Connection, microtheater, millennial and tourism phobia are some of the words that the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) has incorporated into the Dictionary of the Spanish Language (DLE). During an event this Monday morning, the institution presented digital version 23.8.1 of the text, an overview of the work developed by the Language Academies throughout this year and which served as a prelude to the publication of the 24th edition of the DLE. New voices that obey “the small revolution of words produced by the emergence of technology. This has a huge effect on the language, and it is something that does not happen too often,” explained Elena Zamora, director of the Institute of Lexicography, and director of the RAE and president of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (ASALE), Santiago Muñoz Machado.
The field of science and medicine is one of those with the most new terms, such as rosacea, autovaccine or graviton. Zamora presented the main lines of work that guided this new electronic version and its inclusion in the process of renewing the normative dictionary. It’s not just real sciences that make the news: from science fiction comes the term “quantum teleportation.”
Another semantic area with a huge impact is the digital world. From the Internet and its surroundings come voices like loguearse (fully adaptable to Spanish spelling) and crude foreign words like gif, hashtag, postal delivery either streaming. These are not the only novelties: for example, in the field of social networks, a new definition of “etiquette” is added. The same thing happens with “direct”. From journalism comes “photonews”. From the performing arts comes the “microtheatre” and the “red carpet.” And the “nunchaco” (Bruce Lee’s famous fighting sticks) comes from the world of martial arts. “Comecocos” also appear, from the world of video games.
“Making a simpa” also falls into the DLE. And also its Argentinian version: saying goodbye. Another word that will make headlines because it is a “growing phenomenon due to ecological consciousness”, in Zamora’s words: “tourism phobia”. And they also have a lot of ecological awareness and raw foodism and its derivatives: raw foodism and raw food.
“None of these developments are a whim of academics,” Muñoz Machado said, “as some imply.” The director outlined the process of studying and integrating new voices, from the Institute of Lexicography (which evaluates applications) to the objections of the American Academies. “Everything follows a complex process,” he explained.
“Many proposals come from institutions, but also from individuals and academics. » » said Zamora, referring to the internal process of lexicographic analysis and validation. The new version of the DLE has incorporated revisions, adjustments and new lexical additions. “Around 330 new features,” specifies the expert.
The presentation of this electronic version reaffirmed the central role of the DLE as a reference work for millions of stakeholders and professionals, and anticipated some of the new features that will mark the next printed edition, which will be released next year.
Quarrel
The controversy of late has hovered over appearance: the confrontation between the RAE and the Cervantes Institute, whose director, Luis García Montero, in October accused Muñoz Machado (“The RAE is in the hands of an expert in conducting business from his office for multimillion-dollar companies,” he said then), and accused him last week of trying to impose Panama as the seat of the next Language Congress (CILE). Muñoz Machado did not enter the fray, but he pointed out something about the next CILE: “The Panama Congress has completed its first stage, that is, the Academies have agreed on the venue. The Panama government still has to reach an agreement with the Spanish government. There are still steps but yes, the normal thing is that it ends up being held in Panama.” It will be in 2028.
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