Cognate
A term from linguistics, meaning
they show in the similarity of their form that they derive from
a common parent. Thus Spanish
Some cognates are less obvious because more distant. Go back
far enough into the pedigrees of the Indo-European languages, and English "I,"
French "je," German "Ich," Spanish "yo," Italian "io," and Latin
"ego" all appear related.
From the Guide to Literary Terms by Jack Lynch.
Please send comments to jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
Note: This guide is still in the early stages of development. Bear with me.