: Nikdo nečekal, že bude kontrola pokojů. – En: Nobody expected that they would

check the rooms.

(2) En: He opened the door with his remote control. – Cz: Otevřel dveře dálkovým

ovladačem.

(3) En: He lost control of his car. – Cz: Ztratil kontrolu nad svým autem.

cylinder (n.) x cylindr (n.)

En – late 14c., chilindre, “portable sundial in the shape of a cylinder with a conical top,”

from Old French cylindre (14c.) and directly from Latin cylindrus “roller, cylinder,” from Greek

kylindros “a cylinder, roller, roll,” from kylindein “to roll,” which is of unknown origin.

From 1560s as “a solid figure which may be conceived as generated by the revolution

of a rectangle about one of its sides.” From 1690s as “chamber of a steam engine in which the

force of the steam is exerted on the piston.” By 1849 as “part of a revolver which contains the

chamber for the cartridges.” By 1878 as “cylindrical record for a phonograph” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “válec, skleněný kryt lampy, tvrdý pánský klobouk.” Via German Zylinder

from Latin cylindrus “válec,” from Greek kýlindros from kylíndo ”válím se” (Rejzek, 2015).

64

The prevalent use of Czech cylindr refers to a top hat. On the contrary, the English term

cylinder is mainly utilized when talking about a solid figure. Even though the Czech equivalent

in geometry is válec, the word cylindr can be applied as well, meaning that it is a partial

semantic FF.

(1) Cz cylindr = En top hat

(2) En cylinder = Cz válec/cylindr

(3) En cylinder = Cz válec

(4) Cz cylindr = En chimney

(1) Cz: Má na sobě krásný cylindr. – En: He is wearing a beautiful top hat.

(2) En: We had a geometry class about cylinders. – Cz: Měli jsme hodinu geometrie o

válcích.

(3) En: The vehicle had a six-cylinder engine. – Cz: Vozidlo mělo šestiválcový motor.

(4) Cz: Omylem jsem rozbil cylindr mojí lampy. – En: I accidentally broke the chimney of

my lamp.

drug (n., v.) x droga (n.)

En – late 14c., drogge (early 14c. in Anglo-French), “any substance used in the

composition or preparation of medicines,” from Old French droge “supply, stock, provision”

(14c.), which is of unknown origin. Perhaps it is from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German

droge-vate “dry barrels,” or droge waere, literally “dry wares” (but specifically drugs and

spices), with first element mistaken as indicating the contents, or because medicines mostly

consisted of dried herbs. Specific application to “narcotics and opiates” is by late 19c., though

the association of the word with “poisons” is from 1500s (OED).

Cz – 19c., via German Droge, from French drogue “koření, lékárnické zboží,

chemikálie,” then perhaps from Middle Dutch droge “suchý.” Arabic origin of the word is not

as likely (Rejzek, 2015).

Both languages adopted the meaning “narcotics” in the 19c. The English expressions

has been connected to medicine since the 14c., whereas the Czech lexicon has already contained

the term lék since the 14c. (Rejzek, 2015), therefore only needed a new word for “narcotics.”

65

(1) Cz droga = En drug

(2) En drug = Cz lék

(1) Cz: Mladiství často užívají drogy. – En: Teenagers often do drugs.

(2) En: He needs to take drugs to stay alive. – Cz: Musí brát léky, aby přežil.

harmonica (n.) x harmonika (n.)

En – 1762, coined by Ben Franklin as the name for a glass harmonica, from Latin fem.

of harmonicus; modern sense of “reeded mouth organ” is 1873, American English, earlier

harmonicon (1825) (OED).

Cz – 19c., from English harmonica, from Latin harmonicus “souladný” (Rejzek, 2015).

There are several types of a musical instrument which are labeled harmonika in Czech.

In the Slavic language, in order to distinguish the instruments, they are usually referred to as

harmonika + an adjective, whereas in English, they have specific names.

(1) Cz (foukací) harmonika = En harmonica/mouth organ

(2) En accordion = Cz (tahací) harmonika/akordeón

(3) En concertina = Cz malá šestihraná harmonika

(1) En: You need to have your lungs in a good condition to play harmonica. –

Cz: Potřebuješ mít plíce v dobré kondici, aby si mohl hrát na harmoniku.

(2) En: Could you pass me the accordion? – Cz: Podal bys mi tu harmoniku?

journal (n.) x žurnál (n.)

En – mid-14c., “book of church services,” from Anglo-French jurnal, from Old French

jornel, “a day; time; a day’s travel or work” (12c., Modern French journal), properly “that

which takes place daily,” noun use of adjective meaning “daily, of the day,” from Late Latin

diurnalis “daily,” from Latin dies “day,” from Proto-Indo-European root *dyeu- “to shine”

(OED).

66

The meaning “book for inventories and daily accounts” is from late 15c. in English (14c.

in French); that of “personal diary” is c. 1600, also from a sense developed in French. Meaning

“daily publication” is from 1728. Classical Latin used diurnus for “of the day, by day,” and also

as a noun, “account-book, day-book” (OED).

Cz – 19c., “ilustrovaný časopis,” via German Journal, from French journal “deník,

časopis,” from jour “den,” from Latin diurnus “denní,” from dies “den” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) Cz žurnál = En magazine/journal

(2) En journal = Cz deník

(1) Cz: Publikovali mu článek v novém žurnálu. – En: They have published his article in a

new journal.

(2) En: Girls often write into their journals. – Cz: Holky si často píšou do svých deníků.

(to) realize (v.) x realizovat (v.)

En – 1610s, “bring into existence, make or cause to become real,” also “exhibit the

actual existence of,” from French réaliser “make real” (16c.), from real “actual.” The sense of

“understand clearly, comprehend the reality of” is recorded by 1775. Sense of “obtain, amass,

bring or get into actual possession” (money, profit, etc.) is from 1753 (OED).

En real – early 14c., “actually existing, having physical existence (not imaginary);”

mid-15c., “relating to things” (especially property), from Old French reel “real, actual,” from

Late Latin realis “actual” (OED).

Cz reálný – 17c., “skutečný, věcný,” source of realizovat, from Late Latin realis, from

res “věc” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) En (to) realize = Cz uvědomit si

(2) En (to) realize = Cz naplnit se/realizovat

(3) En (to) realize = Cz zrealizovat

(4) En (to) realize = Cz uplatnit/realizovat se

(5) Cz realizovat = En (to) implement/(to) put into practice

67

(1) En: He has realized his mistake. – Cz: Uvědomil si svou chybu.

(2) En: She realized her dreams. – Cz: Realizovala své sny.

(3) En: We need to realize your idea. – Cz: Musíme zrealizovat tvůj nápad.

(4) En: Tom realized his potential. – Cz: Tom uplatnil svůj potenciál.

(5) Cz: Změny budou realizovány od pondělí. – En: Changes will be implemented on

Monday.

salad (n.) x salát (n.)

En – late 14c., salade, “raw herbs cut up and variously dressed,” from Old French salade

(14c.) and Medieval Latin salata, both from Vulgar Latin *salata, literally “salted,” short for

herba salata “salted vegetables” (vegetables seasoned with brine, a popular Roman dish), from

fem. past participle of *salare “to salt,” from Latin sal (genitive salis) “salt” (from Proto-Indo-

European root *sal- “salt”) (OED).

Cz – 15c., through Middle High German salat from Latin (in)salata “v soli a octě

naložená zelenina či jiné jídlo,” literally “nasolená,” from (in)salare “(na)solit,” from Italian

sale “sůl,” from Latin sal. Meaning “hlávkový salát” based on German Kopfsalat as it is a

common ingredient of a salad (Rejzek, 2015).

Dutch salade, German Salat, Swedish salat, Russian salat are from Romanic languages.

Later extended to dishes composed of meat chopped and mixed with uncooked herbs and

variously seasoned (chicken salad, etc.). In reference to the raw herbs and vegetables

themselves, in U.S. it is colloquially limited to lettuce (by 1838) (OED).

(1) Cz salát = En lettuce

(2) En salad = Cz salát

(1) Cz: Donesla by si mi ze zahrady trošku salátu? – En: Can you get me some lettuce from

the garden?

(2) En: Do you eat potato salad at Christmas? – Cz: Jíte na Vánoce bramborový salát?

68

5.3 Chance false friends

chest (n.) x čest (n.)

En – Old English cest “box, coffer, casket,” usually large and with a hinged lid, from

Proto-Germanic *kista (source also of Old Norse and Old High German kista, Old Frisian,

Middle Dutch, German kiste, Dutch kist), an early borrowing from Latin cista “chest, box,”

from Greek kistē “a box, basket,” from Proto-Indo-European *kista “woven container” (OED).

Cz – 14c., Old Czech čest. Slavic word (Polish cześć, Russian честь, Croatian čast, Old

Slavonic čьstь, Proto-Slavic čьstь derived from Indo-European *klei-t- “hledět na něco, mít

zřetel,” comparable in form with Old Indian cítti “myšlení, chápání” (Rejzek, 2015).

The meaning of the English word was extended to “thorax, trunk of the body from the

neck to the diaphragm” c. 1400, replacing breast (n.) in that sense, on the metaphor of the ribs

as a “box” for the heart. Meaning “place where public money is kept” (common chest, mid-

15c.) was extended to “public funds” (1580s). “Chest of drawers” is from 1670s (OED).

(1) En chest = Cz hruď/prsa

(2) En chest = Cz truhla

(3) Cz čest = En honour/privilege

(1) En: The gorilla was beating its chest. – Cz: Gorila se bouchala do hrudi.

(2) En: There was no treasure in the chest. – Cz: V truhle nebyl žádný poklad.

(3) Cz: Potkat se s prezidentem je velká čest. – En: It is a great honour to meet the

president.

plot (n., v.) x plot (n.)

En (n.) – late Old English plot “small piece of ground of defined shape,” a word of

unknown origin. The sense of “ground plan,” and thus “map, chart, survey of a field, farm, etc.”

is from 1550s. Plat is a Middle English collateral form. The meaning “a secret, plan, fully

formulated scheme” (usually to accomplish some evil purpose) is from 1580s, probably by

accidental similarity to complot, from Old French complot “combined plan,” itself a word of

unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter “to roll into a ball,” from pelote

69

“ball.” The meaning “set of events in a story, play, novel, etc.” is from 1640s. Plot-line (n.)

“main features of a story” is attested by 1940 (OED).

Cz – 14c., Slavic word (Polish – płot, Serbian and Croatian – plot). Proto-Slavic ploъ is

derived from plesti “plést” (Rejzek, 2015).

Cz plést – 14c., Proto-Slavic plesti from Indo-European plekt- which is also a source of

German flechten, Latin plectere is of the same meaning, from plek- comes Latin plicare “svíjet,

skládat” and Greek pléko “pletu, motám” (Rejzek, 2015).

The English expression has carried various meanings over its existence compared to the

Czech one which has hardly changed.

(1) En plot = Cz zápletka/děj

(2) Cz plot = En fence

(3) En plot = Cz tajný plán/spiknutí

(4) En plot = Cz parcela/políčko

(1) En: I enjoy films with unpredictable plots. – Cz: Mám rád filmy s nepředvídatelným

dějem.

(2) Cz: Zahrady byly odděleny plotem. – En: The gardens were separated by a fence.

(3) En: Their evil plot was very well planned. Cz: Jejich spiknutí bylo velmi dobře

naplánováno.

(4) En: The farmer refused to sell his plot of land. Cz: Farmář odmítl prodat své políčko.

pole (n., v.) x pole (n.)

En (n.) – “stake, staff,” late Old English pal “stake, pole, post,” a general Germanic

borrowing (Old Frisian and Old Saxon pal “stake,” Middle Dutch pael, Dutch paal, Old High

German pfal, Old Norse pall) from Latin palus “a stake,” from Proto-Indo-European *pakslo-,

suffixed form of root *pag- “to fasten.” Later specifically “a long, slender, tapering piece of

wood” (OED).

Cz – 14c., Slavic word (Polish pole, Russian поле, Serbian поље, Croatian and Old

Slavonic polje). Proto-Slavic *pol’e from Indo-European *polh-io, a derivation of *pelh-, *pleh

“plochý, rovný, široký,” which is also a source of Old Swedish fala “rovina” (Rejzek, 2015).

70

(1) Cz pole = En field

(2) En pole = Cz tyč/kůl/sloup

(3) En pole = Cz pól

(1) Cz: Zítra budeme pracovat na poli. – En: We will work in the field tomorrow.

(2) En: We need one more pole to build it properly. – Cz: Potřebujeme ještě jednu tyč,

abychom to dostavěli.

(3) En: Magnets have two magnetic poles. – Cz: Magnety mají dva magnetické póly.

police (n.) x police (n.)

En – 1530s, “the regulation and control of a community” (similar in sense to policy);

from Middle French police “organized government, civil administration” (late 15c.), from Latin

politia “civil administration,” from Greek polis “city” (OED).

Until mid-19c. used in England for “civil administration;” application to “administration

of public order, law-enforcement in a community” (1716) is from French (late 17c.), and

originally in English referred to France or other foreign nations (OED).

Cz – 14c., Slavic word (Polish policá, Croatian polica, Serbian полица), Proto-Slavic

polica is derived from polъ “deska.” Meaning comparable to Old Icelandic fiol “prkno,” might

be a derivation of Indo-European *(s)pelH “štípat, oddělit,” thus originally “odštěpený kus

dřeva” (Rejzek, 2015).

(1) En police = Cz policie

(2) Cz police = En shelf

(1) En: If you do not stop, I will call the police. – Cz: Pokud nepřestaneš, tak zavolám

policii.

(2) Cz: Z police spadly hrníčky. – En: Some cups fell off the shelf.

71

severe (adj.) x sever (n.)

En – 1540s, from French severe (12c., Modern French sévère) or directly from Latin

severus “serious, grave, strict, austere,” which is probably from Proto-Indo-European root

*segh- “to have, hold,” on the notion of “steadfastness, toughness.” From 1660s with reference

to styles or tastes; from 1725 of diseases (OED).

Cz – 19c., Slavic word, in Old Czech sporadically “jaro,” (Russian and Serbian север,

Croatian sjever, Old Slavonic sěverъ “severní vítr”). Proto-Slavic sěverъ is related to

Lithuanian šiauré “sever,” šiaurys “severák,” German Schauer “liják, prudká přeháňka, děs,”

English shower “přeháňka, sprcha,” Latin caurus “severozápadní vítr.” Source is probably

Indo-European *(s)keh uer-o- “severní vítr,” whose further etymology is uncertain (Rejzek,

2015).

As Rejzek (2015) suggests, Czech sever originates from the same Proto-Indo-European

root as English shower unlike severe, which was created from a different root.

(1) Cz sever = En north

(2) En severe = Cz vážný/kritický

(3) En severe = Cz přísný/tvrdý

(4) En severe = Cz drsný/krutý

(5) En severe = Cz prostý/strohý

(1) Cz: Musíte jít na sever. – En: You need to go north.

(2) Cz: He suffers from a severe illness. – Cz: Trpí vážnou nemocí.

(3) En: He avoided a severe punishment. – Cz: Vyhnul se tvrdému trestu.

(4) En: The winter was severe last year. – Cz: Loni byla krutá zima.

(5) En: His style is quite severe. – Cz: Jeho styl je poněkud prostý.

slope (n., v.) x sloup (n.)

En (n.) – 1610s, “inclination,” from slope (v.). Meaning “an incline, a slant (of ground)”

is from 1620s. Derogatory slang meaning “oriental person” is attested from 1948 (OED).

En (v.) – 1590s, “go in an oblique direction,” from earlier adjective meaning “slanting”

(c. 1500), probably from Middle English aslope (adv.) “on the incline” (late 15c.), from Old

72

English *aslopen, past participle of aslupan “to slip away,” from a- “away” + slupan “to slip.”

From 1709 as “to be in a slanting position;” transitive sense “place in a slanting position” is

from c. 1600. (OED)

Cz – 14c., Old Czech s(t)lúp, Slavic word (Slovak stĺp, Polish słup Russian столп,

Serbian стуб, Croatian stup, Old Slavonic stlъpъ). Proto-Slavic stlъpъ corresponds to

Lithuanian stulpas “sloup, stožár, tyč,” Latvian stulps, from Indo-European *stlpo-, from stel

“postavit, připravit, which is also a source of German stellen “postavit” and Greek stéllo

“stavím do řady” (Rejzek, 2015).

Though the Indo-European stel was used by many languages to create their expression,

English adopted its equivalents from Latin columna and Medieval Latin pilare (OED).

(1) Cz sloup = En pillar/column/post

(2) En slope = Cz svah

(3) En slope = Cz sklon

(1) Cz: Most byl podporován čtyřmi sloupy. – En: The bridge was supported by four pillars.

(2) En: We were skiing on a steep slope. – Cz: Lyžovali jsme na prudkém svahu.

(3) En: There was a slope of fifty degrees. – Cz: Byl tam padesáti stupňový sklon.

step (n., v.) x step (n.)

En (n.) – Old English steppa (Mercian), stæpe, stepe (West Saxon) “stair, act of

stepping,” from the source of step (v.). From late Old English as “degree on a scale.” Figurative

meaning “action which leads toward a result” is recorded from 1540s. In dancing, from 1670s.

Meaning “type of military pace” is from 1798. Step by step indicating steady progression is

from 1580s. To follow in (someone’s) steps is from mid-13c (OED).

En (v.) – Old English stæppan (West Saxon) “take a step,” from West Germanic *stap-

“tread” (source also of Old Frisian stapa, Middle Dutch, Dutch stappen, Old High German

stapfon, German stapfen “step”), from Proto-Indo-European root *stebh- “post, stem; to

support, place firmly on”; source also of Old Slavonic stopa “step, pace,” (OED).

Cz – 19c., loaned from Russian or Ukrainian степ, whose origin is uncertain. The

expression penetrated to West European languages as well (Rejzek, 2015).

73

(1) En step = Cz krok (a,b)

(2) En step = Cz schod

(3) Cz step = En steppe

(4) Cz step = En tap dance

(1a) En: She took a step towards the window. – Cz: Udělala krok k oknu

(1b) En: How many steps do I have to follow? – Cz: Kolik kroků musím splnit?

(2) En: Be careful, there is a step. – Cz: Dávej pozor, je tam schod.

(3) Cz: Stepi mají hodně trávy. – En: There is a lot of grassland in steppes.

(4) Cz: Její dcera chodí na step. – En: Her daughter attends tap dance lessons.

tuna (n.) x tuna (n.)

En – 1881, from American Spanish (California) tuna, from Spanish atun, from Arabic

tun, borrowed, probably in Spain, from Latin thunnus “tunny” (OED).

Cz – 19c., from Old Czech tuna “bečka, sud,” loaned from Old High German tunna,

from Medieval Latin tunna, tonna “velká nádoba,” probably of Celtic origin. Initially a unit of

volume, then, in the 19c., a unit of weight (Rejzek, 2015).

Even though the words are spelt identically, they do not have anything in common. The

English translation for the Czech tuna is even trickier as the Cambridge dictionary provides

three possible meanings of a ton:

a) a metric ton “a unit of weight equal to 1,000 kilograms”

b) a long ton “a unit of weight equal to 1,016 kilograms”

c) a short ton “a unit of weight equal to 907 kilograms” (CAD).

This suggests that the English ton and Czech tuna are also FFs.

(1) Cz tuna = En metric ton/tonne

(2) En tuna = Cz tuňák

(1) Cz: Náklaďák přepravil tunu odpadu. – En: The lorry transported a tonne of waste.

(2) En: Some people dislike eating tuna. – Cz: Někteří lidé nemají rádi tuňáka.

74

6 Discussion

The practical part is divided into three parts, gathering similar types of FFs together.

Discussion follows a similar pattern, starting with the biggest group – full semantic FFs.

The total number of analysed pairs of FFs in this thesis is fifty. Out of those, thirty-one

(62%) have been classified as full semantic FFs. This confirms a suggestion from Chapter

2.1.1, which states that languages that have a common origin tend to have more semantic FFs

than chance FFs. Even though Czech is a Slavic language and English a Germanic one, they

both come from the Indo-European language family.

The following table (Tab. 1) demonstrates in which century each of the full semantic

FFs was introduced into Czech and English. There is a noticeable difference as the English

terms have been added gradually since the 10th century, with the process starting to slow down

in the 19th century as the English lexicon was already quite rich and developed. On the contrary,

most (61%) of the Czech expressions were added in the 19th century, which was the period of

the National Revival. During that era, the language was undergoing a huge reform, including

its lexical system which grew through extensive borrowing, calquing and neologising.

Table 1

Full semantic FFs – time of acquisition of the words

This difference in the time of acquisition is rather important as it allowed the English

terms to change, widen or narrow their meaning throughout the centuries. In comparison, the

Czech terms have not altered as much after they were loaned.

Table 2 showcases the origin of presented full semantic FFs. This group of FFs is

based on their common origin, which is reflected in the table. As can be seen from the chart

below (Tab. 2), most of the examples have their origin in Latin. However, there are some

dissimilarities. Almost three quarters (71%) of the selected English instances were loaned

from Latin via French and Old French compared to the Czech ones, whose predominant

borrowings (42%) came directly from Latin. This difference can be easily explained with the

help of the facts quoted in the theoretical part, i.e., that French significantly influenced

Century 10th – 13th 14th 15th 16th – 18th 19th 20th

English 8 7 6 8 2 0

Czech 0 3 3 2 19 4

75

English after the Norman Conquest in 1066. On the other hand, Latin and German were

prevalent in Czech lands, hence the amount of Latin loans.

Table 2

Full semantic FFs – origin

OF/F > L G/En > L L any > Gre F

English 22 0 1 7 1

Czech 5 5 13 7 1

Apart from Latin, seven (23%) expressions from each language have their origin in

Greek. These were borrowed via several languages, e.g., pneumatic (L), pasta (I), hymn (OF),

dóza (G).

The second class is represented by partial semantic FFs. It consists of eleven (22%)

examples, which follow a similar pattern of time acquisition to the preceding group. The only

noticeable difference is that these items, as suggested by Table 3, do not include any English

borrowings acquired earlier than in the 14th century, even though Table 1 showcases that eight

(26%) full semantic FFs were loaned in that time.

Table 3

Partial semantic FFs – time of acquisition of the words

Table 4 below offers comparable percentages to Table 2, which deals with full

semantic FFs. Strikingly, there are two instances of uncertain origin. These are drug x droga

and brigade x brigáda. Regarding the former pair, both Rejzek (2015) and OED suggest that

the term might originate in Middle Dutch. English and Czech loaned the expression in the

14th, respectively 19th century via OF/F. English added the meaning of “narcotics” in the 19th

century as well, while preserving the previous one, stressing the importance of the time when

a word is loaned as it influences which meanings are adopted.

Century 14th 15th – 18th 19th 20th

English 6 5 0 0

Czech 0 3 7 1

76

Table 4

Partial semantic FFs – origin

OF/F > L G/En > L L any > Gre Uncertain

English 5 0 2 2 2

Czech 0 4 3 2 2

Besides mentioning the instances that are of uncertain origin, Table 4 also highlights

the dominance of Latin, which is an origin of seven (64%) out of the eleven analysed partial

semantic FFs. Interestingly, two Czech expressions that are represented in the table (Tab. 4)

above entered the lexicon via English, however, they became FFs for different reasons. Czech

harmonika widened its meaning to refer to multiple musical instruments, whereas Czech

kanystr narrowed its sense only to a “petrol can.”

Finally, the third group that has been analysed consists of eight (16%) chance FFs out

of the total of fifty pairs. Although this class is represented by the smallest sample, it provides

the discussion with vital statistics. As can be seen from Table 5, the English expressions are

spread in a similar way to the semantic FFs. However, five (63%) of the Czech chance FFs

were introduced in the 14th century, unlike the majority (74%) of the semantic FFs, which

were acquired in the 19th century and later. In Table 5, only one of the three instances of the

Czech words appearing in the 19th century is of Proto-Slavic origin (sever).

Table 5

Chance FFs – time of acquisition of the words

Century 13th 14th 16th 19th

English 1 2 4 1

Czech 0 5 0 3

77

Table 6 showcases a diversity of origins of the English expressions and a lack of Latin

ones in both languages compared to the semantic FFs. Majority (75%) of the selected Czech

chance FFs have a Proto-Slavic origin. On the other hand, their English FFs originated in Latin,

Greek, Old English or are of uncertain origin. These pairs support the claim that chance FFs

are rather accidental and do not share the etymological background.

Table 6

Chance FFs – origin

Overall, it can be stated that full and partial semantic FFs between Czech and English,

which cover 84% of the analysis, follow a similar pattern regarding their origin and the time of

acquisition. They are chiefly of Latin origin (71%) and the English ones were introduced at

various times of the development of the language, rarely after the 18th century, whereas the

majority (74%) of the Czech ones appeared in the 19th century and later. On the other hand,

chance FFs represent a mixture of origins considering the English expressions, while the Czech

ones are mostly of the Proto-Slavic one.

PS any > L Uncertain Other

English 0 3 1 4

Czech 6 1 1 0

78

7 Conclusions

The goal of this thesis was to raise awareness of false friends between the Czech

language and the English language, study the etymology of the presented examples and

explain various meanings that these expressions carry. The work also aimed to record the

frequency of different types of FFs between the selected languages.

The practical part utilizes the studied theory, which divides the analysis into three

groups. Full semantic FFs form the biggest one as it contains 62% of the total of fifty pairs.

The majority (74%) of these pairs have their origin in Latin, with 23% originating in Greek.

The following group of partial semantic FFs consists of eleven (22%) instances. These FFs

also chiefly originate in Latin (64%) and Greek (18%).

Chance FFs is the category with the fewest examples (16%). Unlike the previous

groups, this one is not dominated by Latin roots. Even though 38% of the English expressions

are of the said origin, the rest is spread among other languages. In order to generalize, a

bigger sample size is necessary. Considering the Czech terms, three quarters (75%) of them

have origin in Proto-Slavic. This might be attributed to the shortness of old Slavic words,

which increases the chances for accidental sameness with existing short terms in English.

The practical part also suggests that the time of acquisition of words is an important

factor of the creation of FFs. Whereas the English expressions were mainly introduced from

the 10th to the 18th century and shifted their meanings throughout these years, the Czech ones

were loaned mostly in the 19th century, adopting additional/fewer/different meanings.

Each pair has been analysed individually. The author lists possible meanings of every

word and presents suitable translations of these meanings, further demonstrating them on

examples in full sentences. Thanks to this section, the thesis raises awareness of common FFs

between Czech and English and provides a helpful guide on their interpretation.

I am glad to have chosen this topic for my diploma thesis as my work allowed me to

understand the subject in more detail and to put together a useful list for Czech learners of

English, although it is not as extensive. I must stress the importance of Chamizo-Domínguez

and his book Semantics and pragmatics of false friends (2008), which served as the main

source for understanding this phenomenon as well as Josef Hladký’s contribution, whose

Zrádná slova v angličtině has been a great inspiration. The thesis has deepened my interest in

FFs and motivated me to keep studying it in the future.

79

List of references

Print sources

Baugh, A.C., & Cable, T. (1951). A history of the English language (4th ed.). Routledge.

Bázlik, M., & Ambrus, P. (2009). Legal English and its grammatical structure. Wolters

Kluwer ČR, a.s.

Burnley, D. (1992). The history of the English language. Longman Publishing.

Čejka, M. (1992). Česká lexikologie a lexikografie. Masaryk University.

Chamizo-Domínguez, P. J. (2008). Semantics and pragmatics of false friends. Routledge.

Corrie, M. (2006). Middle English – Dialects and diversity. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The

Oxford history of English (pp. 86-119). Oxford University Press.

Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge encyclopedia of the English language. Cambridge

University Press.

Crystal, D. (1988). The English language (2nd ed.). Penguin Books.

Crystal, D. (1987). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. Cambridge University Press.

Cuřín, F., Koudela, B., Mátl, A., & Svěrák, F. (1964). Vývoj českého jazyka a dialektologie

(3rd ed.). Státní pedagogické nakladatelství.

Hladký, J. (1996). Zrádná slova v angličtině (2nd ed.). Státní pedagogické nakladatelství.

Hladký, J., & Chovanec, J. (1999). Úvod do studia anglického jazyka (2nd ed.). Masaryk

University.

Irvine, S. (2006). Beginnings and transitions: Old English. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The

Oxford history of English (pp. 32-60). Oxford University Press.

Kavka, S. (2007). Past and present of the English language. University of Ostrava, Faculty of

Arts.

Komárek, M. (2012). Dějiny českého jazyka. Host.

Lamprecht, A., Šlosar, D., & Bauer, J. (1977). Historický vývoj češtiny. Státní pedagogické

nakladatelství.

80

Leith, D. (1996). The origins of English. In D. Graddol, D. Leith & J Swann (Eds.), English,

history, diversity and change (pp. 95-135). Routledge.

McMahon, A. (2006). Restructuring Renaissance English. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The

Oxford history of English (pp. 147-177). Oxford University Press.

Mugglestone, L. (2006). English in the nineteenth century. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The

Oxford history of English (pp. 274-304). Oxford University Press.

Němec, I. (1968). Vývojové postupy české slovní zásoby. Academia.

Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Prentice Hall Europe.

Porák, J. (1979). Chrestomatie k vývoji českého jazyka (13.-18. století). Státní pedagogické

nakladatelství.

Rambousek, J. (2012). False friends (to be) revisited. In J. Zehnalová, O. Molnár & M. Kubánek

(Eds.), Teaching translation and interpreting skills in the 21st century (pp. 45-51).

Palacký University.

Rejzek, J. (2015). Český etymologický slovník (4th ed.). LEDA.

Smith, J. (2006). From Middle to Early Modern English. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The Oxford

history of English (pp. 120-146). Oxford University Press.

Svartvik, J., & Leech, G. (2006). English: One tongue, many voices. Palgrave Macmillan.

Upton, C. (2006). Modern regional English in the British Isles. In L. Mugglestone (Ed.), The

Oxford history of English (pp. 305-333). Oxford University Press.

Online sources

Canright, S. (2009, April 13). The “Canali” and the first Martians. NASA.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Canali_and_Firs

t_Martians.html

Gutknecht, C. (2001). Translation. In M. Aronoff & J. Rees-Miller (Eds.), The handbook of

linguistics (pp. 692-703). Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470756409

81

Tierney, D. (2012, October 9). Should the U.S. help Iran save face on its nuclear program?

The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/should-the-

us-help-iran-save-face-on-its-nuclear-program/263357/

Umansky, N. (2015, June 24). 12 most embarrassing mistranslations in history. ODDEE.

https://www.oddee.com/item_99365.aspx

Online dictionaries

Online etymology dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/

Cambridge dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Oxford learner’s dictionary. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

82

Appendices

Appendix 1: Table of the analysed full semantic false friends

English Czech

accord akord

actual aktuální

apartment apartmá

approbation aprobace

billion bilión

caution kauce

cellar cela

chef šéf

concurrence konkurence

cursive kurzíva

desk deska

dose dóza

dress dres

eventual eventuální

evidence evidence

fame fáma

gymnasium gymnázium

host host

hymn hymna

ordination ordinace

pasta pasta

pension penzion

pneumatic pneumatika

preservative prezervativ

promotion promoce

public publikum

receipt recept

(to) supply suplovat

tour túra

table tabule

transparent transparent

83

Appendix 2: Table of the analysed partial semantic false friends

English Czech

acute akutní

argument argument

brigade brigáda

canister kanystr

control kontrola

cylinder cylindr

drug droga

harmonica harmonika

journal žurnál

(to) realize realizovat

salad salát

Appendix 3: Table of the analysed chance false friends

English Czech

chest čest

plot plot

pole pole

police police

severe sever

slope sloup

step step

tuna tuna