Time.news – The words? They are always on the move and tell the evolution of the language. Old and new terms overlapsome of new come into current use, others go out or park for less frequent use up to fall into disuse or perhaps literally leave the scene.
The new Zingarelli 2023, the historic vocabulary of the Italian language published by the Zanichelli publishing house, tells us precisely the further transformation of our language making space between its pages for more than 1,000 new headwords, meanings and new phrases in a digital update of new words ranging from “hybrid learning” to “ecological transition”, “adultize” and “piedibus” to indicate the “service of accompanying several children to school on foot by adults according to a predetermined route, as if it were a bus “. Neologisms.
This edition seems to somehow reflect a movement, a change towards less clear-cut positions
The editor writes: “If in recent years the new words told, on the one hand, a society necessarily marked by the pandemic, with a massive entry of technical and specialist terms into the common discourse (from” thermoscanner “to” oximeter “, from” zooanthroponosis ”to“ species leap ”) but which they also photographed a strong polarization of positions and opinionssuch as the neologisms with the prefix anti- (see “antispecista”) or with the prefix no- (see “no-vax”, “no mask”, etc.), this edition seems in some way to reflect a movement, a change towards less clear-cut positions, as indicated for example by the increasing use of ni- with prefix value (on the model of no) with the meaning of ‘uncertain attitude’ with respect to choices which divide the ones in favor and against (“ni Tav”; “ni vax”) “.
Here, then, that other new words entered in this edition tell of a reality in evolution towards a more sustainable world, such as “ecological transition”, which indicates – among other things – the process of technological innovation that involves the replacement of fossil energy sources with renewable ones, such as “precision agriculture”, which uses the most advanced technologies (lasers, sensors, Internet resources, etc.) for the purpose of quality production and eco-sustainable management, together with terms such as “biohotel” and “eco-station” .
Other neologisms still speak instead of the change of patterns and attitudessuch as the adjective “bioinspired”, which indicates what is made on the model of living forms or systems (an aerodynamic profile bioinspired by the flight of birds) or “piedibus” – in fact – which stands for the escort service to school on foot more children by adults according to a path and a pre-established agreement, as if it were a bus, a practice at the opposite pole of the so-called “greenwashing”, which denotes, on the contrary, an environmentalism only on the facade, “especially on the part of a company that wants to present itself as ecologically responsible, even if only in appearance “.
Terms such as “decumulus” or “metaverse” also enter
A thousand more words are no small thing. They are a sign of linguistic vivacity, a sign that Italian is a living language that adapts to transformations, including social, economic, customs and lifestyle. And so, Other words still tell of a movement towards more essential habits and lifestyles, such as “decluttering”, which means the elimination of the superfluousalso in a figurative sense (mental decluttering) or “decumulation”, another term characterized by the prefix de-, which indicates deprivation, and denotes a strategy of progressive reduction of previously accumulated assets, as can be for example “de-growth” more or less happy that it is, a term already in vogue for some time.
On the other hand, some neologisms tell of an increasingly dematerialized reality, as a “metaverse”, that is a virtual space that the user can inhabit with his / her avatar, where perhaps in the future the so-called “hybrid learning”, that is realized in partly in presence, partly remotely.
The words of change are not only expressed with greater attention to environmental resources or lifestyles, but also with sensitivity to social issues and specific groups of people. For example, the term “skill”, which indicates recognizing value only to those who are able, with a consequent discriminatory attitude towards disabled people; “Fat shaming”, that is the derision of a person for his weight considered excessive; “To adultize”, which means to make someone who is not an adult appear or to be treated as an adult, like certain advertising that sometimes risks adultizing children; or “catcalling”, which denotes verbal harassment of a woman.
And finally “syndemia”, a term that indicates the superimposition of an epidemic on previous negative general conditions (for example malnutrition in a population) which necessarily aggravate its effects. Words and terms that have more or less entered current usage. Or even just to learn.
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