Russian word for "cognate"

[Loren Allen Billings]

Let's (we linguists) not ignore the "real" meaning of cognate.  In
everyday language this word means "from the same source (be it via some
borrowing)".  It's amazing how many linguistic terms have a purist
meaning and a popular one.  Three that come to mind are _informant_,
_collaborate/collaborator_ and _linguist_ itself.

There was a lively discussion on the LINGUIST list recently about the
word _informant_.  One subcriber, who does field work in Liberia, as I
recall, would never use that word there because of it's meaning of
"infomer" (i.e., CIA collaborator; see below).

Speaking of which, when we work with a colleague on a project or
publication (something that happens far too rarely, in my opinion, in
our field), we are said to _collaborate_.  And this is not necessarily
just a term linguists use, but all academic disciplines in which this
happens.  Still, the every-day use is akin to _commit treason_.

Finally, the term _linguist_ itself.  Especially in the military (the
same organization that referred to getting payed twice a month as the
"bi-monthly pay option"), but even generally in the public, a linguist
is someone who works with languages (yes the plural, usually).  Is it
the case that just linguists have such dualities of meanings (not to
mention jargon terms like _government_, _binding_, etc.)?  I'd be happy
to hear what y'all think.  --Loren Billings (billings at princeton.edu)