Remember the old Soviet cartoon about a good dog named Pirate? Cheerful, well-fed and carefree, he arrived at the cottage with his master. Exploring the surroundings, he met his namesake - a neighboring chain dog. After a heart-to-heart talk and hearing of his troubles, malnutrition and lack of mastery, the Pirate came to the disappointing conclusion: “Wow! Also a Pirate, what a difference in fate! ... ”This passage was remembered not in vain, because it perfectly explains what paronyms are. But we will not beat around the bush, but we will get to know more closely this curious and a little intricate phenomenon. Although any language is a complicated business, it’s terribly interesting ....
So what are paronyms?First of all, these are words that are similar in sound, but completely different in meaning. As a rule, they belong to one part of speech. To make it clearer, we give examples : architectural (an adjective from the word "architecture") - architect's (owned by an architect, an adjective from the word "architect") : an architectural project - an architectural experience; silver (resembling silver in color) - silver (made of silver) : silver tint - silver goblet; diplomatic (relating to diplomacy, establishing friendly relations with other countries) - diplomatic (skillful, courteous, finely calculated actions) : diplomatic mission - a diplomatic person. Of course, there are plenty of examples. At present, various dictionaries of Russian language paronyms are offered, which help those people who study it as a foreign language, as well as those who strive to speak their native language correctly and beautifully. I think that if not everyone, then many were “lucky" to at least once find themselves in a delicate situation when a word was said out of place by you. You feel uncomfortable and stupid. For example, in my case, I incorrectly used "dressing." I knew perfectly well what paronyms are and what they eat with, but this word, unfortunately, I "overslept" .... It turns out that the word “dress” means to put someone in some kind of clothing, and, as a rule, it is combined with animated nouns (dress the girl in an elegant dress). The verb “put on” has the meaning of pulling, pushing something over someone and is used with the inanimate (put a watch on his right hand, put a jacket on his naked body). But any situation is a new lesson and a new experience, so do not be upset. Let's find out as much as possible about what paronyms are so as not to look funny anymore ....
There are a huge number of different classifications of paronyms. Today we will take a closer look at one of them. There are root paronyms, affix and etymological. The first includes paronymic couples that have different roots, but have a similar sound: sovereign - superstitious, conservatory - conservation . As an example, one can also give paronyms in English: contest (competition) - context (context), bride (bride) - bribe (bribe, bribery), mouth (mouth) - mouse (mouse) . The next group is affix. They include words that have a common origin, the same root, but different affixes: human - human, effective - effective, pay - pay. It is worth noting that suffix paronyms are often found in chemical and medical terminology. For example, the suffix "-id" means salts that do not have oxygen atoms, and "-at", on the contrary, those whose molecules contain them: sulfide - sulfate, chloride - chlorate . And the last kind is etymological paronyms. It is known that many words in Russian came to us from other languages. In the process of borrowing, it happened that the same expression came from different sources. For example, the word "gel" from the Latin gelo - "freeze" through the English gel, and "jelly" - from the French gelée; “Ignoramus” came from the old Russian “vezha” - experienced, knowing how to behave, and “ignoramus” - from the old Slavic “after all” - “know, know, understand.”
In conclusion, I want to say that everything in this world is arranged in two ways, and not in vain. On the one hand, a large number of paronyms somewhere complicates life, puts in awkward situations, makes you be more careful. On the other hand, the simultaneous use of paronymic pairs is a great art and a real talent. This stylistic device is called “paronomasia” and is widely used in literature: “He is what the most daring dreamed of, but nobody dared before him” (B. Pasternak). Therefore, both in life and in speech, the choice remains for us - to be ignorant and confuse words or enjoy the beauty of our native language.