This year’s word is selected by the Language Council in collaboration with Professor Gisle Andersen at NHH.
– The word of the year should be relevant, viable, and of high linguistic quality. It is indeed vital to show that Norwegian is a rich language with a vast vocabulary that can easily be expanded in good ways, says Andersen.
In 2024, the Language Council is focusing on more than just the word “beredskapsvenn” (emergency friend). They have ten words that they choose as this year’s neologisms.
See the full list at the bottom of the article.
Read also: Last year, AI-generated was the word of the year
Project gained attention
dordi Boksasp lerum has this year advocated for preparedness and Norwegian self-sufficiency by trying to be a norsketarian, meaning only eating Norwegian food. Photo: Private
One of the new words on the list is norsketarian, which politician Dordi Boksasp Lerum (22) has made known through the food project she shared on TikTok.
– It’s crazy that my project of only eating Norwegian food has gained so much attention! But it is an important issue, so it’s great that people notice it and can be inspired to choose more Norwegian food, she writes in a message to Framtida.no.
– It shows that eating Norwegian food to support the Norwegian farmer, the environment, and self-sufficiency is something many care about. Food is preparedness, and in a time when the world around us is unstable, it is indeed even more critically important to produce more food in Norway.
– Therefore, it’s good that norsketarian has made it onto the list of this year’s neologisms, and I hope more people will choose Norwegian food next time they are at the store.
Read more about Lerum’s project:
Deep-sea mining and exit tax
the environment and tax policy also find a place on the list of new words. When the Parliament opened up for mining on the seabed in January, djuphavsgruvedrift (deep-sea mining) became part of the Norwegian vocabulary.
The neologism exitskatt (exit tax) indicates that the economy has also influenced the news landscape over the past year.
Åse Wetås, director of the Language Council, says that the societal situation affects what kind of new words are created. Photo: Oda Hveem/Språkrådet
Influenced by societal development
At the same time, there are fewer new words this year than in previous years.
– It is largely societal development that determines what new words enter the language in various fields,and not least how many. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we got many new words because the situation was new and special. This year we see that fewer new words have entered the language. Economics and war are more familiar landscapes with established vocabularies, so the need for new words may not have been as strong this year, says Åse Wetås, director of the language Council, in the press release.
To find new words,they have used data tools that can capture them from major national and regional newspapers. The data tool was developed by Knut hofland at the research company Norce.
Here is the entire list of the Language Council’s new words,along with their explanations:
Beredskapsvenn
This year’s word 2024 is beredskapsvenn (emergency friend). Unstable times mean we must now take so-called personal preparedness, i.e., the preparedness of households, more seriously than we have for a long time. The
authorities have issued new advice on what people should have at home to cope in a crisis, and one of them is to acquire an emergency friend. An emergency friend can,for example,be a neighbour who has space for a shared crisis stockpile. The word preparedness is associated with something serious, while friend can be linked to something close and dear. With emergency friend, we get these notions in one and the same word.The word of the year 2024 reminds us that we are stronger together than apart.
Tekstlikskap
The word tekstlikskap (text similarity) is not entirely new, but its use saw a notable increase in 2024 when prominent politicians were accused of plagiarism in their master’s theses. Text similarity means that a text resembles or is completely identical to another text, without explicitly referencing the original text. This is not accepted in academic work and other texts intended for publication. Text similarity is expected to become an even bigger problem as it becomes more common to use AI-generated text.
Tinderifisert
2024 gave us the new word tinderifisert (tinderified), an adjective derived from the name of the dating app Tinder. The word describes a culture that springs from dating on apps. It is claimed that a few men easily gain access to women in a tinderfied sex culture,while moast men are left behind. Over the past year,the word was frequently enough used in the gender equality debate.
Popkorngras
Despite warnings from the Food Safety Authority, it has become a trend in 2024 to grow unpopped popcorn. The product is an ornamental plant called popkorngras (popcorn grass). The word is a combination of two elements that typically do not occur together, giving the word a creative touch.
Djuphavsgruvedrift
On the seabed, there are minerals that are important for the energy transition, and many want there to be mining there. this activity is called djuphavsgruvedrift (deep-sea mining). When the Parliament opened up for mining on the Norwegian continental shelf in January of this year, Norwegian authorities faced significant criticism both nationally and internationally. Deep-sea mining is controversial due to environmental consequences, so the word could be widely used in environmental discourse in the years to come as well.
Tilkaringsindustri
A rhetorically powerful new term is tilkaringsindustri (procuring industry). It describes businesses accused of acquiring ample public funding by associating themselves with what the state deem to be good causes. it is argued that such businesses would not have emerged without the prospect of receiving state funding, and that the funding is more important than any consideration for responsible operation. Tilkaring (to procure) is also used as the first part in other compounds, such as tilkaringsverksemd (procuring business) and tilkaringsøkonomi (procuring economy).
Hundredagarshoste
Hundredagarshoste (hundred days cough) is a relatively new, colloquial term for the disease whooping cough.The equivalent term in English is 100-day-cough. Both the spread of the disease and the new word have seen a significant upsurge this year. As the name suggests, it refers to a long-lasting illness. The alliteration may help promote the spread of the word.
Exitskatt
The word exitskatt (exit tax) is another and more striking term for the departure tax. The tax applies to individuals who move abroad and have unrealized gains on stocks and other securities from the time they lived in Norway. The word has been widely used in connection with many wealthy Norwegians moving to Switzerland in recent years.
The development of military technology has accelerated due to the many brutal wars occurring in the world today. In 2024, we got the word drakedrone (dragon drone), a drone that attacks enemies with burning metal, much like a fire-breathing dragon.
Norway seems to have become an important entry point for cocaine smuggled into Europe. Much of the cocaine comes by sea from South America to Norwegian ports, and the phenomenon has received a striking figurative expression in the term kokaintsunami (cocaine tsunami).
The unusually high temperatures in Southern Europe and other parts of the world in recent years have led many to schedule their holidays in cooler areas,including Norway. in English, the telescope word coolcation is used for such a holiday. In Norwegian, we have the substitute word kjøleferie (cool holiday).
The word klivare is a Swedish slang term for a person who, for payment, carries out serious violent acts on behalf of a criminal network. The word has come to Norway in parallel with the increased activity of Swedish gang criminals here.
Kjønnsròte (gender rot) is the winning word in a competition held by the Student Welfare Organization in Oslo to find a more descriptive name for the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea. It is an example of a creative result from active and systematic neologism work.
What are the benefits and risks of growing popcorn grass in ornamental gardening?
O not fit together—popcorn and grass—highlighting the unusual trend. This phenomenon has captured the attention of those interested in unique gardening and decorative plants, despite the risks associated with it.
Summary of Notable New Words
- Norsketarian: A term coined by politician Dordi Boksasp Lerum, emphasizing the importance of consuming Norwegian food to support local farmers and enhance self-sufficiency.
- Beredskapsvenn: The word of the year 2024, referring to an “emergency friend,” signifying the necessity for personal preparedness in challenging times, such as having a neighbor aid in crisis management.
- Tekstlikskap: Meaning “text similarity,” it highlights issues of plagiarism, especially in the wake of political scandals, and the growing concern over AI-generated text.
- Tinderifisert: An adjective originating from the dating app Tinder, describing a cultural shift in dating patterns, particularly highlighting gender dynamics.
- Popkorngras: Refers to a trend involving the cultivation of ornamental popcorn grass, merging the concept of food and ornamental gardening, despite health warnings around it.
These terms reflect broader societal trends, challenges, and changes in behavior observed in recent years, providing insight into the evolving language landscape shaped by contemporary issues.
