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In Spanish conejo (rhymes with coney) is rabbit. Interesting how we’re still slowly loosing cognates from our shared latin roots. Edit: I may be assuming an in

In Spanish conejo (rhymes with coney) is rabbit. Interesting how we’re still slowly loosing cognates from our shared latin roots. Edit: I may be assuming an incorrect pronunciation of coney. Even as a native speaker English sucks.

lostcolony 5y ago
You are; coney in English generally has a long e sound at the end (like saying the letter 'e'), not a long a sound (like saying the letter 'a'), so it wouldn't be the same or rhyme with the first two syllables of conejo (which has the long a sound in the second syllable). Tangent, but in line with what others have commented, American English tends to pronounce the first syllable with a long o (like saying the letter 'o'), whereas British tends to pronounce it with a long oo sound (like the vowel sound in the the word 'food'). I've never heard it pronounced with a short 'u' sound (an 'uh' sound), but others intimated they either have, or have heard it pronounced close to it, which is interesting.
- tuukkah 5y ago
  > conejo (which has the long a sound in the second syllable). The Spanish word is pronounced more like "koh-neh-hoh" (or [ko'neho] in IPA), no "long a" ([ei] in IPA) there. The English "long vowels" (diphthongs really: a combination of two vowel sounds) would be written with two letters in Spanish (and IPA).
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > The English "long vowels" (diphthongs really: a combination of two vowel sounds) would be written with two letters in Spanish (and IPA). Three out of five are diphthongs. "Long E" is /i/. "Long u" is /u/.
    - tuukkah 5y ago
      Good clarification. Depending on the variant of English, "long e", "long u" and "long a" may or may not sound like diphthongs. They can be analysed as /ij/ and /uw/. Wikipedia puts them under "potential diphthongs". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong#English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong#English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology#Vowels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology#Vowels
cryptonector 5y ago
https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/conejo https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/conejo
radarsat1 5y ago
Even in Dutch they use the word konijn, I actually had no idea that "coney" was an English cognate for that word until reading this thread, I love learning these associations as making connections like this really helps in learning new languages. As an aside, Spain itself was named after rabbits, which I find hilarious: http://www.ctspanish.com/rabbits.htm http://www.ctspanish.com/rabbits.htm
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > in Dutch they use the word konijn, I actually had no idea that "coney" was an English cognate for that word This is of limited value in learning English; at least in America, I wouldn't expect the man on the street to know the word at all.
  - el-salvador 5y ago
    Same here. I knew about Coney Island but I had never made the connection between Coney and Rabbit, I thought it was just a name. Curiously there is another Isla Conejo / Rabbit Island near here too. From Wikipedia: It may be because when the Dutch people arrived in New Netherland, this island had many rabbits, so they named it 'Konijn Island', which became 'Coney Island', using the archaic term for rabbit in English.

lostcolony 5y ago

You are; coney in English generally has a long e sound at the end (like saying the letter 'e'), not a long a sound (like saying the letter 'a'), so it wouldn't be the same or rhyme with the first two syllables of conejo (which has the long a sound in the second syllable). Tangent, but in line with what others have commented, American English tends to pronounce the first syllable with a long o (like saying the letter 'o'), whereas British tends to pronounce it with a long oo sound (like the vowel sound in the the word 'food'). I've never heard it pronounced with a short 'u' sound (an 'uh' sound), but others intimated they either have, or have heard it pronounced close to it, which is interesting.

tuukkah 5y ago
> conejo (which has the long a sound in the second syllable). The Spanish word is pronounced more like "koh-neh-hoh" (or [ko'neho] in IPA), no "long a" ([ei] in IPA) there. The English "long vowels" (diphthongs really: a combination of two vowel sounds) would be written with two letters in Spanish (and IPA).
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > The English "long vowels" (diphthongs really: a combination of two vowel sounds) would be written with two letters in Spanish (and IPA). Three out of five are diphthongs. "Long E" is /i/. "Long u" is /u/.
  - tuukkah 5y ago
    Good clarification. Depending on the variant of English, "long e", "long u" and "long a" may or may not sound like diphthongs. They can be analysed as /ij/ and /uw/. Wikipedia puts them under "potential diphthongs". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong#English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong#English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology#Vowels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phonology#Vowels

cryptonector 5y ago

https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/conejo https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/conejo

radarsat1 5y ago

Even in Dutch they use the word konijn, I actually had no idea that "coney" was an English cognate for that word until reading this thread, I love learning these associations as making connections like this really helps in learning new languages. As an aside, Spain itself was named after rabbits, which I find hilarious: http://www.ctspanish.com/rabbits.htm http://www.ctspanish.com/rabbits.htm

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> in Dutch they use the word konijn, I actually had no idea that "coney" was an English cognate for that word This is of limited value in learning English; at least in America, I wouldn't expect the man on the street to know the word at all.
- el-salvador 5y ago
  Same here. I knew about Coney Island but I had never made the connection between Coney and Rabbit, I thought it was just a name. Curiously there is another Isla Conejo / Rabbit Island near here too. From Wikipedia: It may be because when the Dutch people arrived in New Netherland, this island had many rabbits, so they named it 'Konijn Island', which became 'Coney Island', using the archaic term for rabbit in English.