Regrettably, this list of “cognates” – related words – is of no overwhelming interest to those who don’t know German unless they are curious about the way language works.
Etymologists have found relationships between these words:
| English | xxx | German |
| as | als | |
| camp | Kampf | |
| clean | klein | |
| cloth | Kleid | |
| craft | Kraft | |
| crank | krank (connection: bend, be weak) | |
| dapper | tapfer | |
| ditch | Teich | |
| draft – draught | Tracht | |
| enamel | Schmalz (via Old French) | |
| gather | (er)gattern | |
| glad | glatt | |
| idle | eitel | |
| life | Leib | |
| loath | leid | |
| kite | Kauz | |
| match | (ge)mach | |
| ordeal | Urteil | |
| smack | (Ge)schmack | |
| snout | Schnauze | |
| stead | Stadt | |
| teach | Zeichen | |
| thatch | Dach | |
| tiding | Zeitung | |
| token | Zeichen | |
| vat | Fass | |
| whole | heil | |
| wiseacre | Weissager |
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
Does that mean Heil Hitler would be tranlated as Whole Hitler?
No.
Try again.
Wait, I would say Yes and no! Heil is a cognate of “whole” but also of “hail” and “hale” and “heal-(thy)”. To be whole is to be healthy, and vice versa. As a greeting it means “be well.” Strangely enough, “hello” is not related, so it need not remind anyone of Hitler.
I thought “klein” was cognate to “small” or “little”. “A Clean Night Music”?
Your list of cognates is fascinating. Some have an obvious relationship, some are a little far fetched, but I don’t doubt them. Is your linguist daughter none of the sources ? RK
You are right. All this comes from Monica. I did this because today is her birthday.
comment-reply@wordpress.com11/13/09 8:30
I’ll have more respect for the Beau Brummels I encounter, now that I know the cognates for dapper.
I presume however that German has as many ‘faux amis’ as French with English – though ‘falsche Freunde’ isn’t quite as common a term: where the words are very similar or identical but have quite different meanings. I have a very thick book of such F/E pairings.