Illustrative image of a PCR test in April 2020 in Wuhan.
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AFP
Unsurprisingly, the word of the year 2020 is "Covid-19".
But behind this term hides a hot debate which divides the whole of France: should we say "the" or "the Covid-19"?
Between two waters, is the word of the year masculine or feminine?
"We linguists, as good Darwinians, expect one of the two forms to prevail over the other," says Yannick Chevalier, lecturer at the Lumière University in Lyon.
History will remember that the term, which designates the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, was born on February 11, 2020, in a press release from the World Health Organization.
This disease had been discovered for more than a month, in Wuhan (China), without having an official name shared by all.
Like Bermuda, camping and sauna
Covid comes from the English "COronaVIrus Disease" (coronavirus disease), the "19" specifying that the disease appeared in 2019. And the WHO, immediately, writes "COVID-19", in the feminine, all in capitals.
It is therefore a foreign acronym, designed to be used in as many languages as possible.
In France, its typography fluctuates between “COVID” and “Covid”.
Its gender also quickly becomes uncertain.
Like the vast majority of imported words that are not clearly masculine or feminine (Bermuda shorts, camping, gulag, karma, sauna, sushi, etc.), it is primarily masculine in everyday language: “the Covid-19”.
In France at least.
On March 6, the Office québécois de la langue française ruled in favor of the feminine.
Just like the Canadian federal government afterwards.
"The designation COVID-19 is female, given that the" D "of" COVID "designates the basic word" disease "(" disease "in French)", we read in its terminology database.
The French Academy going against the grain
The French Academy takes a long time to intervene, to try to rectify this masculine which has firmly established itself.
On May 7, she posted an article online recommending “saying covid 19” (oddly without hyphen or capital letter), “since the nucleus is an equivalent of the French feminine name disease”.
“This diktat has had some effects.
It made people laugh at first, and then at the start of September, when the media reflect on their editorial practices, journalists followed: the Covid, ”according to Yannick Chevalier.
In the other French-speaking countries, including Belgium, Senegal and Mali, there is a fluctuation.
In Belgium, some administrations prefer the feminine, like the Federal Public Health Service, others the masculine, like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The majority of governments in Africa, including Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal or the two Congos, say “the Covid”.
But that of Mali "the Covid".
On the government website in Tunisia, the two coexist.
A traumatic experience
Canada stands out as the only country where women dominate almost exclusively.
In the same person, we can find both, as with the linguist Delphine Jouenne, who publishes "Un bien grand mot", on the "words of the year".
“In the book I had to put the Covid, because it is difficult to do a work on the French language without ignoring the Academy standard.
But I admit that I say the Covid orally.
I follow usage, and all linguists will tell you: usage is law, ”she says.
And according to his colleague Yannick Chevalier, this masculine has a chance of winning in France.
“For me it's going to be the Covid, because that's how it happened.
The word refers to a traumatic experience, and when a word is loaded with such strong emotional investments, it is difficult to change it ”.
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