海角大神

False friends (faux amis) are a staple of Linguistics 101: pairs of words from two languages that seem identical or related but have different meanings. For example, the English gift has positive connotations, but its false friend Gift (鈥減oison鈥� in German) means something else. Some of us might be confused to find poisson (鈥渇ish鈥�) on a French menu, even though it has nothing to do with poisons. Words like these are often closely related in intriguing ways.

Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of teaching at a linguistics summer school in Greece, a special place for me as a linguist and philosopher. The site of the summer school, Crete, is home to one of the earliest civilizations, that of the Minoans, whose script continues to defy decipherment. During a stopover in Athens, I was awed when visiting Lykeon, where Aristotle taught. As a sign there says, 鈥淚t is difficult to appreciate, from the scant archaeological remains on this site, that this spot is one of the most significant places in the history of mankind.鈥� Indeed.

Back to words: One of my colleagues pointed out that everyday Greek uses words that have what might be called 鈥渘oble cousins鈥� in English.

On a highway, you will see the sign 茅虫辞诲辞蝉 (鈥渆xit鈥�), while its English cousin exodus is a more elevated expression with often biblical connotations.

When your sink is not draining, who are you going to call? The 测诲谤补耻濒颈办贸蝉 (鈥減lumber鈥�) and not, as you might have thought, a fancy scientific expert in 鈥渉ydraulics.鈥�

In the supermarket while searching the dairy section, you might see bottles of milk labeled 驳谩濒补 and containers of cream called kr茅ma 驳谩濒补ktos. These are the cousins of the English words galaxy and galactic. Galaxy is what we call the Milky Way!

When people in Greece make a deal or reach an agreement, they achieve a 蝉测尘辫丑辞苍铆补. Seeing eye to eye is a 鈥渟ymphony,鈥� which is a beautiful thought.

And when it鈥檚 time to travel home, you look for a metaphor谩 pros aerodr贸mio, transportation to the airport. In English, 鈥渕etaphors鈥� transport meanings but don鈥檛 do the mundane work of moving goods or people.

English has borrowed an impressive number of words. Scientific language in particular is based on terms from Greek and Latin. By becoming scientific, these words acquired the patina of elevated discourse. But their origins were often more mundane, and in fact, modern Greek still shows the humble everyday uses of quite a few such words.

Guest columnist Kai von Fintel is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.聽In a Word 肠辞濒耻尘苍颈蝉迟听Melissa聽Mohr is on sabbatical.