Kin But Not Twins
As they found new homes in other Romance languages, cognates for French (and thus English) words ending in -tion did a pretty good job of retaining their original meanings. I’m not sure why things turned out that way, but I suspect that it had something to do with the abstract quality of the words in question, as well as the relatively late date of the movement.
In cases where words described things that were not so highfalutin, or had been resident in a given language for a long time, linguistic cousins often acquired new meanings. For example, while many Spanish words that end in -ada correspond to French words ending in -ée, the members of each pair describe slightly different things.
Thus, while armada (as in the “Spanish Armada”) is the Spanish word for “navy,” its French cousin (armée) describes either a land army (armée de terre) or an air force (armée de l’air.) (In days of yore, French people would refer to the navy as as the armée de terre. That practice, alas, has gone the way of three-cornered hat.)
Entrada and entrée both mean entrances. Entrée, however, has also come to describe small dishes served at the start of a meal, what English people call starters and Americans appetizers. (If you find yourself in France in a restaurant where the main course is described as an entrée, you can be sure that you have fallen into a tourist trap.)
Mirada and mirée both refer to the act of looking. However, the duration of each differs considerable. Thus, while mirada can describe a glance, mirée suggests something more akin to an inspection. Similarly, while pisada describes any act of placing a foot upon a surface, pisée implies the use of a great deal of pressure, whether applied by feet or by tools of some sort. (Terre pisée is often translated as “rammed earth.”)
Both velada and veillée descend from a word meaning evening. However, while the Spanish part of the pair refers a social gathering that takes place after sunset, the French half can also describe something more serious, such as a religious vigil, a wake, or the tour of duty of a sentry.