False Friends of the Slavist/Upper Sorbian

• is a complete false friend for about 283.5 million native speakers of Russian, Slovak, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian;
• has additional meanings in the language of about 77 million native speakers of Belarusian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovenian.

map

• The Upper Sorbian meaning ‘November’ is shared by Blr. лістапад, Ukr. листопад, Pol. listopad, Cz. listopad, Sln. listopad.
• The meaning ‘October’ (oktober, winowc) is attested in Cr. listopad.
• The meaning ‘falling of leaves’ (lisćopad) is attested in R. листопад, Blr. лістапад, Ukr. листопад, Cz. listopad, Slk. listopad, Sln. listopad, Cr. listopad, Bo. listopad, Sb. листопад, Mk. листопад, Bg. листопад.

• is a complete false friend for about 250 million native speakers of Russian.

map

• The Upper Sorbian meaning ‘Sorb’ is unique.
• The meaning ‘Serb’ (južny Serb) is attested in R. серб.

• is a complete false friend for about 250 million native speakers of Russian.

map

• The Upper Sorbian meaning ‘Sorbian (Lusatian)’ is unique.
• The meaning ‘Serbian’ (serbiski) is attested in R. сербский.

• is a complete false friend for about 28 million native speakers of Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Macedonian;
• is a true friend for about 350.5 million native speakers of Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Polish, Kashubian, Lower Sorbian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Bulgarian.

map

• The Upper Sorbian meaning ‘Slovenian’ is shared by R. словенский, Blr. славенскі, Ukr. словінський, Pol. słoweński, Ka. słowensczi, LSo. słowjeński, Sln. slovenski, Cr. slovenski, Bo. slovenski, Bg. словенски.
• The meaning ‘Slovak’ (słowakski) is attested in Cz. slovenský, Slk. slovenský.
• The meaning ‘Slavonic’ (słowjanski) is attested in Sb. словенски, Mk. словенски.

More Upper Sorbian-Slavonic false friends:

• R. Leszczyński. Hornjoserbsko-polski i polsko-hornjoserbski słownik pozdatnych ekwiwalentów. Górnołużycko-polski i polsko-górnołużycki słownik ekwiwalentów pozornych. Warszawa 1996.

For additional information on false friends, see the On-line hypertext bibliography by Daniel Bunčić and Ryszard Lipczuk.

You can help!

Have you spotted any mistakes on this page? Would you like to add information about false friends from your own experience, or help enhance this project in other respects?

Just click the "edit this page" button at the top of this page — it’s easier than you think! If you need advice, see the editing help for this book.