Doublet (linguistics)

While doublets may be synonyms, the characterization is usually reserved for words that have diverged significantly in meaning:[1] for example, the English doublets pyre and fire are distinct terms with related meanings that both ultimately descend from the Proto-Indo-European word *péh₂ur.

Words with similar meanings but subtle differences contribute to the richness of modern English, and many of these are doublets.

In English this is most common with words which can be traced back to Indo-European languages, which in many cases share the same proto-Indo-European root, such as Romance beef and Germanic cow.

However, in some cases the branching is more recent, dating only to proto-Germanic, not to PIE; many words of Germanic origin occur in French and other Latinate languages, and hence in some cases were both inherited by English (from proto-Germanic) and borrowed from French or another source – see List of English Latinates of Germanic origin.

Since English is unusual in that it borrowed heavily from two distinct branches of the same language family tree – Germanic and Latinate/Romance – it has a relatively high number of this latter type of etymological twin.

More recent borrowings are often distinguished by maintaining the French spelling and pronunciation, e.g. chef (vs. chief), pâté (vs. paste), fête (vs. feast).

Several of these examples also reflect changes that occurred after Old French which caused the possible environments of [s] to be greatly reduced.

Literary readings are used in some formal settings (recitation, some loanwords and names) and originate from other, typically more prestigious varieties.

The words píosa and cuid (both meaning "part" or "portion") form an Irish doublet, both from the Proto-Celtic root *kʷesdis.

In Japanese, doublets are most significant in borrowings from Chinese, and are visible as different on'yomi (Sino-Japanese readings) of kanji characters.

However, due to consistent Chinese writing, with cognate morphemes represented by the same character, the etymological relation is clear.

Meanwhile, Hindi has also directly borrowed (tatsama) the Sanskrit word vyāghra, meaning 'tiger' in a more literary register.

Because Spanish is itself a Romance language already with many native words of Latin ancestry (transmitted orally, so with natural sound changes),[9] the later written borrowing created a number of doublets.

Adding to this was Spain's conquest by the Moors in the Middle Ages, leading to another vector for creating doublets (Latin to Arabic to Spanish).

Examples of this are:[10] In addition to native doublets, Welsh has borrowed extensively over the centuries, particularly from Latin and English.