False Friends in Slavic Languages

• is a complete false friend in Bosnian and Croatian.
• is a true friend in Bulgarian.
• does not have all its Slovenian meanings in Belarusian, Czech, Kashubian, Polish, Russian, Slovak and Ukrainian.
• has additional meanings in Polish, Russian and Serbian.

• The Slovenian meaning ‘world’ is shared by Belarusian свет, Bosnian svijet, Bulgarian свят, Croatian svijet, Czech svět, Kashubian swiat, Polish świat, Russian свет, Serbian свет, Slovak svet and Ukrainian світ.
• The Slovenian meaning ‘holy’ is shared by Bulgarian свят and Serbian свет.
• The meaning ‘light’ (not present in Slovenian ‘svet’) is attested in Bulgarian светлина and Russian свет.
• The meaning ‘council’ (not present in Slovenian ‘svet’) is attested in Bosnian svjet, Croatian svjet, Croatian savjet, Croatian svijet and Serbian свет.
• The meaning ‘very far/long’ (not present in Slovenian ‘svet’) is attested in Polish świat.

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