False Friends in Slavic Languages

• is a complete false friend in Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech, Kashubian, Polish, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian.
• is a true friend in Bosnian and Croatian.
• has additional meanings in Macedonian and Serbian.

• The Slovenian meaning ‘devil, demon’ is shared by Bosnian vrag, Croatian vrag, Macedonian враг and Serbian враг.
• The meaning ‘enemy’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vrag’, translated as ‘sovražnik’) is attested in Belarusian вораг, Bulgarian враг, Kashubian warg, Macedonian враг, Polish wróg, Russian враг and Ukrainian ворог.
• The meaning ‘murderer’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vrag’, translated as ‘morilec’) is attested in Czech vrah and Slovak vrah.
• The meaning ‘slyboots, smartie’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vrag’, translated as ‘prekanjenec, zvitorepec’) is attested in Macedonian враг and Serbian враг.

NB: No information yet for Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian.