Coronavirus and the Dictionaries

The Coronavirus is impacting our modern languages. Right now we are using words that 3 months ago were not part of our vocabulary, some of them because they are too technical. There are new words coined recently.

Regarding the Technical words, some of them already existed but they were either not used for a while or they were used in only very technical instances. Some words already in use have seen their meaning in the dictionaries being updated because of the Pandemic.

According to the site of Merriam-Webster, the word Coronavirus was introduced in 1968 by a group of virologists in an article about this type of viruses in the journal Nature . Today, this word is part of almost all the existent modern languages. 

Since the WHO (World Health Organization) defined the word COVID-19  on February 11th, for lexicographers have been a unique experience to see the increase in the use of this word and how quickly it has been incorporated into the dictionaries online. In languages where there are grammatical genders, there is a debate on which is the correct gender to assign to this word. In romance languages, this acronym has been used with both genders. In French Canadian, according to Termium plus, we use feminine, while in Spanish, the Royal Academy of the Spanish language RAE, recognized that the use in both genders is valid. 

In English alone, more than 1000 new words were coined in such a short time. Some of them are words that you could find in dictionaries much before the COVID-19 outbreak, but now they have an updated meaning like Social distancing (first used in 1957), Elbow bump (1981) or infodemic (2003)  Some words are new like doomscrolling (surf to search for bad news), Zoom party (virtual meetings for hangout or happy hour using this popular app), Quarantini (an easy to make cocktail while stuck at home, from “Quarantine” + “Martini”), Rona (nickname of Coronavirus). But perhaps the most popular of the new created terms is Covidiot (someone who disregards health and safety guidelines issued to avoid the spread of Coronavirus). This word has been already replicated in different languages.

French speakers also have noticed some new terms in their everyday vocabulary. We can see words like “quatorzaine”, a term that already existed in legal language, meaning period of 14 days, but now is used instead of “quarantaine” or quarantine; gestes barrières, a term that was previously used by health authorities to describe simple individual actions to protect oneself and those around us in times of infections, It’s now a widely used term;  There are some neologisms like Cloud rave (electronic cyber-festival), coronapéro (virtual hang out using apps like skype or zoom) or clapping (Anglicism to describe the daily ritual of clapping to honour the health workers who assist the COVID-19 patients). In the French press, you can read about the coronadettes (a common bond issued by EU states). 

The Spanish language is not an exception when we talk about neologisms in times of Pandemics. We can mention new terms like coronaburro (A variation of covidiota, the Spanish form of covidiot), confitamiento (while in lockdown, eat candies while not exercising) and cuarenpena (quarantine in pain).  Words like teletrabajo (equivalent to work from home) are now widely used in professional environments and in shops there are mentions to the word coviprecios (prize in times of Coronavirus, maybe sales???).

In Hebrew, some interesting new words can be heard and read in the media. Although there is a word virus “ נְגִיף ” [Negif] in many written texts they are using the term “ וירוס הקויונה ” [virus ha’korona] instead of “ הַקוֹרוֹנָה נְגִיף ”. The Academy of the Hebrew Language has been busy answering questions about the use of those terms. Social distance has been translated as “ לשמור על מרחק ” [Lishmor al merchak]. Israelis are widely using terms like “19 קוביד” (COVID-19), “ איכּון סלולרי ” (Cellular location, to track citizens who are supposed to be in quarantine through their mobile phones), “ מסכה ” (Masekha or the masks used to disguise for festive like the carnival, Purim, now used to designate the masks used for protection). On March 2^nd, Israelis went to the polls. Those who were in quarantine and self-isolation were allowed to go out to cast their votes as long as they show no symptoms. But they went to vote to special polls called “ קַלְפּיוֹת הַקוֹרוֹנָה ” (kalpiot ha’korona = the corona polls). 

During my research, I found accidentally some new terms in Dutch, that I decided to include here. The word hamsteren was used in the sense of hoarding while supplies are on sales (De hamsterwerken used to be a promotional event from supermarkets, like saying to hamster or stuffing food). Now, this word describes the action to hoard supplies in fear of possible disruptions. Social distance has been translated as sociale onthouding (Social abstention). But something typical in Dutch culture is the use of diseases to curse. A common curse is the expression Krijg de klere! (Get the Cholera). Now the expression Krijg de Corona! is a new form of insult in this language.