False Friends in Slavic Languages

• is a complete false friend in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian.
• does not have all its Lower Sorbian meanings in Belarusian, Bulgarian, Czech and Slovenian.
• has additional meanings in Belarusian.

• The Lower Sorbian meaning ‘grandmother’ is shared by Belarusian бабка, Bulgarian бабка, Czech babička, Polish babka, Russian бабка and Slovenian babica.
• The Lower Sorbian meaning ‘woman’ is shared by Bulgarian бабка.
• The Lower Sorbian meaning ‘midwife’ is shared by Slovenian babica.
• The meaning ‘old woman’ (not present in Lower Sorbian ‘babka’) is attested in Belarusian бабка, Polish babka, Polish babki and Russian бабка.
• The meaning ‘rough boletus a mushroom’ (not present in Lower Sorbian ‘babka’) is attested in Belarusian бабка.
• The meaning ‘a sort of cake’ (not present in Lower Sorbian ‘babka’) is attested in Belarusian бабка, Polish babka, Polish babki and Ukrainian бабка.

NB: No information yet for Bosnian, Croatian, Kashubian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovak and Upper Sorbian.