948: wink, wince, and vacillate Jul 14, 2017

Any time you are trying to learn a foreign language, false cognates, i.e. words that look as though they are related but are not, can be quite a nuisance. For English speakers, cognates can make it much easier to understand the words of languages like French or German because there is so much shared vocabulary and similar linguistic history, but some terms, like the German verb 'winken' meaning 'to wave' and not 'to wink' (which would be 'blinzeln') might be confusing. In this case however, 'wink' comes from the Old English 'wincian' which is related to 'winken', and also the English word 'wince'. That word that is not Germanic, and originates from the Old French 'guenchir' (turn aside') and in Middle English meant, 'kick restlessly'. This Romantic connection also extends to the word 'vacillate' which now means to change opinions often, but initially meant just to sway in a physical sense. It would be misleading perhaps then to call 'winken' a false cognate, as there are etymological relations, but that is not especially useful for someone who just wants to learn another language.