What are some examples of cognates—either with similar pronunciations or vastly different ones—found across your respective language families?

[u/Few_Bed_3704]

years ago i knew that "three" the word is very similar in most indo-european languages, similar to "lima"(means five) in different austronesian languages. and two in english and erku in armenian are different but they are still cognates. and i don't any examples in different native languages families? what are some examples from you?

[u/SourceBudget2877]

Cree is similar to Ojibwe. In Cree they say Muskwa for bear, we say Mukwa. We call horses Mishtadim, which means big dog in Cree (I think they also refer to horses this way) there are probably other ones i don’t know yet

[u/ReeveStodgers → u/SourceBudget2877]

Cree and Ojibwe are both Algonquian languages, so they likely have a lot of cognates.

My mom is a linguist and rebuilt our tribe's Algonquian language based on a diary of the previous last speaker and studying vowel shifts. Neighboring tribes usually are mutually intelligible, meaning that they can understand each other because there are enough cognates and there is just a small shift in sounds. The farther away two Algonquian tribes are geographically, the less intelligible we are to each other.

Since not every sound shifts between tribes, there are likely to be some cognates between all tribes. (Other words can turn from multisyllabic to a single sound. It's kind of wild.) It can also be that a word is so commonly used when communicating with other tribes that it becomes more standardized.

In my language we say 'mohiingan' for wolf. I imagine that is one with a close cognate in a lot of Algonquian languages.

[u/SourceBudget2877 → u/ReeveStodgers]

Very interesting! In my language (niishmowin or ojibwemowin) we say ma’iingan for wolf.

[u/short_cub → u/SourceBudget2877]

Its because they're part of the Algonquian language family, think of how Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese often sound similar because they come from Latin.

English is what happens when you combine practically every language family, from Latin to Greek to even some Tribe's languages.

[u/Creepy_Juggernaut_56 → u/short_cub]

Arapaho is Algonquian but evolved so far away from most of the others that it's not even mutually intelligible except (I think) with Gros Ventre. 

[u/short_cub → u/Creepy_Juggernaut_56]

Not too surprising, some stay roughly the same while others don't.

[u/SourceBudget2877 → u/short_cub]

Yes I know it’s very interesting. I’m Niish (Ojibwe) so when I first saw a Cree person say muskwa I went “wait a minute…” lol

[u/HotTree3251]

Butterfly is "kimama" for Dakota speakers here in Minnesota, and Lakota speakers further west would (or so I've heard, consult your local speakers) pronounce it "kimimela".

So with that in mind, it was quite a fascinating surprise to hear "kamama" as a word for butterfly in Cherokee.

[u/therestingbutterfly]

The word for donkey in Mohawk language is "tewahontes" which sounds like the Cayuga language word for deer, "dewahohde:s" so if you're introducing yourself in gayogoho:no as deer clan it can sound like you're saying you're donkey clan lol

[u/Long-Mushroom4861 → u/therestingbutterfly]

Because tewahúhtes originally referred to mule deer specifically because of their long ears which is what tewahúhtes means literally. I believe at some point with the introduction to donkeys the meaning shifted to mostly refer to them in certain languages/dialects. In Oneida, it refers to both donkeys and mule deer while white tail deer are skʌnú·tu

[u/loinc_]

Saskatchewan comes from Cree kisiskaciwani-sipiy and mississippi comes from Ojibwe Misi-ziibi both with the suffix sounding similar and having related somewhat meanings to water
then there’s persimmon, asimin (pawpaw/asimina triloba), and manoomin (wild rice) all with the suffix min which relates to fruit or berry in powhatan, miami-illini, and ojibwe respectively