“Covid-19: nf or nm” When it comes to defining the genre of THE star of recent months, the Petit Larousse does not get too wet.

Thus, in its new 2022 edition, the dictionary does not decide between "the recommendation of the French Academy" and "the use".

If it animated the linguistic debates, the Covid-19 also gave birth to many new words or meanings that the dictionary had to integrate into its new version. “Usually, we set a quota of 150 new words and meanings for each edition,” explains Carine Girac, director of the French language department at Larousse. This year, there are more than 170, because of the pandemic which has changed our daily lives and therefore our way of speaking. The evolution of the language has been accelerated by the pandemic. More than half of the new words and word meanings are related to the coronavirus. "

In medical terms passed into common parlance (we have all become experts in "cluster" and "immunity" knowing how to spell "asymptomatic" without trembling), there are also words that take on new meaning in our new world: "Confine", "curfew", "gauge" ... For example, "mask" is entitled to a new entry.

“Previously, this word had a festive connotation, it was about hiding for fun.

Today its meaning has completely changed.

The word has known a revolution, we will not go back.

Even young children will have known, on a daily basis, this new meaning of a word which until then was used for carnival ... We are making a dictionary of usage, a dictionary of the language as it is spoken today, the language of the world we live in.

"

"Emoji" and "click & collect"

Contrary to its usual practice, the Petit Larousse has therefore decided to integrate new words linked to current events this year. “Usually, we always have a little delay to avoid the fad, says Carine Girac. For example, “emoji” only entered the dictionary this year. We try not to take words out of our editions, except for the big redesigns, every 15 years or so. But there, the vocabulary of the pandemic entered our lives so massively that it would have been incongruous not to integrate it. "

To do this, the Petit Larousse editorial committee operated, in a way, double blind… “We have a quantitative criterion, with the occurrences of each word that we find on certain sites. Then a qualitative criterion to define if these terms are not only used by spheres or restricted communities. For this second criterion, the general press is used a lot, which is becoming a reflection of the popular use of the terms. "

This is how the anglicism "click & collect" was preferred to "clicked removed".

“However, we note in the definition of the term that the Academy has a recommendation in French and that it is gaining ground.

In a few years, we will perhaps withdraw the English term "click & collect" which will have fallen into disuse in favor of "clicked withdrawn".

It often happens with anglicisms.

"

"Enjailler" and "racialized"

Another inextinguishable hotbed of new words for the dico, the Francophonie. Le Petit Larousse 2022 thus integrates "s'jailler" "curry" and "tisaneur", among others ... "The French language is more and more dynamic thanks to the Francophie, observes Carine Girac. For a long time, the French-speaking lexical invention came to us from Quebec or Belgium. Today, she comes from the French-speaking basin of Africa, from the Maghreb. There is for example, the term "agender" which means "to note in his diary". There are thus many lexical creations shorter and more tonic than our periphrases. With social networks, but also music, these new words are circulating much faster. "

Finally, how can we not come back to the entry of the word “racialized”, the meaning of which, poorly understood or sometimes deliberately diverted, gives rise to controversy.

“It has been used a lot for at least three years, nuance Carine Girac.

It took us a long time to define it, to fully understand all its nuances.

We did not enter the term during the most virulent debates to have a perspective on its meaning.

"

Roll on next year and the arrival of the "Islamo-leftism" occurrence.

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  • Covid 19

  • Confinement

  • Dictionary

  • Emoji

  • Coronavirus

  • Vocabulary

  • Culture