you know what they are cognate words?
The cognate word derives from the Latin cognathus, whose meaning is “relative, related, connected or similar”. The prefix “co”, which means “together”, plus “born”, which means “born”, is the noun we use to name the words that were “born together”. When the subject is Portuguese, we say that cognate words are those that have the same root or that have the same etymological origin as another word.
Certain phonetic changes in certain words make it difficult to recognize some cognate words. To make sure that a word actually establishes a kinship relationship with another, it is necessary to observe its historicity, since linguistic changes can erase some traces. Note some examples of cognate words that, at first glance, are not all that similar:
Domain: from latin domain, means the right to property, competence, influence, power or superiority.
Sunday:from latin dominicus, means the "day of the Lord", that which is reserved for rest and prayer, therefore, a day that is property of the Lord.
Condominium:from latin condominium, means the domain that belongs to more than one person or to more than one nation.
Domestic: from latin domesticus, means what lives or is created inside the home, that is, what is of domain just familiar.
Other cognates suffered less changes over time and, for this reason, preserved their phonetic identity, being more easily recognized. Look at the examples:
Color, decorate, decoration, tint, blush, dye, colorless, tricolor, coloring etc.
Law, legal, illegal, legalize, legislate, legislation, legislature, legislature etc.
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, birth, stillbirth etc.
Therefore, we can say that cognate words are those that belong to the same family. But beware: not every word, when it is similar to another, can be considered cognate, as some are called "false cognate", as is the case with words hunger and infamous, which, despite being similar, do not have any semantic connection.
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/palavras-cognatas.htm
